- TSG 1899 Hoffenheim
Football club infobox
clubname = TSG 1899 Hoffenheim
fullname = Turn- und Sportgemeinschaft
1899 Hoffenheim e.V.
nickname = "Hoffe"
founded =1 July 1899
ground =Carl-Benz-Stadion (temporary)
capacity = 26,022
chairman = flagicon|Germany Peter Hofmann
manager = flagicon|GermanyRalf Rangnick
league = 1. Bundesliga
season = 2007-08
position =2. Bundesliga, 2nd
(promoted)
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leftarm2=ffffff|body2=ffffff|rightarm2=ffffff|shorts2=ffffff|socks2=ffffffTSG 1899 Hoffenheim is a German football club based in Hoffenheim, a suburb of
Sinsheim ,Baden-Württemberg . In2007 , the club decided to adopt the use of the short form name "1899 Hoffenheim" in place of the traditional "TSG Hoffenheim".__TOC__
History
The modern-day club was formed in
1945 , when gymnastics club Turnverein Hoffenheim (founded July 11899 ) and football club Fußballverein Hoffenheim (founded1921 ) merged. At the beginning of the 1990s, the club was an obscure local amateur side playing in the eighth division Baden-Württemberg A-Liga. They steadily improved and by 1996 were competing in theVerbandsliga Nordbaden (V).Around 1990, alumnus
Dietmar Hopp returned to the club of his youth, not as a player, but as 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: in2000 Hoffenheim finished first in the Verbandsliga and was promoted to the fourth-divisionOberliga Baden-Württemberg . Another first place finish moved the club up to the Regionalliga Süd (III) for the2001 -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 firstGerman Cup appearance in the2003 -04 competition and performed well, advancing to the quarterfinals by eliminating 2. Bundesliga sidesEintracht Trier andKarlsruher SC and Bundesliga clubBayer Leverkusen before being put out themselves by another 2. Bundesliga side,VfB Lübeck .Negotiations to merge TSG Hoffenheim,
FC Astoria Walldorf , andSV Sandhausen to create "FC Heidelberg 06" in2005 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 inHeidelberg orEppelheim . Team owner Hopp clearly 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.In
2006 , the club sought to improve its squad and technical staff by bringing in players with several years of Bundesliga experience, most notablyJochen Seitz andTomislav Marić , and by signingRalf Rangnick , former manager of Bundesliga teamsVfB Stuttgart ,Hannover 96 , andFC 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 2nd inRegionalliga Süd . Remarkably, the club spent only a single season in the 2. Bundesliga, where they finished in 2nd place and received automatic promotion. The 2008–2009 season is Hoffenheim's first in the German top division.Players
"For recent transfers, see
List of German football transfers summer 2008 ."Current squad
Players out on loan
Hoffenheim II
tadium
Before being promoted to the 1. Bundesliga in 2008, the club played in
Dietmar Hopp Stadion which was built in1999 with a capacity of 5,000 (1,620 seats)."TSG 1899 Hoffenheim" made their loftier ambitions clear in
2006 when the club's management decided to build the new 30,000 seatRhein-Neckar-Arena suitable for hosting Bundesliga matches. The stadium was originally to be built inHeidelberg before the selection of a site inSinsheim .They have opened their first season in the 1. Bundesliga at the 26,022 capacity
Carl-Benz-Stadion inMannheim and will move to their new stadium upon its completion, projected to be in January 2009.Honors
* Oberliga Baden-Württemberg (IV) champions: 2001
* Verbandsliga Nordbaden (V) champions: 2000Recent seasons
TSG Hoffenheim
TSG Hoffenheim II
External links
* [http://www.tsg-hoffenheim.de/index.php Official site]
* [http://www.abseits-soccer.com/clubs/hoffenheim.html The Abseits Guide to German Soccer]References
*Grüne, Hardy (2001). Vereinslexikon. Kassel: AGON Sportverlag ISBN 3-89784-147-9
* [http://www.f-archiv.de/ Das deutsche Fußball-Archiv] historical German domestic league tables (in German)
* [http://www.eufo.de/football/ger/tsg_heim.htm eufo.de] European football club profiles and current team rosters (1899 Hoffenheim)
* [http://www.eufo.de/football/ger/tsg_eim2.htm eufo.de] European football club profiles and current team rosters (1899 Hoffenheim II)
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