TSG 1899 HOFFENHEIM
DECEMBER 2024
Founded: Jul 1, 1899
Club Members: 11,000
Nickname: Achtzehn99
Coach: Christian Ilzer
Captain: Oliver Baumann
Landespokal Baden Winner: 4
Website: www.achtzehn99.de
Originally founded in 1899 as a gymnastics club, TSG 1899 Hoffenheim came into being in its modern form in 1945 following a merger between football and gymnastic clubs; and were until very recently an obscure amateur side representing a village of just 3,000 inhabitants in the lower reaches of German football. That all began to change in 2000 when multi-billionaire and life-long Hoffenheim fan Dietmar Hopp became owner and started using his considerable financial clout to turn around the club's fortunes.
His spending brought immediate results with promotion to the fourth division Oberliga Baden-Wüttemburg secured in 2000, followed by promotion to the third-tier Regionalliga Süd in 2001. Bankrolled by Hopp, it wasn't long either before Hoffenheim were reaching the quarter-finals of the DFB-Pokal - beating Bayer Leverkusen of the Bundesliga along the way.
After negotiations to merge Hoffenheim with local clubs Astoria Waldorf and SV Sandhausen fell through in 2006, Hopp sanctioned the signing of players with Bundesliga experience and brought in the well-known figure of Ralf Rangnick to blend them into a winning team. The heavy investment paid off as 'Hopp-enheim' won promotion to Bundesliga.2 in 2007, and a year later - just 10 years after playing in the sixth tier - they became a Bundesliga club after a second-place finish earned them another promotion. Although they came close to relegation in 2013 and 2016, Hoffenheim have otherwise established themselves in the top division; and after rising managerial star Julian Nagelsmann guided them to a third-place finish in the 2017-18 season, they made their Champions League bow the following season.
The story of how an owner pushed his childhood club all the way to the top might seem like a fairy tale, but it's not a view shared by many German fans who view themselves as the guardians of true football culture. Accusations of being an artificial construct that embodies 'modern football' follow Hoffenheim wherever they play and many feel that the club's ownership model goes against the spirit of the 50+1 rule intended to prevent individuals acquiring majority stakes in football clubs like they do elsewhere in Europe. In 2011, a Hoffenheim employee admitted using a sound machine through the PA to drown out Dortmund's away fans whose chants were made against the owner and Anti-Hopp banners have been seen and chants heard at matches between the two clubs ever since. In February 2020 matches were delayed or interrupted across Germany by fans protesting that the village club's place in the Bundesliga owes more to financial doping than any sporting merit achieved on the pitch.
GROUND DETAILS
Ground Name: PreZero Arena
Architect: agn Niederberghaus & Partner
Built: 2007 - 2009
Year Opened: 2009
Capacity: 30,150 (6,750 standing)
Record Attendance: 30,150 (2016)
Executive Boxes: 40
Executive Box Seats: 1.364
Wheelchair Spaces: 40
Construction Costs: €63.6m
Undersoil Heating: Yes
Running Track: No
Floodlights: 2,000 lux
LED Video Screens: 58m² x 2
Playing Surface: Natural Grass
Pitch Size: 105m x 68m
Grounds:
Dietmar Hopp Stadion (1999 - 2008)
Carl Benz Stadion (2008 - 2009)
Rhein Neckar Arena (2009 - 2019)
PreZero Arena (2019 - ) *
* Stadium Renamed
Built at a cost of €60 million to keep pace with Hoffenheim's meteoric rise through the leagues, the PreZero Arena opened in 2009. The original plan was to build the arena near the beautiful university town of Heidelberg before planning permissions were knocked back. Another plan to build it in nearby Eppelheim was also rejected before work on the stadium began on the current site at Sinsheim (not in Hoffenheim itself) next to the A6 autobahn. Built in just 22 months, during which Hoffenheim played their 'home' matches at the Carl Benz Stadion in Mannheim, the new arena (originally named Wirsol Rhein-Neckar-Arena) replaced the club's former Dietmar Hopp Stadion which, with a capacity of just 6,350, simply wasn't up to the job of hosting Bundesliga football.
With a capacity of 30,150 (in a town with only 36,000 inhabitants!), it's a single-tier, fully covered affair with all the stands being of the same height and similar in appearance - save for the main stand which is dominated by the obligatory number of executive boxes.
Hoffenheim's home end is the South Stand with two centre blocks of terracing (S1 and S2) where their loudest support gather. Visitors are given space in the opposite north-east corner of the ground (Blocks G and H).
BUYING TICKETS
Ticket Office:
Website: www.achtzehn99.de/tickets
Telephone: +49 (0) 726 194930
Email: ticketing@tsg-hoffenheim.de
Average Attendance:
2023-2024: 24,559 (Bundesliga)
2022-2023: 24,643 (Bundesliga)
2021-2022: 11,227 (Bundesliga) *
2020-2021: N/A *
2019-2020: 20,449 (Bundesliga) *
* Season affected by COVID pandemic
Expected Ticket Availability
Although the club website offers an English Language version, it's online ticket shop is not 'Aüslander '
friendly and you'll probably need to learn some German or use Google Translate to buy tickets (Print@Home or Mobile Tickets only). Tickets can also be bought at the fan shop at the ground or from the stadium box offices which open three hours before kick-off.
