TSG 1899 Hoffenheim

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 managed to defend 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.

Hoffenheim had a successful season in their debut in the Bundesliga, the top German division, as they went on to record a 7th place finish. The club's best players of the season were Vedad Ibišević and Demba Ba, who scored 18 and 14 goals respectively.[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 eventually went on to finish in 11th place for the next two consecutive seasons.[3][4] 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.[5][6][7] 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.[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.[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 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.[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.[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.[22] The club were eventually 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 elimination from the tournament as they would finish bottom of their group.[27]

In the 2017–18 Bundesliga season, Hoffenheim had a successful season, finishing third, automatically qualifying for the next year's Champions League.[28]

The 2018–19 season was more disappointing for Hoffenheim, as they finished bottom of their Champions League group with only 3 draws and 3 losses whilst playing against the likes of 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 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, with the Croatian finding the goal 22 times in 37 appearances. The German Kerem Demirbay had the most assists with 11 assists during the 2018–19 season. 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.

As of 1 September 2023[29]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  GER Oliver Baumann (captain) 3 DF  CZE Pavel Kadeřábek 5 DF  TUR Ozan Kabak 6 MF  GER Grischa Prömel 7 FW  GER Mërgim Berisha 8 MF  GER Dennis Geiger 9 FW  TOG Ihlas Bebou 10 FW  NED Wout Weghorst (on loan from Burnley) 11 MF  AUT Florian Grillitsch 14 FW  GER Maximilian Beier 15 DF  GHA Kasim Nuhu 16 MF  GER Anton Stach 17 MF  GER Julian Justvan 18 MF  MLI Diadie Samassékou 20 MF  GER Finn Ole Becker

No. Pos. Nation Player 21 FW  GER Marius Bülter 22 DF  GER Kevin Vogt 23 DF  USA John Brooks 24 MF  GER Marco John 25 DF  NGA Kevin Akpoguma 27 FW  CRO Andrej Kramarić 29 MF  DEN Robert Skov 31 FW  GER Bambasé Conté 32 DF  NED Melayro Bogarde 34 DF  FRA Stanley Nsoki 36 GK  GER Nahuel Noll 37 GK  GER Luca Philipp 39 MF  GER Tom Bischof 40 MF  GER Umut Tohumcu 41 DF  HUN Attila Szalai 48 DF  GER Joshua Quarshie

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  GER Muhammed Damar (at Hannover 96 until 30 June 2024) — FW  GER Fisnik Asllani (at Austria Wien until 30 June 2024)

No. Pos. Nation Player — FW  DEN Jacob Bruun Larsen (at Burnley until 30 June 2024)

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. The main points of criticism are the club's lack of "tradition" and a proper fan base, 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.[32]

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.[33]

• 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.

As of 8 April 2021[38]

Rank	Team	Points
61	Gent	26.500
62	Anderlecht	25.000
63	1899 Hoffenheim	23.000
64	Astana	22.500
65	Standard Liège	22.000

• Grüne, Hardy (2001). Vereinslexikon. Kassel: AGON Sportverlag ISBN 3-89784-147-9