Next July, TSG 1899 Hoffenheim will celebrate its 125th club anniversary; the Sinsheim club has been represented in the 1st Bundesliga since 2008. The Hoffenheimers have had a steep rise over the last 35 years, from village pitches in the district league to the Champions League, the self-proclaimed “village club” has experienced a lot. Next Sunday (12.05/15.30) the Lilies will meet TSG for the 16th time. In the first leg, the spectators were treated to a real spectacle, Tim Skarke scored in the 85th minute to equalise 3-3. We take a closer look at the European Cup contender before the last home game of the season.
“For the first time since Wolfsburg in the 1997/98 season, a Bundesliga newcomer, 1899 Hoffenheim, was able to win its debut game. “The Rangnick protégés at Energie Cottbus did this in a convincing manner,” wrote “Kicker” on August 18, 2008, after Hoffenheim had won their first Bundesliga game in the club’s history. Vedad Ibisevic immediately impressed with two goals, and after the first half of the season there were to be a total of 18 goals.
Under Ralf Rangnick, the newly promoted team played strong offensive football; after the first half of the season, TSG had scored 42 goals, more than any other Bundesliga team. This led to Baden-Württemberg becoming autumn champions with 35 points. In the second half of the season, however, the great high came to an end; Rangnick’s team had to survive a series of 12 games without a win. In the end, TSG came seventh in the table, 25 points ahead of the relegation place, and the season immediately showed what goals Hoffenheim were pursuing.
For the next four years it was to be a single-digit place in the table. In 2013, Hoffenheim only managed to stay in the league via relegation, but here they were able to defeat 1. FC Kaiserslautern in the south-west duel. The Sinsheimers made it into Europe for the first time in 2017, and a year later they even achieved a direct Champions League place.
Hoffenheim qualified for Europe for the last time in 2020; after a sixth place in the Bundesliga, TSG competed in the Europa League. It remains to be seen whether it will be enough to qualify for Europe this year. Two match days before the end of the season, head coach Pellegrino Matarazzo’s team is in eighth place in the table. If Leverkusen wins the cup, this would be enough to qualify for the Conference League. The Hoffenheim team urgently need three points on Sunday, Augsburg is coming from behind, but with two wins the Europa League could just as well beckon.
Pellegrino Matarazzo
| Top Scorers | Top Assists |
| Maximilian Beier, 13 Goals | Robert Skov, 5 Assists |
| Andrej Kramaric, 12 Goals | Grischa Prömmel, 5 Assists |
| Wout Weghorst, 7 Goals | Ihlas Bebou, 4 Assists |
| Ihlas Bebou, 5 Goals | Maximilian Beier, 4 Assists |
| Grischa Prömmel, 4 Goals | Marius Bülter, 4 Assists |
Hoffenheim can rely on one thing this season and that is their striker goals. Overall, TSG is in the top third of the league with 56 goals, 38 of which were scored by Baden-Württemberg’s attackers. Maximilian Beier and Andrej Kramaric alone have 25 goals, but Weghorst and Bebou also pose a goal threat.
The Hoffenheim players also run a lot; with 3,838 kilometers, TSG has the third-best mileage in the entire league.
“I went to boarding school in Cottbus and was only at home for one day at the weekend. It was difficult to drive back to Cottbus every time. During this phase, I also had thoughts of perhaps quitting football altogether,“ young star Maximilian Beier described his doubts in an interview with TSG Hoffenheim and continued: „I was just too homesick. The distance from my parents and being alone in Cottbus put a lot of strain on me and it was sometimes no longer possible.“ From a Bundesliga fan’s point of view, you can say today: Fortunately, Beier didn’t stop. The 21-year-old is playing a very strong season, and was also recently rewarded by national coach Julian Nagelsmann with a national team nomination.
Both stories show the character of the Hoffenheim offensive player. Maximilian Beier is a quiet, reserved guy and describes himself as shy. “My girlfriend and I used to argue about who would approach the cashier in the supermarket to ask where something was in the store,” remembers Beier.
The striker, who was born in Brandenburg an der Havel, moved to boarding school at Energie Cottbus at the age of 12, two and a half hours away from his parents‘ home. A huge challenge for the shy Beier, who still has exam anxiety to this day. His coach at the time, Patrick Schrade, prevented him from moving out of the boarding school. “He picked me up from the train station or even went out to eat with me,” Beier remembers, “I’m still very grateful to him to this day!”
Beier’s move to TSG Hoffenheim at the age of 16 seems all the more astonishing, as the distance home was now significantly greater. Beier himself believes that he was much tougher and that the experience from Cottbus also helped him. The attacker immediately impressed in the U17 Bundesliga, scoring 18 times in 26 games. The Bundesliga debut followed in the 2019/20 season.
