# TSG 1899 Hoffenheim

Turn- und Sportgemeinschaft 1899 Hoffenheim e.V. (pronounced), commonly known as TSG Hoffenheim (pronounced), 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 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 qualified for the 2017–18 UEFA Champions League. The club were 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 were eliminated from the tournament as they would finish bottom in the group stage.
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 disappointing for Hoffenheim, as they finished bottom of their Champions League group with only 3 draws and 3 losses whilst playing Manchester City, Lyon and Shakhtar Donetsk. In the Bundesliga, Hoffenheim finished in 9th place. The season's top scorer was Andre Kramarić, with the Croatian netting 22 times in 37 appearances. 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

    As of 3 February 2025
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 1 | GK | GER | Oliver Baumann (captain) |
| 2 | DF | CZE | Robin Hranáč |
| 3 | DF | CZE | Pavel Kadeřábek |
| 4 | DF | NOR | Leo Skiri Østigård (on loan from Rennes) |
| 5 | DF | TUR | Ozan Kabak |
| 6 | MF | GER | Grischa Prömel |
| 7 | MF | GER | Tom Bischof |
| 8 | MF | GER | Dennis Geiger |
| 9 | FW | TOG | Ihlas Bebou |
| 13 | DF | GER | Christopher Lenz |
| 14 | FW | NGA | Gift Orban |
| 15 | DF | FRA | Valentin Gendrey |
| 16 | MF | GER | Anton Stach |
| 17 | MF | GER | Umut Tohumcu |
| 18 | MF | MLI | Diadie Samassékou |
| 19 | DF | CZE | David Jurásek (on loan from Benfica) |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 20 | MF | GER | Finn Ole Becker |
| 21 | FW | GER | Marius Bülter |
| 22 | MF | AUT | Alexander Prass |
| 23 | FW | CZE | Adam Hložek |
| 25 | DF | NGA | Kevin Akpoguma |
| 26 | FW | BIH | Haris Tabaković |
| 27 | FW | CRO | Andrej Kramarić |
| 29 | FW | CIV | Bazoumana Touré |
| 32 | GK | DEN | Jakob Busk (on loan from Sønderjyske) |
| 33 | FW | GER | Max Moerstedt |
| 34 | DF | FRA | Stanley Nsoki |
| 35 | DF | BRA | Arthur Chaves |
| 36 | GK | ISL | Lúkas Petersson |
| 37 | GK | GER | Luca Philipp |
| 52 | FW | FRA | David Mokwa |
| 53 | FW | TUR | Erencan Yardımcı |

### Players out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| — | GK | GER | Nahuel Noll (at Greuther Fürth until 30 June 2025) |
| — | DF | GER | Tim Drexler (at 1. FC Nürnberg until 30 June 2025) |
| — | DF | GER | Joshua Quarshie (at Greuther Fürth until 30 June 2025) |
| — | DF | HUN | Attila Szalai (at Standard Liège until 30 June 2025) |
| — | MF | GER | Muhammed Damar (at SV Elversberg until 30 June 2025) |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| — | MF | AUT | Florian Grillitsch (at Valladolid until 30 June 2025) |
| — | FW | KOS | Fisnik Asllani (at SV Elversberg until 30 June 2025) |
| — | FW | GER | Mërgim Berisha (at FC Augsburg until 30 June 2025) |
| — | FW | GER | Bambasé Conté (at Karlsruher SC until 30 June 2025) |

### 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

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 ambitions clear in 2006, when the club's management decided to begin building the new 30,150 seat Rhein-Neckar-Arena. 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.

## 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 criticised by other clubs, fans and some in the German press. 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. This situation is similar 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 that the speaker was placed by the groundskeeper, although the club denied any involvement, saying he acted alone. It was also reported that the loudspeaker was used during other games, not just the home game against Dortmund.
In a later statement, 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 aimed at Hoffenheim owner Dietmar Hopp, resulting in the match being suspended with less than 15 minutes left to play. After concerns 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, 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 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.

