TSG HoffenheimTSG 1899 Hoffenheim traces its roots back to 1 July 1899, when it was established in the small Baden-Württemberg village of Hoffenheim as a gymnastics club; a football department was only added in 1921, and the club took its present form in 1945 after merging with the local football side. For most of the 20th century, Hoffenheim remained a modest amateur outfit, playing as low as the fifth tier of German football as recently as the year 2000.
The club's transformation began with the financial backing of Dietmar Hopp, a Hoffenheim native and co-founder of the software company SAP, who had played in the club's youth teams as a boy. Under coach Ralf Rangnick, appointed in 2006, the club advanced from the third tier to the Bundesliga in just two seasons, securing promotion to the top flight for the 2008–09 season. In their debut Bundesliga campaign, Hoffenheim stunned German football by topping the table at the winter break, becoming so-called "Autumn Champions", before eventually finishing seventh.
The club's greatest sporting achievement to date came under Julian Nagelsmann, who took charge in February 2016 at the age of 28, becoming the youngest permanent head coach in Bundesliga history. Nagelsmann led Hoffenheim to a club-record fourth-place finish in 2016–17, and then to third place the following season — still the club's best-ever league position — earning Hoffenheim its first-ever appearance in the UEFA Champions League group stage.
Despite this progress, Hoffenheim has never won a major German trophy. The club has instead built its reputation on a data-driven, analytically minded approach to recruitment, coaching and youth development, and on a productive academy that has produced players such as Roberto Firmino and Niklas Süle. Nicknamed Die Kraichgauer after the surrounding region, the team plays its home matches at the Rhein-Neckar-Arena in nearby Sinsheim, in use since 2009, and remains a fixture of the modern Bundesliga.
