Everyone loves the underdog.
A team which, despite their relative lack of star players, club prestige, or finances, end up punching well above their weight and achieving outstanding results.
This season, probably the most remarkable result by such a team was achieved by Hoffenheim in the Bundesliga.
This past weekend, in the final match day of Bundesliga action, Hoffenheim beat Borussia Dortmund 3-1 to leapfrog the Ruhr club into third place, sealing a spot in next season’s Champions League for the first time in the club’s history.
Third place in the Bundesliga is a phenomenal result for Die Kraichgauer for a variety of reasons.
The club is not blessed with the wealth of rivals such as Dortmund, RB Leipzig, or Bayer Leverkusen. Yet, they managed to finish ahead of all three in the league.
Hoffenheim is also a club without much history. They were only promoted to Germany’s top flight for the first time in 2008, and, until 2016-17, had never finished higher than seventh in the Bundesliga. In fact, as recently as two years ago, Hoffenheim flirted with relegation, finishing 15th.
Hoffenheim are also a team without a true star. Their best players include the likes of Oliver Baumann, Mark Uth, Håvard Nordtveit, Ádám Szalai, and Andrej Kramarić. Although they are all solid players who can make notable contributions to a team, none of them can truly be considered a game-changing superstar.
Furthermore, and perhaps the most remarkable part of Hoffenheim’s rise, the village (yes, village. Not city, not town, but village) of Hoffenheim has a population of just over 3,000.
To put this into perspective, the entire population of Hoffenheim could fit into the club’s Dietmar-Hopp-Stadion nine times, and there would still be empty seats.
On top of all this, Hoffenheim even made a profit in terms of transfers. Largely thanks to the big-money sales of Niklas Süle and Sandro Wagner to Bayern Munich, Hoffenheim made a profit of over €30 million in the transfer market this season.
Given all the information provided, Hoffenheim have truly enjoyed an incredible season – clearly the best in club history.
So, just how did this unfancied village club reach this point?
First of all, a tremendous amount of credit has to go to head coach Julian Nagelsmann. After taking over from Huub Stevens during the difficult 2015-16 campaign, he did not have the most auspicious of debut seasons, only narrowly avoiding relegation to the 2. Bundesliga.
However, since then, he has done an outstanding job. He followed up that season with a fourth-place finish in the league in 2016-17, thus allowing Hoffenheim to play in European competition for the first time in the club’s history. This season, he has gone one better.
At the age of 30, Nagelsmann is exceptionally young for one who holds his position. It is certainly possible that within the next decade, he will have taken over at the helm of a powerhouse of world football.
Hoffenheim also have a history of making shrewd, under-the-radar signings.
Among the players signed by Hoffenheim who went on to make a significant impact there, as well as at other clubs, include the following: Timo Hildebrand, Sebastian Rudy, Luiz Gustavo, Demba Ba, Vedad Ibišević, Gylfi Sigurðsson, and, perhaps most impressive of all, Roberto Firmino, who was signed from Figueirense at the age of 19.
This season, Hoffenheim’s new arrivals, such as Nordtveit, Nico Schulz, and Florian Grillitsch, have all fit seamlessly into the team, thus showing that this is a club that puts thought into their signings.
Finally, another important element of Hoffenheim’s, as well as any other underdog team’s success, is their sheer grit and determination.
It’s somewhat of a cliché, but every time Hoffenheim take to the field, they seem to “want it more” than the other team.
This is reflected in the final Bundesliga table: in what was probably the toughest battle for Champions League spots in modern Bundesliga history, with third through ninth separated by just eight points, Hoffenheim finished ahead of all the other contenders.
If Hoffenheim continue on their current path, there is no reason why they cannot carry on defying the odds next season, whether domestically or in the Champions League. Their success is a beacon of hope to all small-town teams, showing them that it can indeed be done if the right moves are made.
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