Hoffenheim - The Rise Of A Club

Thought you could have got a better price for Rudy.

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The summer transfer window of the season 13/14 has finally come to an end. Here we list this years transfers (not including all loans and releases of junior players). The transfer sums are excluding eventual bonuses.

FC Augsburg
In
Robert Tesche (HSV - €175k)
Oscar Wendt (Mönchengladbach - €600k + Mohamed Amsif)
Nils Teixeira (FSV Frankfurt - €525k)

Out
Matthias Ostrzolek (Wolfsburg - €3.1m)
Thomas Rudolph (Buchbach - Free)
Christian Lang (Buchbach - Free)
Bajram Nebihi (Free)
Mohamed Amsif (Mönchengladbach - Oscar Wendt)

Bayer 04 Leverkusen
In
Adam Zrelak (Ruzomberok - €1.1m)
Fallou Diagne (Freiburg - 3.5m)
Pione Sisto (Midtjylland - €275k)
Fabio Quagliarella (Juventus - Loan)

Out
Tomasz Bobel (Free)
Sebastian Hirsch (Free)
Emre Can (Olympiakos - Loan)

Bayern München
Out
Mitchell Weiser (Olympiakos - Loan)
David Vrzogic (Free)

Borussia Dortmund
In
Sebastian Rode (Frankfurt - €5m)
Stefan Savic (Fiorentina - €7m)

Out
Julian Schieber (Hoffenheim - €1.5)
Tim Treude (Fortuna Köln - Free)
Oliver Kirch (Hoffenheim - €100k)

Borussia Mönchengladbach
In
Kasper Kusk (AaB - €550k)
Felipe (Wolfsburg - €500k)
Mohamed Amsif (Augsburg - Oscar Wendt)

Out
Filip Daems (Hertha - €180k)
Oscar Wendt (Augsburg - €600k + Mohamed Amsif)

Eintracht Braunschweig
Out
Christopher Nachtwey (Free)

Eintracht Frankfurt
Out
Carlos Zambrano (Benfica - €3.7m)
Sebastian Rode (Dortmund - €5m)
Stefano Celozzi (Werder Bremen - €1.3m)

SC Freiburg
In
Alex Succar (Cantalao - €27k)

Out
Julian Schuster (Wolfsburg - €2.1m)
Fallou Diagne (Leverkusen - €3.5m)

Hamburger SV
In
Vincent-Louis Stenzel (Mainz - €875k)

Out
Robert Tesche (Augsburg - €175k)
Dennis Diekmeier (Stuttgart - €1.8m)
Hakan Çalhano?lu (Galatasaray - Loan)
Henrik Dettmann (Free)
Tomás Rincón (Flamengo - €1m)

Hannover 96
In
Veton Berisha (Viking - €550k)
Tomás Hüberschman (Shaktar Donetsk - €1.6m)

Out
Mame Diouf (FC Porto - €6.25m)
Florian Rutter (Free)
Meik Karwot (Kassel - Free)

Hertha BSC
In
Filip Daems (Mönchengladbach - €180k)

Out
Jordan Torunarigha (Wolfsburg - €550k)
Marcel Ndjeng (Free)
Maximilian Scheel (Free)

TSG 1899 Hoffenheim
In
Julian Schieber (Dortmund - €1.5m)
Sascha Horvath (FK Austria Wien - €7.5k)
Julian Weigl (1860 München - €1.7m)
Ondrej Kusnir (Slovan Liberec - Loan €18k p/m)
Branimir Bajic (Energie Cottbus - €200k)
Oliver Kirch (Dortmund - €100k)

Out
Denis Streker (Aalen - €180k)
Sebastian Rudy (Lokomotiv Moscow - €4.5m)
Tim Paterok (Free)
Andreas Schön (Koblenz - Free)
Afriyie Acquah (Parma - Loan)
Joselu (Frankfurt - Loan)
Luis Advíncula (Ponte Preta - Loan)
Romário (Duisburg - Loan)
Joseph-Claude Gyau (St.Pauli - Loan)
Jeremy Toljan (Cottbus - Loan)
Filip Malbasic (Partizan - Loan)

1. FSV Mainz 05
In
Oliver Fink (Düsseldorf - €925k)
Anthony Annan (Schalke - €375k)
Thomas Drage - (Tromsø - €350k)

Out
Julian Baumgartlinger (Wolfsburg - €3.6m)
Michael Falkenmayer (Free)
Vincent-Louis Stenzel (HSV - €875k)
Malik Fathi (Trabzonspor - €275k)

1. FC Nürnberg
In
Andreas Kuen (FC Wacker Innsbruck - Free)
Adam Nemec (Union Berlin - €1.1m)
Erik Sviatchenko (Midtjylland - €350k)
Alexander Madlung (Free)

Out
Tomás Pekhart (Wolfsburg - €2.4m)

Schalke 04
In
Yannick Gerhardt (Köln - €2.6m)

Out
Anthony Annan (Mainz - €375k)

VfB Stuttgart
In
Dennis Diekmeier (HSV - €1.8m)
Christian Lell (Free)
Aleksandar Ignjovski (Werder Bremen - €250k)
Mato Jajalo (Köln - €2.1m)

Out
Ibrahima Traoré (Olympique de Marseille - €3.5m)
Daniel Wier (Free)
Thomas Geyer (Free)
Arthur Boka (Al-Hilal - €1.1m)

SV Werder Bremen
In
Stefano Celozzi (Frankfurt - €1.3m)
Michal Rabusic (Slovan Liberec - €825k)
Dominic Maroh (Köln - €1.1m)

Out
Eljero Elia (Tottenham - €16m)
Max Wegner (Free)
Tobias Duffner (Free)
Aleksandar Ignjovski (Stuttgart - €250k)
Julian Dudda (Free)

VfL Wolfsburg
In
Matthias Ostrzolek (Augsburg - €3.1m)
Julian Baumgartlinger (Mainz - €3.6m)
Tomás Pekhart (Nürnberg - €2.4m)
Jordan Torunarigha (Hertha - €550k)
Julian Schuster (Freiburg - €2.1m)

Out
Felipe (Mönchengladbach - €500k)
Danko Boskovic (Viktoria Köln - Free)

Joachim Streich today confirmed the 23 man squad registered for Bundesliga action.

