A Road To Glory

After an hour thinking what team to manage I have chosen German 2.Bundesliga team Hoffenheim.

HOFFENHEIM HISTORY

The modern-day club was formed in 1945, when gymnastics club Turnverein Hoffenheim (founded July 1 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 seventh division Baden-Württemberg A-Liga. They steadily improved and by 1996 were competing in the Verbandsliga Nordbaden (V).

Around 1990, alumnus Dietmar Hopp returned to the club of his youth, not as a player, but as 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 German Cup appearance in the 2003-04 competition and performed well, advancing to the quarterfinals by eliminating 2. Bundesliga sides Eintracht Trier and Karlsruher SC and Bundesliga club Bayer Leverkusen before being being put out themselves by another 2. Bundesliga side, VfB Lübeck.

Negotiations to merge TSG Hoffenheim, FC 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.

In 2006, the club sought to improve its squad and technical staff by bringing in players with several years of Bundesliga experience, most notably Jochen Seitz and Tomislav Marić, and by signing Ralf Rangnick, former manager of Bundesliga teams VfB Stuttgart, Hannover 96, and FC Schalke 04, to a five-year contract. The investment paid off in the 2006-07 season with the club's promotion to the 2. Bundesliga after finishing 2nd in Regioneliga Süd. As of March 30, 2008 Hoffenheim are well placed to be promoted into the Bundesliga.

MY HOFFENHEIM

-first season overview-

My squad

Formation 4-4-2

GOALKEEPERS I had rubbish goalkeepers, only unexperienced Thorsten Kirschbaum but a goalkeeper with really high potential. As I needed a backup GK I was looking around free transfers and I signed Serbian Dragan Zilic on a free from Rijeka. Not very good good, but decent for a backup...

DEFENDERS I did not concentrate on defense much but I loaned Dortmund's Uwe Hunemeier and bought Marvin Angulo for 250k from Herediano...

MIDFIELDERS I had to buy a lot of players to play in my middle field, I bought two Slovenians Rene Mihelic and David Tomazic Seruga from Maribor, both for 90k, Walter Centeno on a free, Kasper Hamalainen from Turun Palloseura for 50k.In December when I sold lot of my not needed players, I bought Debrecen's Balazs Dzsudzsak for 500k and Rene Lima from River for 500k...

ATTACKERS I have Edu and Carlos Eduardo in ST positions and I do not need any one else, they are simply fantastic...

I have won 2.Bundesliga and five rounds before end...

League Table -

2.Bundesliga best player - Carlos Eduardo

Best Eleven + rest of squad -

As you can see I was unbeatable in 34 games, but i lost in my very first competitive game in German Cup against Stuttgart...

-second season-

Squad

GK

D
M

A

Transfers -

I was delighted when i saw that Luis Jimenez wants to join my club. I sold Dzsudzsak and Rene Lima for a lot of cash and I got some money from TV rights and because I won the league, so I had 19M.With that much money I started to look for some players I needed to buy, especially defenders, and these were the best players I found...

Start of the season expectations

The media put me in disappointing 18th position, but I promised my board a safe mid-table position... Personally I think that I could make it to Europe (probably EURO Vase and maybe EURO Cup from German Cup) but we will see. I have strong team and I really hope that we can do well in Bundesliga and qualify for Europe and that is my main goal.

First I am going to Austria on a tour. I will play with Gratkom, Slazburg and Rapid Wien. Also with Rasing Club at home.
My first two competitive games will be against Dortmund (League Cup) and with Kaiserslaurten (German Cup).
At the start of Bundesliga I play against Rostock, Dortmund and Bielefeld, so I have easy first games, but from 24.9 till 25.10 I play with Werder Bremen, Bayern, HSV, Schalke and Stuttgart (killer draw)...

The tour in Austria went rather well...


The result against Rapid was not what I have expected but they really played well and my team didn't so congrats to them...

The game against Borussia Dortmund will be my first real test so lot depends on this match. They finished 2nd and with experienced team that they have they will pose a real treat.I really don't know what to expect but when this match is over i will know if I am able to cope with the "big guys".

The match started pretty much offensively. Both Dortmund and me were making chances and by the end of the first half we were evenly matched.At the start of the second half Carlos Eduardo and Edu had three fantastic opportunities but neither scored.Dortmund was overwhelmed.And like from nowhere Frei (Dortmund) scored first goal for Dortmund in 60.min.In 64.min Marvin Angulo (Hoffenheim) got second yellow card and that ruined my chances for win.In 75.min Dede (Dortmund) scored a marvelous goal from the free kick.And in 81.min Tomazic Seruga (Hoffenheim) scored but at that moment it was too late.
Despite the loss, we played well and now I'm confident that we can do well in both cup and league.

