TSG 1899 Hoffenheim

TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, based at the PreZero Arena in Sinsheim with a capacity of 30,150, qualified for European football in six of the ten seasons between 2014 and 2024, achieving their highest Bundesliga finish of third in 2017-18.

Hoffenheim is a village of approximately 3,300 people in the Rhine-Neckar metropolitan region of Baden-Württemberg. The club existed in the lower amateur divisions until software billionaire Dietmar Hopp, who grew up in Hoffenheim and made his fortune co-founding SAP, invested in the club beginning in 2000. Within eight years they had risen from the Oberliga to the Bundesliga. The scale of the investment relative to the size of the village, and the speed of the rise, made Hoffenheim a persistent target for supporters of other clubs who object to what they characterise as money overriding sporting merit.

Banners at opposition grounds targeting Hopp’s involvement became a recurring issue that escalated in February 2020 when two Bundesliga matches were briefly paused after especially hostile displays. The DFB and Bundesliga clubs subsequently banned collective anti-Hopp banners, a decision that itself became controversial as a restriction on supporter expression.

On the pitch, the club’s data-driven recruitment, built around an analytics infrastructure that predates most clubs’ similar operations, has consistently found value that the wage budget alone would not support. Julian Nagelsmann developed his tactical ideas at Hoffenheim between 2016 and 2019 before moving to Leipzig, Bayern Munich, and then the Germany national team. The club’s role as an incubator for young coaches and players is now as significant as their own European ambitions.

When does Hoffenheim play? Bundesliga matches at PreZero Arena in Sinsheim are typically 15:30 CET (UTC+1) on Saturdays. Sinsheim is 30 kilometres south of Heidelberg in Baden-Württemberg. A 15:30 CET Saturday kickoff means 14:30 GMT in London and 09:30 ET in New York. Check Heidelberg time for nearby time conversions. Full Bundesliga schedule available.