Hoffenheim will be hoping for further celebrations under floodlights this season with European football on Tuesday and Wednesday nights in Sinsheim. - © © imago / Jan Huebner
Hoffenheim will be hoping for further celebrations under floodlights this season with European football on Tuesday and Wednesday nights in Sinsheim. - © © imago / Jan Huebner

Hoffenheim to face Liverpool in Champions League play-off

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Julian Nagelsmann’s Hoffenheim team will contest their debut European match against Jürgen Klopp's Liverpool as they look to book their place in the 2017/18 UEFA Champions League group stage.

After a fourth-placed finish in the Bundesliga last season – the Sinsheim club’s best-ever position – Hoffenheim earned the right to qualify for the Champions League proper through the competition’s play-off round. Making their debut on the European stage, TSG were in the pot of five unseeded teams for the league route.

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Sevilla, Napoli, CSKA Moscow and Sporting Lisbon were all possible opponents in the draw, but it is Liverpool - managed by former Borussia Dortmund boss Jürgen Klopp - that Hoffenheim will welcome to south-west Germany for their maiden European tie at the WIRSOL Rhein-Neckar-Arena.

The first legs will be played on 15/16 August, with the returns taking place on 22/23 August. Should Hoffenheim make it through, they will learn their Champions League group opponents on Thursday 24 August. As a consolation, the sides that fail to progress will instead enter the Europa League, with that draw held on Friday 25 August.  

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