TSG Hoffenheim

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TSG Hoffenheim

Full name

Turn- und Sportgemeinschaft
1899 Hoffenheim e.V.

Founded

1 July 1899

Ground

Dietmar Hopp Stadion

Capacity

5,000

Chairman

Dietmar Hopp

Manager

Ralf Rangnick

League

Regionalliga Süd

2005-06

Regionalliga Süd, 4th





Home colours





Away colours

TSG 1899 Hoffenheim is a German football club based in Sinsheim's Hoffenheim district, in Baden-Württemberg.

The modern-day club was formed in 1945, when gymnastics club TV Hoffenheim (founded 1899) and football club FV Hoffenheim (founded 1921) merged. At the beginning of the 1990s, the club was an obscure local amateur side playing in the seventh division Baden-Württemberg A-Liga. They steadily improved and by 1996 were competing in the Verbandsliga Nordbaden (V).

Around 1999, 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: in 2000 Hoffenheim finished first in the Verbandsliga and was promoted to the fourth-division Oberliga Baden-Württemberg. Another first place finish moved the club up to the Regionalliga Süd (III) for the 2001-02 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 first German Cup appearance in the 2003-04 competition and performed well, advancing to the quarterfinals by eliminating Second Bundesliga sides Eintracht Trier and Karlsruher SC and Bundesliga club Bayer Leverkusen before being being put out themselves by another Second Bundesliga side, VfB Lübeck.

In 2006, TSG Hoffenheim made it clear that they have loftier ambitions as the club's management decided to build a new 30,000-seat stadium suitable for hosting Bundesliga matches. The stadium was originally to be built in Heidelberg, but it was finally relocated to Sinsheim. In that same year, the club also improved its squad and technical staff by bringing in players with several years of Bundesliga experience, most notably Jochen Seitz and Tomislav Marić, and by signing Ralf Rangnick, former manager of Bundesliga teams VfB Stuttgart, Hannover 96 and FC Schalke 04, to a five-year contract.