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 (currently known as PreZero Arena), 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 an obscure local amateur side[according to whom?] playing in the eighth division Baden-Württemberg A-Liga.[citation needed] They steadily improved and by 1996 were competing in the Verbandsliga Nordbaden (V).
Around 2000,[vague][when?] alumnus Dietmar Hopp returned to the club of his youth as a financial backer.[citation needed] 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:[according to whom?][original research?] in 2000 Hoffenheim finished first in the Verbandsliga and was promoted to the fourth-tier Oberliga Baden-Württemberg.[citation needed] Another first-place finish moved the club up to the Regionalliga Süd (III) for the 2001–02 season.[citation needed] 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,[according to whom?] 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.[citation needed] Team owner Hopp clearly[according to whom?] 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[tone] 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.[citation needed] After a weak start with three losses and only one draw in the first four games, the team's performance improved remarkably[why?][according to whom?] and Hoffenheim climbed from 16th place on matchday four to second place on matchday 23.[citation needed] The team defended their place until the end of the season, having scored 60 points after matchday 34.[citation needed] 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.[vague][1] In the 2009–10 Bundesliga, the club had a less successful season, recording a finish outside of the top 10, finishing 11th.[2] The club finished in consceutive 11th places for the next two seasons.[3][4] In the 2012–13 Bundesliga, the club came very close to suffering[tone] 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.[5][6][7] In the 2013–14 Bundesliga, the club had strange[according to whom?] statistics; being the third best goalscoring team in the league, but also the worst defensive team, scoring 72 goals and conceding 70.[8] 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.[vague][9][10][11] 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.[12] In the 2015–16 Bundesliga, the club once again came close to suffering[tone] relegation, with just one point separating them from the relegation play-offs.[13]
In the 2016–17 season, new coach Julian Nagelsmann took over,[14] beginning to recruit several new players, including Andrej Kramarić, Kerem Demirbay and Sandro Wagner.[vague][15][16][17] Initially, the club struggled for form, with four draws in the first four games of the season,[18] before a rise in form rose the club to 3rd place in the league by the end of October.[19] 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.[according to whom?][20] On 21 April 2017, the club confirmed that they would play European football next season following a 1–1 draw with Köln.[21] Following a 4th place finish in the 2016–17 Bundesliga, Hoffenheim confirmed Champions League football for the 2017–18 season.[vague][22] The club were eventually[vague] drawn to play six-time European champions Liverpool in the play-off round.[23][24] 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.[25][26] 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[tone] elimination from the tournament as they would finish bottom of their group.[clarification needed][27]
The 2018–19 season was more disappointing[according to whom?] for Hoffenheim, as they finished bottom of their Champions League group with only 3 draws and 3 losses whilst playing against the likes of[tone]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[according to whom?] 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,[clarification needed] with the Croatian finding the goal[vague] 22 times in 37 appearances. The German Kerem Demirbay had the most assists with 11 assists during the 2018–19 season.[vague] 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.
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[tone] in 2006, when the club's management decided to begin building the new 30,150 seat Rhein-Neckar-Arena suitable for hosting Bundesliga matches.[citation needed] 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.[30]
Interwetten had agreed to be the stadium's betting partner for TSG Hoffenheim in August 2017 until 2020.[vague][31]
Controversy
Criticism of the club
Dietmar Hopp's financial support, which transformed Hoffenheim from a local amateur club into a competitive Bundesliga club, has been strongly criticized by other clubs, fans and some in the German press.[according to whom?] The main points of criticism are the club's purported lack of tradition and a historically large fanbase, as the club is a historically insignificant side from a village of just 3,300 inhabitants.[citation needed] This situation is similar[original research?] to that of now-defunct Scottish side Gretna and German clubs VfL Wolfsburg, Bayer Leverkusen and RB Leipzig, as those teams also received large financial support; Wolfsburg is wholly owned and supported by automobile manufacturer Volkswagen, Bayer Leverkusen by pharmaceutical company Bayer and RB Leipzig by Red Bull.
On 16 August 2011, the club released a statement regarding complaints of a loudspeaker that was strategically placed under away fans during a home game against Dortmund. The loudspeaker was designed to drown out the noise of the away fans cheers and chants during the game. It was reported[by whom?] that the speaker was placed by the groundskeeper, although the club denied any involvement, saying he acted alone. It was also reported[by whom?] that the loudspeaker was used during other games, not just the home game against Dortmund.[32]
In a later statement,[when?] the club admitted that the disruptive sound assembly has been used at least five times, although club officials claim to have no knowledge of these measures.
On 29 February 2020, Bayern Munich supporters unfurled an offensive banner[vague] aimed at Hoffenheim owner Dietmar Hopp, resulting in the match being suspended with less than 15 minutes left to play. After concerns[by whom?] that the game could be abandoned, both teams returned to finish the match, but had decided to just run down the clock to end the game in solidarity with Hopp. Rather than play on, the two teams began passing the ball between each other and chatting as if they were all teammates.
The very next day,[vague] the Bundesliga match between Vfl Wolfsburg and 1. FC Union Berlin was stopped at the 44th minute of play due to derogatory banners once again[vague] being unfurled, one of which showed Hopp under crosshairs. The two teams left the field and returned 10 minutes later to play out the remainder of the 1st half and subsequently the game.[33]
Partnership
On 25 September 2020, TSG 1899 Hoffenheim signed a partnership agreement with MLS club FC Cincinnati.[34]
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.[citation needed]
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.