## 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:

### 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:
| Season | Division | Tier | Position |
| 1977–78 | B-Klasse Nord | IX | 3rd |
| 1978–79 | Kreisliga B Nord | IX | 9th |
| 1979–80 | Kreisliga B Nord | IX | 4th |
| 1980–81 | Kreisliga B Nord | IX | 4th |
| 1981–82 | Kreisliga B Nord | IX | 3rd |
| 1982–83 | Kreisliga B Nord | IX | 5th↑ |
| 1983–84 | Kreisliga A | VIII | 11th |
| 1984–85 | Kreisliga A | VIII | 9th |
| 1985–86 | Kreisliga A | VIII | 7th |
| 1986–87 | Kreisliga A | VIII | 5th |
| 1987–88 | Kreisliga A | VIII | 1st↑ |
| 1988–89 | Bezirksliga Sinsheim | VII | 15th↓ |
| 1989–90 | Kreisliga A | VIII | 13th |
| 1990–91 | Kreisliga A | VIII | 1st↑ |
| 1991–92 | Bezirksliga Sinsheim | VII | 1st↑ |
| 1992–93 | Landesliga Rhein-Neckar | VI | 7th |
| 1993–94 | Landesliga Rhein-Neckar | VI | 5th |
| 1994–95 | Landesliga Rhein-Neckar | VI | 3rd |
| 1995–96 | Landesliga Rhein-Neckar | VI | 1st↑ |
| 1996–97 | Verbandsliga Nordbaden | V | 9th |
| 1997–98 | Verbandsliga Nordbaden | V | 3rd |
| 1998–99 | Verbandsliga Nordbaden | V | 2nd |
| 1999–00 | Verbandsliga Nordbaden | V | 1st↑ |
| 2000–01 | Oberliga Baden-Württemberg | IV | 1st↑ |
| 2001–02 | Regionalliga Süd | III | 13th |
| 2002–03 | Regionalliga Süd | III | 5th |
| 2003–04 | Regionalliga Süd | III | 5th |
| 2004–05 | Regionalliga Süd | III | 7th |
| 2005–06 | Regionalliga Süd | III | 4th |
| 2006–07 | Regionalliga Süd | III | 2nd↑ |
| 2007–08 | 2. Bundesliga | II | 2nd↑ |
| 2008–09 | Bundesliga | I | 7th |
| 2009–10 | Bundesliga | I | 11th |
| 2010–11 | Bundesliga | I | 11th |
| 2011–12 | Bundesliga | I | 11th |
| 2012–13 | Bundesliga | I | 16th |
| 2013–14 | Bundesliga | I | 9th |
| 2014–15 | Bundesliga | I | 8th |
| 2015–16 | Bundesliga | I | 15th |
| 2016–17 | Bundesliga | I | 4th |
| 2017–18 | Bundesliga | I | 3rd |
| 2018–19 | Bundesliga | I | 9th |
| 2019–20 | Bundesliga | I | 6th |
| 2020–21 | Bundesliga | I | 11th |
| 2021–22 | Bundesliga | I | 9th |
| 2022–23 | Bundesliga | I | 12th |
| 2023–24 | Bundesliga | I | 7th |

### Key

| ↑ Promoted | ↓ Relegated |
* 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 |
| 2017–18 | UEFA Europa League | GS | Braga | 1–2 | 1–3 | 4th |
| 2017–18 | UEFA Europa League | GS | Ludogorets Razgrad | 1–1 | 1–2 | 4th |
| 2017–18 | UEFA Europa League | GS | İstanbul Başakşehir | 3–1 | 1–1 | 4th |
| 2018–19 | UEFA Champions League | GS | Shakhtar Donetsk | 2–3 | 2–2 | 4th |
| 2018–19 | UEFA Champions League | GS | Manchester City | 1–2 | 1–2 | 4th |
| 2018–19 | UEFA Champions League | GS | Lyon | 3–3 | 2–2 | 4th |
| 2020–21 | UEFA Europa League | GS | Gent | 4–1 | 4–1 | 1st |
| 2020–21 | UEFA Europa League | GS | Red Star Belgrade | 2–0 | 0–0 | 1st |
| 2020–21 | UEFA Europa League | GS | Slovan Liberec | 5–0 | 2–0 | 1st |
| 2020–21 | UEFA Europa League | R32 | Molde | 0–2 | 3–3 | 3–5 |
| 2024–25 | UEFA Europa League | LP | Midtjylland | — | 1–1 | 27th |
| 2024–25 | UEFA Europa League | LP | Dynamo Kyiv | 2–0 | — | 27th |
| 2024–25 | UEFA Europa League | LP | Porto | — | 0–2 | 27th |
| 2024–25 | UEFA Europa League | LP | Lyon | 2–2 | — | 27th |
| 2024–25 | UEFA Europa League | LP | Braga | — | 0–3 | 27th |
| 2024–25 | UEFA Europa League | LP | FCSB | 0–0 | — | 27th |
| 2024–25 | UEFA Europa League | LP | Tottenham Hotspur | 2–3 | — | 27th |
| 2024–25 | UEFA Europa League | LP | Anderlecht | — | 4–3 | 27th |

### UEFA club coefficient ranking

    As of 8 April 2021
| 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

| 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 |
| 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.