Werder Bremen has long-running friendships with Rot-Weiss Essen and FC Kaiserslautern, who both currently play in the 2. Bundesliga. They hold a long-term enmity with Bayern Munich, and have developed a recent, but intense, feud with FC Schalke 04, whose title-hungry ex-manager Rudi Assauer, has lured away several of Werder's top players (including Ailton [now with MSV Duisburg], Mladen Krstajic, Frank Rost [now with Hamburger SV], Oliver Reck [now retired], and Fabian Ernst) with lucrative contracts.