”I would like to believe our team now have a good balance between experience and talent. We have a broad squad and should be able to compete about a respectable league placement.” he said when approached outside of the Rhein-Neckar-Arena.

Critics claim the midfield is Hoffenheim’s weakest part with Salihovic and Polanski being the only viable options living up to Bundesliga standard. The offense on the other hand has to be respected, with up-and-coming striker Kevin Volland as their main weapon and new signings Anthony Modeste and Julian Schieber as his backup.

Goalkeepers
Koen Casteels, 21
Jens Grahl, 24
Marvin Schwäbe, 18

Right backs
Andreas Beck, 26
Ondrej Kusnir, 29

Central defenders
Branimir Bajic, 33
David Abraham, 27
Stefan Thesker, 22
Niklas Süle, 17
Jannik Vestergaard, 20

Left backs
Edson Braafheid, 30
Fabian Johnson, 25

Midfielders
Sejad Salihovic, 28
Tobias Weis, 27
Eugen Polanski, 27
Oliver Kirsch, 31
Tobias Strobl, 23

Offensive midfielders
Roberto Firmino, 21
Tarik Elyounoussi, 25
Jiloan Hamad, 23

Strikers
Kevin Volland, 20
Julian Schieber, 24
Anthony Modeste, 25

What is your opinion, is this a team good enough to reach the top of Bundesliga?

In Streich and Stoichkov's first month they didn't have a single league win, this month results have really been going their way, with 12 out of 12 points taken and wins against Bayer Leverkusen and Wolfsburg both fans and players are jubilant.

"We believed in our new possession based play style and it has really payed off, if you have possession the opponent can't score, simple as that." said a pleased Streich after the hammering of Wolfsburg at the Rhein-Neckar-Arena.

Two months into the season Joachim Streich have come to realise the squad needs to become even broader, preferably in the attacking midfielder position. With Roberto Firmino being the only one who excels in the role behind the striker this results in him playing almost every game and an injury on him would be a terrible setback for Hoffenheim. Therefore another Brazilian is set to join the Sinsheim club.

The attacking midfielder Lulinha started his footballing career playing futsal which have granted him a unique technical advantage in tight areas (much alike Liverpool's Philippe Coutinho). He started his career playing in the Corinthians youth system but never really broke in to the first team. This lead to him being loaned out to portuguese clubs Estoril and after that Olhanense. The following two years he was loaned out to Brazilian side Bahia where he had mixed success. In December 2013 he was released for free by Corinthians and signed a 1-year contract with Brasileirão Série B side Ceará. After a relatively successful season with 41 appearances, 7 goals and 5 assists his contract with Ceará was running out and clubs like Cruzeiro, Vasco da Gama and Palmeiras lined up to sign the now 23-year-old attacking midfielder. Though Lulinha wanted a fresh start away from Brazil and he quickly accepted Hoffenheim’s offer.

The Brazilian signed a 3-year contract with the German club at a wage of €20.000 per week and will join when his contract runs out in December though he wont be eligible for Bundesliga action until January when registration opens.

Could we get a SS of Lulinha? Great updates and 12/12 is great!

2014-04-24 03:05#171481 Pauker : Could we get a SS of Lulinha? Great updates and 12/12 is great!

I'll try to make sure of it! Thanks!

Great start mate!

Hoffenheim's good form continues and as of recent results they find themselves at 3rd place in the table after 10 games played. An amazing performance for a team who was predicted to finish in 12th place. Though the last game against Eintracht Braunschweig left a couple of question marks, with the defense as well as the offense looking horrid. The most positive thing this month is that new signing Julian Schieber managed to find the net for the first time playing in blue!

Good month ! Good results ! Good luck

After two months without a defeat Hoffenheim finally lose and not just one game, but three. Even though losing to Schalke 04 away in Gelsenkirchen is no disgrace, losing to Mainz home at the Rhein-Neckar-Arena is. After three consecutive losses Hoffenheim manager Joachim Streich finally agreed to talk to the press.


Just days after this inspiring interview Hoffenheim completely demolished Werder Bremen with Julian Schieber scoring two absolute screamers. Though the question still remains; will Joachim Streich and Hristo Stoichkov be able to maintain their league position and reach the Europa League next season? What are your predictions for Hoffenheim's league placement?

Tough results to take, but once again, can we see a screen-shot of Lulinha?

2014-04-25 01:20#171694 Pauker : Tough results to take, but once again, can we see a screen-shot of Lulinha?

That is an absolutely terrific start to the season!

As the Bundesliga enters the winter break Hoffenheim can look back at a successful month with only one goal conceded. Much of this thanks to the summer signing Branimir Bajic who have become a frequent visitor in the starting eleven. He, along with David Abraham have been excellent in the defense for the last couple of games.