TSG 1899 Hoffenheim facts for kids

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TSG Hoffenheim

Full name	Turn- und Sportgemeinschaft 1899 Hoffenheim e.V.
Nickname(s)	Die Kraichgauer (The Kraichgauers)
Founded	1 July 1899; 125 years ago (1899-07-01)
Ground	PreZero Arena
Ground Capacity	30,150
Owner	Dietmar Hopp
President	Jörg Albrecht
Manager	Christian Ilzer
League	Bundesliga
2020–21	Bundesliga, 11th of 18
Home colours Away colours Third colours

Turn- und Sportgemeinschaft 1899 Hoffenheim e.V. (pronounced [ˈtʊʁn ʔʊnt ˈʃpɔʁtɡəˌmaɪnʃaft ˌʔaxtseːnˈhʊndɐt ˌnɔʏnʔʊntˈnɔʏntsɪç ˈhɔfn̩haɪm]), commonly known as TSG Hoffenheim (pronounced [ˌteːʔɛsˈɡeː ˈhɔfn̩haɪm]), is a German professional football club based in Hoffenheim, a village of Sinsheim, Baden-Württemberg.

Originally founded in 1899 as a gymnastics club, Hoffenheim came into being in its modern form in 1945. A fifth division side in 2000, the club rapidly advanced through the German football league system with the financial backing of alumnus and software mogul Dietmar Hopp, and in 2008 Hoffenheim was promoted to the top tier Bundesliga. In the 2017–18 season, Hoffenheim finished third in the Bundesliga (its best to date), qualifying for the UEFA Champions League group stage for the first time.

Since 2009, Hoffenheim has played its home games at the Rhein-Neckar-Arena (known as PreZero Arena for sponsorship reasons), having previously played at the Dietmar-Hopp-Stadion from 1999.

History

The modern-day club was formed in 1945, when gymnastics club Turnverein Hoffenheim (founded 1 July 1899) and football club Fußballverein Hoffenheim (founded 1921) merged. At the beginning of the 1990s, the club was a local amateur side playing in the eighth division Baden-Württemberg A-Liga. They steadily improved and by 1996 were competing in the Verbandsliga Nordbaden (V).

Around 2000, alumnus Dietmar Hopp returned to the club of his youth as a financial backer. Hopp was the co-founder of software firm SAP and he put some of his money into the club. His contributions generated almost immediate results: in 2000 Hoffenheim finished first in the Verbandsliga and was promoted to the fourth-tier Oberliga Baden-Württemberg. Another first-place finish moved the club up to the Regionalliga Süd (III) for the 2001–02 season. They finished 13th in their first season in the Regionalliga, but improved significantly the next year, earning a fifth-place result.

Hoffenheim earned fifth and seventh-place finishes in the next two seasons, before improving to fourth in 2005–06 to earn their best result to date. The club made its first DFB-Pokal appearance in the 2003–04 competition and performed well, advancing to the quarter-finals by eliminating 2. Bundesliga sides Eintracht Trier and Karlsruher SC and Bundesliga club Bayer Leverkusen before being put out themselves by another 2. Bundesliga side, VfB Lübeck.

Negotiations to merge TSG Hoffenheim, Astoria Walldorf, and SV Sandhausen to create FC Heidelberg 06 in 2005 were abandoned due to the resistance of the latter two clubs, and the failure to agree on whether the new side's stadium should be located in Heidelberg or Eppelheim. Team owner Hopp clearly preferred Heidelberg, but could not overcome the resistance of local firm Wild, which had already reserved the site of the planned stadium for its new production facilities.

2006–2008: Major investments, promotion to the Bundesliga

In 2006, the club sought to improve its squad and technical staff by bringing in players with several years of Bundesliga experience, most notably Jochen Seitz and Tomislav Marić, and young talents like Sejad Salihović, while signing manager Ralf Rangnick, who managed Bundesliga teams such as SSV Ulm 1846, VfB Stuttgart, Hannover 96 and Schalke 04, to a five-year contract. The investment paid off in the 2006–07 season with the club's promotion to the 2. Bundesliga after finishing second in Regionalliga Süd.

The 2007–08 season was Hoffenheim's first season in professional football. After a weak start with three losses and only one draw in the first four games, the team's performance improved remarkably and Hoffenheim climbed from 16th place on matchday four to second place on matchday 23. The team defended their place until the end of the season, having scored 60 points after matchday 34. As a result of their second-place finish, they received automatic promotion to the Bundesliga, the highest tier in German football, after playing in the 2. Bundesliga for just one season.