Achtzehn99 don't sell-out that often now that the novelty of being a Bundesliga club on the rise with no local competition has worn off, and apart from matches against the usual suspects and VfB Stuttgart, getting hold of a ticket won't be too much of a problem. Since March 2019, Hoffenheim have operated an official Ticket Exchange site and it's a good place to look if you've been caught out and the sold-out signs have gone up. More information here.
Hoffenheim adopt an ABCDE approach to categorising matches and there's a quite a difference in price depending on the quality of opposition facing them. Matches are allocated a category when the fixtures are scheduled by the DFL (German Football League) so be sure to check the website for confirmed pricing. Broadly speaking though full-payers should expect to pay the following:
Category A: €37 - €80 for seats, €18 standing
Category B: €37 - €65 for seats, €18 standing
Category C: €33 - €60 for seats, €18 standing
Category D: €24 - €46 for seats, €16 standing
Category E: €20 - €40 for seats, €14 standing
Discounts are available for children (aged 4-14 years old), students, senior citizens and people with disabilities. Fans aged 3 years and under, are given free admission but aren't entitled to a seat of their own and must sit on a parent or guardian's lap throughout the game. Family seating is also available in the 'TSG Familienblock' (Blocks U and V) for €18 - €29 for adults and €9 - €18 for children (aged 4-14 years) depending on price category. More information about 2024-25 ticket pricing can be found here.
Information about visiting the PreZero Arena for fans with disabilities can be found at:
www.bundesliga-reisefuehrer.de
GETTING THERE & AWAY
Stadium Address:
Dietmar Hopp Straße 1
74889 Sinsheim
BY CAR:
The PreZero Arena is just off the busy A6 autobahn so take the 33b Sinsheim Süd exit and follow signs to the stadium. The club warn that the autobahn is usually congested and that once you've battled your way off the motorway, the situation isn't much better at the stadium itself.
Car Parks P9-11 nearest the stadium cost €10 are usually full at least half an hour before kick-off and the alternative P12-15 car parks on Neulandstraße aren't much better - even at €5 per vehicle. It might be an idea therefore to park a bit further away from the ground (eg in Sinsheim or Steinsfurt) where you'll probably avoid wasting precious lifetime in the post-match traffic inching away from the stadium. One option is the 'Freibad' car park (Schwimmbadweg, 74889 Sinsheim) which offers free parking near the main train station. Parking is also available at the Dr.-Sieber-Halle car park (Friedrichstraße 17, 74889 Sinsheim) which is free until 2pm on Saturdays and €1 per hour thereafter. More information about parking options in Sinsheim can be found here.
PUBLIC TRANSPORT:
With a match ticket you can ride around in 2nd class on trains, buses and trams within the Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Neckar (VRN) and the Heilbronner/Hohenloher/Haller Nahverkehr (HNV) transport networks on a matchday until 3am the following morning. Don't forget to 'personalise' your ticket at the time of purchase! Trains deposit fans at the Sinsheim Museum/Arena station and from here it's a 15-minute stroll following everyone else to the arena. Shuttle buses also run every 15 minutes from the Sinsheim (Elsenz) station (one stop further along the line from Sinsheim Museum/Arena) to the ground. The service starts 2.5 hours before kick-off and runs until 90 minutes after full-time.
WALKING DIRECTIONS:
The ground is in the middle of nowhere next to a motorway junction, so unless you're already in Sinsheim to visit the Auto & Technik Museum, then you'll arrive with all the other fans at the stations so just follow the Public Transport directions above.
FAN SHOP, MUSEUM & STADIUM TOURS
FAN SHOP:
All your fanartikels and match tickets can be picked up at the TSG-Fanshop (PreZero Arena, Dietmar Hopp Straße 1, 74889 Sinsheim; tel: +49 (0) 726 194930, email: fanartikel@tsg-hoffenheim.de; 10am-5pm, Mon-Wed & Fri; 10am-6pm, Thu; 10am-2pm, Sat; open from three hours before kick-off and for an hour after full-time on home matchdays).
STADIUM TOURS:
Public tours of the arena are run on non-matchday Saturdays at 10:30am, 12pm and 1:30pm. No pre-booking is required and the tours last 45-60 minutes. Tickets are available in the fan shop for €5 per person and further info can be found here.
FOOD & DRINK OPTIONS
With the PreZero Arena being on an industrial park, there isn't much in the way of bars and restaurants nearby for a pre-match meal. If you're desperate for super processed greasy food then there's a McDonalds on Neulandstaraße. Head to the bars and restaurants in Sinsheim's historic centre instead or join the Hoffenheim fans at their pre-match party held in a tented area on Untere Au by the Auto & Technik Museum. Another idea is to visit Heidelberg half-an-hour away by train before making your way to Sinsheim.
The usual fast food kiosks at the ground will provide you with your fill of chips, pretzel, frikadellen and wurst variants along with a few pints of Bitburger; and since the 2016-17 season, possibly as a reward for coming to watch one of Germany's most unpopular teams, Hoffenheim will let you pay for everything with cash or contactless methods (debit/credit card, Apple Pay, Google Pay etc).
OTHER CLUBS IN THE AREA
BUNDESLIGA: 1.FC Heidenheim 1846, 1.FSV Mainz 05, Eintracht Frankfurt, VfB Stuttgart
BUNDESLIGA 2: 1.FC Kaiserslautern, Karlsruher SC, SSV Ulm 1846, SV Darmstadt 98, SV Elversberg
3.LIGA: 1.FC Saarbrücken, SV Sandhausen, SV Waldhof Mannheim, SV Wehen Wiesbaden, VfB Stuttgart II