Originally founded in 1899 as a gymnastics club, Hoffenheim came into being in its

modern form in 1945. A fifth division side in 2000, the club rapidly advanced through
the German football league system with the financial backing of alumnus and software
mogul Dietmar Hopp, and in 2008 Hoffenheim was promoted to the top tier Bundesliga.
In the 2017–18 season, Hoffenheim finished third in the Bundesliga (its best to date),
qualifying for the UEFA Champions League group stage for the first time.
Since 2009, Hoffenheim has played its home games at the Rhein-Neckar-
Arena (currently known as PreZero Arena), having previously played at the Dietmar-
Hopp-Stadion from 1999.
History
This article or section appears to be slanted
towards recent events. (April 2019)

The modern-day club was formed in 1945, when gymnastics club Turnverein
Hoffenheim (founded 1 July 1899) and football club Fußballverein
Hoffenheim (founded 1921) merged. At the beginning of the 1990s, the club was an
obscure local amateur side playing in the eighth division Baden-Württemberg A-Liga.
They steadily improved and by 1996 were competing in the Verbandsliga
Nordbaden (V).
Around 2000, alumnus Dietmar Hopp returned to the club of his youth as a financial
backer. Hopp was the co-founder of software firm SAP and he put some of his money
into the club. His contributions generated almost immediate results: in 2000 Hoffenheim
finished first in the Verbandsliga and was promoted to the fourth-division Oberliga
Baden-Württemberg. Another first-place finish moved the club up to the Regionalliga
Süd (III) for the 2001–02 season. They finished 13th in their first season in the
Regionalliga, but improved significantly the next year, earning a fifth-place result.
Hoffenheim earned fifth and seventh-place finishes in the next two seasons, before
improving to fourth in 2005–06 to earn their best result to date. The club made its
first DFB-Pokal appearance in the 2003–04 competition and performed well, advancing
to the quarter-finals by eliminating 2. Bundesliga sides Eintracht Trier and Karlsruher
SC and Bundesliga club Bayer Leverkusen before being put out themselves by another 2.
Bundesliga side, VfB Lübeck.
Negotiations to merge TSG Hoffenheim, Astoria Walldorf, and SV Sandhausen to
create FC Heidelberg 06 in 2005 were abandoned due to the resistance of the latter two
clubs, and the failure to agree on whether the new side's stadium should be located
in Heidelberg or Eppelheim. Team owner Hopp clearly preferred Heidelberg, but could
not overcome the resistance of local firm Wild, which had already reserved the site of the
planned stadium for its new production facilities.