2008–present: Growth of the club and Champions League football

Hoffenheim recorded a 7th-place finish in their debut season in the Bundesliga, Germany's top division. The club's best players of the season were Vedad Ibišević and Demba Ba, who scored 18 and 14 goals respectively. In the 2009–10 Bundesliga, the club had a less successful season, recording a finish outside of the top 10, finishing 11th. The club finished in consecutive 11th places for the next two seasons. In the 2012–13 Bundesliga, the club came very close to suffering relegation, after a 16th-place finish, meaning they would have to play in the relegation play-offs to survive; the club went on to beat their opponents Kaiserslautern by a scoreline of 5–2 on aggregate over two legs, with Roberto Firmino scoring two goals in the first leg. In the 2013–14 Bundesliga, the club had strange statistics; being the third best goalscoring team in the league, but also the worst defensive team, scoring 72 goals and conceding 70. The club's best goalscorer of the season, also their best assist provider, was Roberto Firmino, scoring 16 goals and providing 12 assists, with the player winning the Bundesliga Breakthrough Player of the Season award. In the 2014–15 Bundesliga, the club came very close to qualifying for the Europa League, with just two points separating them from Borussia Dortmund, who were in 7th place. Despite the 8th-place finish, Hoffenheim still had a goal difference of −6 in the 2014–15 season. In the 2015–16 Bundesliga, the club once again came close to suffering relegation, with just one point separating them from the relegation play-offs.

In the 2016–17 season, new coach Julian Nagelsmann took over, beginning to recruit several new players, including Andrej Kramarić, Kerem Demirbay and Sandro Wagner. Initially, the club struggled for form, with four draws in the first four games of the season, before a rise in form rose the club to 3rd place in the league by the end of October. On 4 April 2017, the club beat Bayern Munich by a scoreline of 1–0, one of the most significant wins in the club's history. On 21 April 2017, the club confirmed that they would play European football next season following a 1–1 draw with Köln. Following a 4th-place finish in the 2016–17 Bundesliga, Hoffenheim confirmed Champions League football for the 2017–18 season. The club were eventually drawn to play six-time European champions Liverpool in the play-off round. The club lost the first leg by a scoreline of 1–2, before a 4–2 loss in the second leg confirmed Hoffenheim's elimination from the tournament, as the club lost 3–6 on aggregate. Due to their elimination from the play-off stages, the club would continue playing European football in the Europa League group stages; however, the club would suffer elimination from the tournament as they would finish bottom of their group.

In the 2017–18 Bundesliga season, Hoffenheim had a successful season, finishing third, automatically qualifying for the next year's Champions League.

The 2018–19 season was more disappointing for Hoffenheim, as they finished bottom of their Champions League group with only 3 draws and 3 losses whilst playing against the likes of Manchester City, Lyon and Shakhtar Donetsk. This meant that they did not make it out of the group stages of a European competition again. In the Bundesliga, Hoffenheim didn't fare much better, finishing a disappointing 9th place, 6 places below their ranking of 3rd during the 2017–18 campaign with 51 points. This was just two places and 3 points away from the Europa League qualifying rounds. In the DFB-Pokal, Hoffenheim were eliminated by RB Leipzig in a 2–0 loss with two goals from Timo Werner. The season's top scorer was Andre Kramarić, with the Croatian finding the goal 22 times in 37 appearances. The German Kerem Demirbay had the most assists with 11 assists during the 2018–19 season. Head coach Julian Nagelsmann left the club to join RB Leipzig at the end of the season. Alfred Schreuder, former assistant coach under Huub Stevens and Julian Nagelsmann was appointed as the new head coach. After one year Sebastian Hoeneß became the new head coach, but he was released in May 2022. André Breitenreiter took over as coach until February 2023 and was followed by Pellegrino Matarazzo, who was dismissed in November 2024.