However, Beier did not achieve his final breakthrough in Kraichgau; the now 21-year-old was loaned out to Hannover 96 for two years, where his star continued to rise. But very few people expected how “Maxi” began the 2023/24 season. After eight games, Beier had six goals and in the first ten matchdays he had a total of nine goals.
Maximilian Beier wants to play internationally with TSG Hoffenheim next season, but whether he succeeds will certainly depend on his performances in the last two games. If you move into the Europa or Conference League, the television viewer may also be able to look forward to a rather rare Beier interview.
There are five games left in the season, meaning a total of 15 points are still up for grabs. But Darmstadt's focus is entirely on Sunday's match (April 19th, 1:30pm) against Greuther Fürth. From the media briefing with Fabian Nürnberger, from the hockey pitch to San Antonio: We report on all these topics and many more. As usual, you can find all the latest news from SV 98's club life here in our weekly column "Lilies Across the Board."
SV 98 mourns the loss of its former player Roger Prinzen, who passed away suddenly and unexpectedly on Monday evening (April 13th) at the age of 57.
The long wait for a point is over! After four consecutive defeats, SV Darmstadt 98's U21 team finally secured some points. On their home turf, the young Lilies drew 1-1 against TSV Eintracht Stadtallendorf last Saturday (April 11th). Looking at the league table, it was clear even before the match that it wouldn't be easy, as a full ten places separated the two teams in the LOTTO Hessenliga standings. However, the Lilies' U21 team remained evenly matched with the seventh-placed side and collected a crucial home point.
This match is a tradition – at least at the veterans' level: The SV Darmstadt 98 veterans team visited Real Madrid for the third time. The game was played last Thursday (April 9th) at the "Royal Whites'" training ground in the Valdebebas district of Madrid.
The season is drawing to a close, and SV Darmstadt 98's penultimate away match takes them to the Wildpark stadium. On Sunday (May 3rd, 1:30pm), SV 98 will be playing away against Karlsruher SC. We need a large turnout of Darmstadt fans to support them. Advance ticket sales for club members begin next Wednesday (April 15th) at noon. All ticket information can be found in this announcement.
It happened in their 15th home game of the season. Darmstadt lost on their own turf. Deservedly so. Although SV 98 tried everything against the visitors from Hannover until the final whistle, the Lower Saxons proved too strong on Saturday evening. In our analysis, we take another look at the match.
For the first time this season, SV Darmstadt 98 finished a match at the Merck-Stadion am Böllenfalltor without any points. The Lilies offered more resistance to Hannover 96's two goals in the second half. However, the pressure exerted by the South Hessians at the end proved fruitless. Read here what the players and both head coaches had to say about the defeat, which Darmstadt considered deserved overall.
Everything has to end and so the undefeated home record of SV 98 ended on Saturday night. Hannover 96 triumphed 2-0 (1-0) to hand the Lilies their first home loss of the season at the Merck-Stadion am Böllenfalltor.
Another top match at the Merck Stadium at Böllenfalltor. On matchday 29 (April 11th/8:30pm), Hannover 96 visits Darmstadt. For the clash with their direct league rivals, Florian Kohfeldt has made three changes to his starting eleven. The suspended Lidberg and Klefisch are replaced by Lakenmacher and Papela, and Niklas Schmidt comes in for Marco Richter. Bartosz Bialek returns to the Darmstadt 98 matchday squad for the first time this calendar year after recovering from injury.
Once again at 8:30pm, floodlights, top match, and at the Bölle! On Saturday (April 11th/8:30pm), Hannover 96 visits Darmstadt, and once again two teams from the top five meet at Nieder-Ramstädter-Straße. What do the two head coaches have to say before the match? Who will be the referee? And who will be the commentator? As usual, we've compiled all the important information about the game against the Lower Saxony side for you in "Matchday Compact."
Florian Kohfeldt spoke at the press conference ahead of the match against Hannover 96 (April 11th/8:30pm) about the fast-paced first game, the strong opponent, and the squad. We've compiled the most important statements from our head coach for you.
At their home game on Saturday (April 11th, 8:30pm) at the Merck Stadium at Böllenfalltor, SV Darmstadt 98 will send an important message. Together with the Björn Steiger Foundation and the German Heart Foundation, the club will promote the HERZSICHER (Heart Safe) initiative. The initiative aims to empower as many people as possible to perform CPR in the event of cardiac arrest through free 60-minute resuscitation courses. The German Football Association (DFB) is a cooperation partner.