So this weekend officially kicks of the Bundesliga season; an exciting moment for all the fans of German football, but the most exciting for the organization of 1899 Hoffenheim. Hoffenheim is playing its very first Bundesliga match today against Energie Cottbus.
The team is from a small part of the German state of Baden-Wurttemberg and exist in a town with only 30,000 people.
While this is not really a recipie for a highly successful team, Dietmar Hopp is. Hopp is a former youth player for the team and co-founder of the software giant SAP, who started backing the team in the early '90s.
While languishing in the Oberliga and Regionalliga, Germanies fourth and third divisions respectively, Hopp brought in Ralf Ragnick who was the former coach of VfB Stuttgart, Hannover 96, and FC Schalke 04.
With the addition of some Bundesliga players they achieved promotion to the 2.Bundesliga after the 2006/2007 season. And after only a short year in the 2.Bundesliga Hoffenheim has gained automatic promotion to the 1.Bundesliga.
The club have ambitions to build a 30,000 seat arena in Sinsheim to host Bundesliga games, and hope for immediate success in the top-tier of Germany.
The acquisition of players like Andreas Beck, Per Nilsson, and Vedad Ibisevic add viable experience to the newly-promoted side. The team is capable of holding onto top flight status with a little luck but also through solid players and great management.
Oh, and just in case you were wondering, they demolished Energie Cottbus today 3-0 in their very first 1.Bundesliga game.
Food for thought...
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