Players

Current squad

No. Position Player 1 GK Oliver Baumann (captain) 2 DF Robin Hranáč 3 DF Pavel Kadeřábek 4 DF Tim Drexler 5 DF Ozan Kabak 6 MF Grischa Prömel 7 MF Tom Bischof 8 MF Dennis Geiger 9 FW Ihlas Bebou 10 FW Mërgim Berisha 11 MF Florian Grillitsch 13 DF Christopher Lenz 15 DF Valentin Gendrey 16 MF Anton Stach 17 MF Umut Tohumcu 18 MF Diadie Samassékou

No. Position Player 19 DF David Jurásek (on loan from Benfica) 20 MF Finn Ole Becker 21 FW Marius Bülter 22 MF Alexander Prass 23 FW Adam Hložek 24 MF Marco John 25 DF Kevin Akpoguma 26 FW Haris Tabaković 27 FW Andrej Kramarić 29 FW Jacob Bruun Larsen 33 FW Max Moerstedt 34 DF Stanley Nsoki 35 DF Arthur Chaves 36 GK Lúkas Petersson 37 GK Luca Philipp 41 DF Attila Szalai

Players out on loan

No. Position Player GK Nahuel Noll (at Greuther Fürth until 30 June 2025) DF Joshua Quarshie (at Fortuna Düsseldorf until 30 June 2025) MF Muhammed Damar (at SV Elversberg until 30 June 2025)

No. Position Player FW Fisnik Asllani (at SV Elversberg until 30 June 2025) FW Bambasé Conté (at Karlsruher SC until 30 June 2025) FW Erencan Yardımcı (at Sturm Graz until 30 June 2025)

Reserve team

Women's team

Staff

First team

Manager	Christian Ilzer
Assistant manager	Dominik Deutschl Frank Fröhling Uwe Hölzl Benjamin Hübner
Goalkeeper coach	Alexander Stolz
Athletics coach	Philipp Lussi Martin Seiler
Rehab coach	Christian Weigl

Stadium

PreZero Rhein-Neckar-Arena, the senior team's current stadium.

Before being promoted to the Bundesliga in 2008, the club played in the Dietmar-Hopp-Stadion, which was built in 1999 with a capacity of 5,000 (1,620 seats).

TSG 1899 Hoffenheim made their lofty ambitions clear in 2006, when the club's management decided to begin building the new 30,150 seat Rhein-Neckar-Arena suitable for hosting Bundesliga matches. The stadium was originally to be built in Heidelberg before the selection of a site in Sinsheim.

They opened their first season in the Bundesliga at the 26,022 capacity Carl-Benz-Stadion in Mannheim, and played their first match in their new stadium on 31 January 2009.

Interwetten had agreed to be the stadium's betting partner for TSG Hoffenheim in August 2017 until 2020.

Partnership

On 25 September 2020, TSG 1899 Hoffenheim signed a partnership agreement with MLS club FC Cincinnati. Hoffenheim also have a partnership agreement with a Ghana premier League side Accra Hearts Of Oak. Making it a three club value alliance on 20 September 2020.

Honours

The club's honours:

League 2. Bundesliga Runners-up: 2007–08 Regionalliga Runners-up: 2006–07 Oberliga Baden-Württemberg (IV) Champions: 2000–01 Runners-up: 2009–10‡ Verbandsliga Nordbaden (V) Champions: 1999–2000 Runners-up: 2002–03‡

Historical chart of 1899 Hoffenheim league performance Cup North Baden Cup (Tiers III–VII) Winners: 2001–02, 2002–03, 2003–04, 2004–05 Runners-up: 2006–07

Youth

• German Under 19 championship
  • Champions: 2013–14
  • Runners-up: 2014–15, 2015–16
• German Under 17 championship
  • Champions: 2007–08
• Under 19 Bundesliga South/Southwest
  • Champions: 2013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16
• Under 17 Bundesliga South/Southwest
  • Champions: 2007–08
  • Runners-up: 2010–11
• Under 15 Regionalliga Süd
  • Champions: 2011–12, 2012–13, 2015–16
• ^‡ Won by reserve team.

