Vladimír Coufal: Hoffenheim's secret weapon in top-four push
It's fitting that in a campaign where Hoffenheim are breaking with tradition and seriously challenging for a top-four finish that their standout player isn't necessarily a seasoned goalscorer like Andrej Kramarić, but rather an unsung right-back in the form of Vladimír Coufal.
After narrowly avoiding relegation at the end of 2024/25, Hoffenheim have genuine designs on securing UEFA Champions League qualification for only the second time in their relatively short Bundesliga history.
Christian Ilzer's team from the Baden-Württemberg town of Sinsheim occupied third place between Matchdays 18-26, before slipping to fifth on the back of a heavy loss to top-four rivals RB Leipzig in their final game before the March international break.
It's a race that will likely go down to the wire - Hoffenheim trail Leipzig on goal difference and third-in-the-table VfB Stuttgart by three points with seven games to go - but one the well-oiled Kraichgauer are capable of winning.
Consistency will be key, a quality free summer 2025 transfer Coufal has in abundance.
Alongside captain and goalkeeper Oliver Baumann, Coufal is the only Hoffenheim player to have started every league game so far this season. The Czechia international's 2,418 minutes on the pitch - a team-leading statistic among Hoffenheim's outfield players - underlines his ever-present status. He also leads the way for touches (1,907), distance covered (201.3 miles/ 324 kilometres) and sprints (604), but the former West Ham United man is so much more than a dependable workhorse.
Coufal is particularly effective in the final third, with a goal and six assists to his name after 27 rounds of fixtures. No full-back in the Bundesliga has been involved in more goals - Alejandro Grimaldo (Bayer Leverkusen) and Julian Ryerson (Borussia Dortmund) are often deployed in more advanced roles - while only teenage winger Bazoumana Touré has more assists in a Hoffenheim shirt (seven).
Always the instigator, the 33-year-old is also tied with Ryerson for crosses into the opposition penalty box from open play (85), with four of those resulting in goals - a return that puts him joint top of the league-wide leaderboard in that category. His team-best tally of 47 passes to a shot, meanwhile, has been bettered by just five other players up and down the division.
"Vlad is doing an excellent job, the way he solves difficult situations, how he controls difficult balls and makes the right decisions," Ilzer said last October. "Defending on the last line and attacking on the first line is tactically and physically not an easy position, but he does it flawlessly. He is an incredible asset for our game at both ends of the pitch."
When Coufal was let go by West Ham last summer, he said the London club's decision was framed in terms of "wanting to go in another direction". Eight months on, as the Hammers fight to preserve their English Premier League status, and Hoffenheim chase a place in Europe, it's clear the Czech dynamo is the one on the right path.
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