TSG 1899 Hoffenheim is a football club that is found in Hoffenheim, which is in the municipality of Sinsheim in Baden-Wurttemberg.
It was started as the name suggests in 1899, originally being a gymnastics club. It was in 1945 that the club became what it is today. The football club was only in the fifth division of football in Germany in 2000 before quickly advancing up the ranks due to significant financial backing.
It was in 2008 that 1899 Hoffenheim reached the Bundesliga for the first time. Its best finish in top-flight football so far was a third-place finish in 2017/218 which meant that the club made it to the group stages of the UEFA Champions League for the first time ever. The club has been playing home games at the Rhein-Neckar-Arena since 2009, with this having a capacity of just over 30,000.
History of 1899 Hoffenheim
1945
The club in its modern form was only created in 1945 after originally being a gymnastics club. At the start of the 1990s, the football team was an amateur side playing in the eight-tier of German football.
2000
Dietmar Hopp came to the club as a financial backer in 2000 having been a co-founder of SAP. After finishing in second place in the Bundesliga 2, 1899 Hoffenheim got promoted to the top tier of football for the first time in 2008.
2016
In their first season in the top tier, they finished a very respectable 7th in the league. In the next few years, they flirted with relegation a couple of times. It was in 2016/2017 that a new coach took over and started to make some big signings. This led to the club finishing in 4th place than 3rd place the following year in the league.
2018
They qualified for the group stages of the Champions League for the first time in 2018/2019 but finished bottom of their group with three draws and three losses. They also only finished in 9th place in the league.
Notable players
As the club is relatively new in terms of being a professional club, their history in terms of players does not go back too far. Some of the notable players to line out for 1899 Hoffenheim in recent years include:
- Demba Ba,
- Ryan Babel,
- Tim Bauer,
- Roberto Firmino,
- Christoph Janker,
- Pelle Jensen,
- Kevin Kuranyi,
- Lucas Ribeiro,
- Sebastian Rudy and
- Alexander Stolz.
Support of 1899 Hoffenheim
The club had been playing in a 5,000 capacity stadium from 1999 until 2009 called the Dietmar-Hopp-Stadion. After getting promoted a number of times, a decision was made to build a new stadium or the team. The Rhein-Neckar-Arena opened in January 2009 and holds just more than 30,000 people.
Many other clubs in the country have been critical of the financial backer of the club, Dietmar Hopp. They claim he has turned 1899 Hoffenheim from an amateur club into one of the leading football clubs in the nation, without enough tradition nor a proper fan base for the club. In fact, only 3,300 people live in the village.
A game against Bayern Munich in February 2020 was postponed after 75 minutes due to an offensive banner being showcased by the Bayern supporters about Dietmar Hopp. The clock for the game was run down. without the players just passing the ball to each other in solidarity for Hopp.
Since 2006, the women's team at 1899 Hoffenheim has been playing and has quickly risen through the ranks in a similar fashion to the men’s side.
Betting on 1899 Hoffenheim games
1899 Hoffenheim is one of the success stories in recent years, going from near obscurity all the way up to being one of the biggest teams in German football. While not everyone agrees with how this was achieved, 1899 Hoffenheim is certainly an exciting team to follow. They are trying to push onto bigger and better things constantly.
You will get plenty of betting action for games involving 1899 Hoffenheim, with all of the major football betting sites being a good fit for your needs. To see the best options, you can have a look at the expert reviews on Roger.com. The signup process only takes a few minutes for you to complete.