Coaching history

Recent coaches of the club:

Start	End	Coach
1979	1982	Helmut Zuber
1982	1982	Meinard Stadelbauer
1982	1984	Rudi Ebel
1984	1985	Klaus Keller
1986	1989	Helmut Jedele
1989	1990	Gerhard Boll
1990	1992	Egon Ludwig
1992	1994	Hans Schreiner
1994	1998	Roland Schmitt
1998	1998	Alfred Schön
1998	14 March 1999	Raimund Lietzau
15 March 1999	30 September 1999	Günter Hillenbrand
31 August 1999	12 March 2000	Riko Weigand
2000	30 June 2000	Alfred Schön
1 July 2000	19 November 2005	Hansi Flick
19 November 2005	23 December 2005	Roland Dickgießer*
10 January 2006	21 May 2006	Lorenz-Günther Köstner
24 May 2006	30 June 2006	Alfred Schön*
1 July 2006	1 January 2011	Ralf Rangnick
2 January 2011	30 June 2011	Marco Pezzaiuoli
1 July 2011	9 February 2012	Holger Stanislawski
10 February 2012	3 December 2012	Markus Babbel
3 December 2012	31 December 2012	Frank Kramer*
1 January 2013	2 April 2013	Marco Kurz
2 April 2013	26 October 2015	Markus Gisdol
26 October 2015	10 February 2016	Huub Stevens
11 February 2016	30 June 2019	Julian Nagelsmann
1 July 2019	9 June 2020	Alfred Schreuder
10 June 2020	26 July 2020	Matthias Kaltenbach*
27 July 2020	17 May 2022	Sebastian Hoeneß
24 May 2022	6 February 2023	André Breitenreiter
8 February 2023	11 November 2024	Pellegrino Matarazzo

*As caretaker coach.

Recent seasons

The recent season-by-season performance of the club:

Key

• With the introduction of the Regionalligas in 1994 and the 3. Liga in 2008 as the new third tier, below the 2. Bundesliga, all leagues below dropped one tier. In 2012, the number of Regionalligas was increased from three to five with all Regionalliga Süd clubs except the Bavarian ones entering the new Regionalliga Südwest.

European record

Hoffenheim made their debut in European competition in 2017, qualifying for the play-off round of the 2017–18 UEFA Champions League play-offs. Their first match was on 15 August 2017, losing the first leg of the play-offs 2–1 to Liverpool.

Matches

Season	Competition	Round	Club	Home	Away	Result
2017–18	UEFA Champions League	PO	Liverpool	1–2	2–4	3–6
	UEFA Europa League	GS	Braga	1–2	1–3	4th
			Ludogorets Razgrad	1–1	1–2
			İstanbul Başakşehir	3–1	1–1
2018–19	UEFA Champions League	GS	Shakhtar Donetsk	2–3	2–2	4th
			Manchester City	1–2	1–2
			Lyon	3–3	2–2
2020–21	UEFA Europa League	GS	Gent	4–1	4–1	1st
			Red Star Belgrade	2–0	0–0
			Slovan Liberec	5–0	2–0
		R32	Molde	0–2	3–3	3–5
2024–25	UEFA Europa League	LP	Midtjylland	N/A	1–1
			Dynamo Kyiv	2–0	N/A
			Porto	N/A	0–2
			Lyon	2–2	N/A
			Braga	N/A
			FCSB		N/A
			Tottenham Hotspur		N/A
			Anderlecht	N/A

UEFA club coefficient ranking

Rank	Club	Points
61	Gent	26.500
62	Anderlecht	25.000
63	TSG Hoffenheim	23.000
64	Astana	22.500
65	Standard Liège	22.000

Goalscoring and appearance records

Most appearances for the club Rank Player Career Appearances 1 Oliver Baumann 2014–present 363 2 Sebastian Rudy 2010–2017 2019–2023 327 3 Andrej Kramarić 2016–present 281 4 Pavel Kadeřábek 2015–present 253 – Sejad Salihović 2006–2015 249 6 Andreas Beck 2008–2015 237 7 Kevin Vogt 2016–2024 226 8 Marcel Throm 2000–2008 205 9 Florian Grillitsch 2017–2022 2023–present 179 – Marvin Compper 2008–2013 171

Most goals for the club Rank Player Career Goals 1 Andrej Kramarić 2016–present 132 2 Sejad Salihović 2006–2015 67 3 Vedad Ibišević 2007–2012 54 4 Roberto Firmino 2011–2015 49 5 Thomas Ollhoff 2002–2006 42 6 Demba Ba 2007–2011 40 7 Kevin Volland 2012–2016 36 8 Ihlas Bebou 2019–present 35 9 Christoph Teinert 2000–2003 34 10 Mark Uth 2015–2018 33

• Players in bold are still playing for Hoffenheim.

Women's team

The women's team started playing in 2006–07 and rushed through the lower leagues. The women's team plays at Dietmar-Hopp-Stadion.

See also

In Spanish: TSG 1899 Hoffenheim para niños