Hoffenheim Fanzone: Getting to know the Bundesliga small-town giants
Starting out as a village club in a quiet corner of southwest Germany, Hoffenheim have risen to the top table of European football. Let bundesliga.com introduce you to the club from the smallest town to ever host a UEFA Champions League group game.
History
As is so often the case with German sides, the number in the club's full name TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stands for the year they were founded, initially as a gymnastics club with 20 male members. It was not until 1921 that football was integrated into the club, and in 1945 the two departments merged, creating a 'Turn- und Sportgemeinschaft' (TSG) – 'Gymnastics and sports club'.
After years spent competing in regional divisions, the club's fortunes changed in 1989 when local-boy-made-good Dietmar Hopp attended one of his former club’s games and decided to invest. Over the next 20 years, Hoffenheim steadily rose through the divisions, before making one of their most important appointments ever: recruiting Ralf Rangnick has head coach in 2006. He restructured the club both on and off the pitch, eventually guiding them to the Bundesliga for the first time ever at the end of the 2007/08 season. Not only have they remained there ever since, the climb continued to go from strength to strength under the youngest coach in Bundesliga history, Julian Nagelsmann. Taking over at the tender age of 28, he led the club to maiden a UEFA Europa League campaign and then a first tilt at the Champions League, establishing TSG as a force at the top end of the Bundesliga table.
Honours
Bundesliga 2 runners-up 2008
UEFA Champions League qualification 2018
UEFA Europa League qualification 2017, 2020
Coach
Bearing a surname synonymous with greatness in the Bundesliga, Sebastian Hoeneß is the son of Dieter and nephew of Bayern Munich legend Uli. The former TSG player took over the club for the start of 2020/21, having guided the Bayern reserve team to the third division title in their first season following promotion. The former RB Leipzig youth coach guided the Sinsheimers to 11th in his maiden campaign in charge.
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Star man
Andrej Kramaric is the leading man in Sinsheim and has been for a while. The Croatia international has had six hugely productive seasons at TSG with Bundesliga goal hauls of five, 15, 13, 17, 12 and now 20 to smash the club’s all-time scoring record. With 95 in 184 competitive appearances prior to the 2021/22 campaign, he’s averaging over a goal every other game.
Watch: The best of Kramaric in the Bundesliga
Last season
It was an up-and-down campaign for Hoffenheim in 2020/21. They were top after Matchday 2 on the back of a sensational 4-1 win over treble winners Bayern, but consistency proved tough, especially with a list of injuries and absentees that never seemed to get any shorter. That was summed up as they became the first team in a year to lose against Schalke in the Bundesliga. Not that they were ever in any danger, though, sitting pretty comfortably in mid-table most of the campaign. They also made it out of the group stage in Europe for the first time, making it to the round of 32 in the Europa League.
Watch: Highlights of a famous win over Bayern
The stadium
The PreZero Arena was only inaugurated in 2009 and as such it is one of the most modern stadiums in Germany. Tech geeks will be delighted to discover that the roof is covered in solar panels that produce enough energy to power 270 family households each year, while the giant screens at either end of the pitch span a surface area of 52 square metres.
Although it is relatively small compared to other stadiums around the country, its 30,150 (23,400 seated, 6,750 standing) capacity can still become an intimidating cauldron for visitors once the home fans get into full voice.
The city
Although the club is called Hoffenheim, it is based in the nearby town of Sinsheim, which is situated in south-west Germany on the Neckar River, in between Stuttgart and Frankfurt. With a total population of just over 35,000, it can become something of a ghost town on matchdays at home.
In addition to the historic town hall, which dates back to the 1840s, the main local attraction is the Sinsheim Auto and Technik Museum that houses a vast collection of cars, trains, tanks, Formula 1 race cars, and aircraft – including Concorde and the Tu-144, the only place where you can see both supersonic passenger aircraft – and draws over a million visitors per year.
The nearest big town or city is the picturesque university town of Heidelberg, around which many Hoffenheim players live. Beyond that, Karlsruhe and Mannheim are major transport hubs. Hockenheim race track, which frequently hosts the German F1 Grand Prix, is also just down the A6 motorway.
Getting there
Sinsheim does not have an airport of its own and the nearest ones with commercial traffic are Stuttgart and Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden, served by low-cost airlines. Germany’s biggest and busiest airport with greater international choice in Frankfurt is only 30 minutes away from Mannheim by high-speed ICE train, with a transfer to a local service required to then get to Sinsheim within about an hour.
Getting to the PreZero Arena
If arriving by car, from Sinsheim-Steinsfurt, traffic can only reach the stadium by taking the diversion along the B39 towards Sinsheim-Zentrum and then turning towards the stadium. Visitors from the direction of Heilbronn are recommended to take the A6 motorway to junction Sinsheim-Süd and then to follow signs to the car park.
If arriving by train, head towards 'Sinsheim Museum/Arena', which is a 15-minute walk away from the stadium. Alternatively, shuttle busses also run between the bus station at Sinsheim Hauptbahnhof (Elsenz) and the PreZero Arena (Sinsheim-Süd business park, Am Hummelberg).
Buying tickets
Tickets can still be bought via the official club website HERE.
Can’t make it? Watch here:
If you can’t make it to the stadium, Bundesliga matches are broadcast around the world. ESPN provides coverage in the United States, while BT Sports are the exclusive broadcaster in the United Kingdom. In Germany, Sky Sports show the majority of matches, with DAZN hosting one match per week.
Buy the kit
You can get your own Hoffenheim jersey from the official club shop.
Stateside fan clubs
A club with a growing reputation around the world, Hoffenheim's first US fan club is located in San Francisco. Find out more about the club, and any potentially closer to you, head HERE.
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