first team on 28 April 2012, in a 3–1 loss against Wolfsburg. Having made 16 appearances in the 2011–12 season, it was announced that Prödl had signed a new three-year contract with the club, which would keep him at the club until summer 2015. After playing two matches of the 2012–13 season, Prödl suffered injuries first to his thigh and then his head. Upon his return, he scored his first goal of the season in a 4–1 win over Hoffenheim on 2 December 2012. On 23 February 2013, he was sent-off in the 44th minute of a match against Bayern Munich for a foul on Mario Gómez; Werder Bremen went on to lose 6–1. He was given a two-match ban for the red card. In a match against Fortuna Düsseldorf on 13 April 2013 he was appointed captain and played the full 90 minutes of a 2–2 draw. Prödl finished the 2012–13 season with 28 caps. In the 2013–14 season, Prödl scored in the club's first match without Thomas Schaaf, which Werder Bremen lost 3–1 to Saarbrücken in the first round of DFB Pokal. In the opening game of the season against Eintracht Braunschweig, he provided the assist for compatriot Zlatko Junuzović to score the only goal in the game. He then suffered a muscle injury which kept him out for two weeks. By 21 November 2013, his recovery was delayed by three weeks. After making his return, Prödl captained four matches between 1 February 2014 and 1 March 2014. He scored two goals in two matches against Wolfsburg and Hannover 96. In March 2014, he stated he would let his contract run out in 2015 if his contract would not be renewed in the summer. At the end of the season, Prödl had made 27 appearances helping the club avoid relegation and finish in 14th place. After missing two games at the start of the 2014–15 season due to a hamstring injury, Prödl scored his first goal of the season on 12 September 2014, in a 3–3 draw against Bayer Leverkusen. He then missed one match, due to injury, first suffering the flu, then a hip problem. His hip injury came after scoring his second goal of the season, in a 2–0 win over Stuttgart on 8 November 2014. In a 5–2 defeat to Frankfurt, Prödl was substituted off in the first half and it was announced after the