My cup game went rather disappointing, I won 2:0 with my second team and bunch of youngsters but i thought that I would win with bigger margin.

The season started better than I've expected. The first league victory came in my first match against Rostock, 3:0 at Dietmar-Hopp.And in the next match - shock in Dortmund.

The rematch with Dortmund I was eagerly anticipating. They won in League Cup in even match. I came with defensive tactic because we were playing on away ground but we were attacking from the first minute.The first goal came early, in the 5.min Demba Ba scored and not long after he scored again in 22.min. Rest of the match went rather boring. Neither team had many opportunities and I came out as winner at the end.

The season hots up. After fantastic victory in Dortmund Bielefeld was arriving at Dietmar-Hopp. My complete dominance resulted in 4:2 victory. In next match Mainz was unable to resist me even at his own ground, I won 2:0, and now I'm traveling to Wolfsburg. The match was very tensed with many good chances for both teams but in the end it was me who claimed all three points. We won 3:2.

Current league table after 5 rounds -

I am delighted about my team and it's form. I am confident that they can achieve everything.The next two matches - Hoffenheim 1:0 Hertha and Nurnberg 3:4 Hoffenheim...

Truly historic performance by my team. Edu scored in 1.min and 13.min and his goals were followed by Carlos Eduardo's fantastic goal in 26.min.Markus Rosenberg scored in 51.min to give Werder a glimpse of hope, but Carlos Eduardo scored once again in 62.min to secure a truly memorable victory.

Another great game. Doudin opend the match with is goal in 3.min. Van Buyten leveled in 13.min but after two minutes Luis Jimenez scored.In 77.min Edu made my lead even higher but Nocerino in 80.min reduced it on 1 goal lead again. And in injury time Centeno scored last goal in the match.

The results of the next four matches:

Hard games are over, now comes the easier part of the season...Next up Bochum.


Current league table after fifteen rounds -

Three great wins in a row, 15 goals in three matches with only two conceded. Still in first place, 8 points in front of Hertha BSC. If I maintain this form I will be champion easily.

Next game, I was hosting Aachen. An easy 4:0 win against my fierce rivals. Next day I was traveling to Frankfurt. I tried out a new tactic 4-2-3-1 and it proved to be good so I won 3:1. And in the last game of the year I have beaten Hansa in Rostock 1:0.

In January I'm going to Serbia on a tour. And I will play against Radnicki Kragujevac, my home city team, currently in third Serbian league, Partizan and Red Star.

The tour went well...


First match after the winter break was in German Cup 3rd round against Koln. I won 5:1. Good start.

Bundesliga goes on, match against Dortmund and easy victory for me 2:0, then pathetic goalless draw with Bielefeld, 3:0 victory against Mainz and 4:1 against Wolfsburg. Good intro for cup quarter final against Bayern.


The match starts in quite a pace. Bayern slightly more offensively and in 18.min Luca Toni scores. But Carlos Eduardo equalizes in 28.min and my new signing Filip Djordjevic scores in 29.min. My lead didn't last for long because Toni scores again in 31.min. I changed my tactic into slightly more offensive. And in 52.min Djordjevic scores again ad gave me lead again. No goals till the end but few good chances for both teams.

I won in the next match against Hertha 3:1, they were 3rd in at the moment. A boring 0:0 draw against Nurnberg after.

Current league table after 24 rounds -

Then came derby with Werder.


Filip Djordjevic opened the match in a very first minute (my fastest goal ever). Werder was overwhelmed, they couldn't do anything. Their defense was weak so Edu scored in 18. and 41.min and sealed the game. Nothing special till the end.

Now comes German Cup Semi Final against Werder. I won four days ago so I'm pretty confident that I can do it again. And in the meanwhile i took the Wales job.

I lost the semi final 3:2, Werder established an early 2:0 lead and I couldn't turn the result around. Next match I beat Bayern 3:1, draw in Hamburg 1:1 and victory at Dietmar-Hopp 3:1 against Schalke. And with that victory I HAVE WON THE BUNDESLIGA. Now I can completely devote my attention to Wales.


Bundesliga -

Bundesliga best player -

Bundesliga Best XI -

This is the end of this blog, don't know if I'm going to start a new one because I got bored of playing FM, and with FM09 coming out in a few months there ain't gonna be next blog about my Hoffenheim or Wales for that matter...

Those two seasons with Hoffenheim were one of my best seasons ever as a manager. So with heavy heart I have to put a full stop and finish this blog. Thank you for reading and good bye.