FC Hoffenheim was founded in 1899 as part of a sport community that also included volleyball, gymnastics and wrestling divisions but was not in the favor of community’s management at that time. The club represents the village of Hoffenheim with population of 3,000 people. Nowadays Hoffenheim belongs to the city of Sinsheim (Baden-Wurttemberg region). Since 2008 FC Hoffenheim has been playing in German Bundesliga.
Hoffenheim spent most of its time in amateur and regional leagues. Till 1989 the club played in the 7th German division (Bezirksliga). In 1989 the team finished last and was relegated deeper to the Kreisliga. That was the breaking point in the history of the club. Billionaire Dietmar Hopp, who had played for the team when he was young, launched financial support to the club. To begin with he provided the team with 10,000 German marks to be spent on training equipment and balls. In 1990 the team won Kreisliga A and came back to the 7th division to win it in first season that got them promoted to Landesliga. It took Hoffenheim 6 years to get through the league for Verbandsliga. In 2000 the team advanced to Oberliga and the following year further on to Regionalliga Sud.
In 2003 the club forced to the 1/16 finals of the German Cup to be beaten by Koln. In 2004 the team was widely discussed in Germany after beating Eintracht, Bayer Leverkusen and Karlsruhe in the same German Cup. Sadly the club was stopped by Lubeck in quarterfinal.
In 2007 the club finished the season on the second position and went directly to Bundesliga 2. In 2008 the club got the new stadium and, inspired, made a tremendous achievement by reaching the German elite division.
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