Bundesliga Fanatic

Earlier this week Markus Babbel, who in spite of the grim sounding title is still very much alive, was let go from his position as head coach at Hoffenheim after less than a year on the job. The Sinsheim outfit (3-3-9) currently sit on 12 points from their 17 matches which is good for 16th [...]

U23 coach Frank Cramer steps in as Die Hoffe’s interim coach. The next Hoffenheim coach is going to be presented during the winter break. Markus Babbel’s stint in the Kraichgau lasted only nine months. Hoffenheim have lost 14 of their 29 matches under the former Hertha and Stuttgart coach’s leadership. Seven wins and eight draws [...]

On paper it didn’t look like the most attractive match but the rest of the fixtures this weekend will do well in matching it, as Hoffenheim and Greuther Fürth ended up drawing 3 goals apiece in a thrilling second half at the Rhein-Neckar Arena. Babbel’s men had the lead three times but the determined visitors [...]

Hoffenheim earned a reprieve from their ugly start to the 2012/2013 season with a 3-1 comeback win against Hannover 96 at the Rhein-Neckar Arena Sunday.  The fixture could hardly have featured two more different clubs — a Hannover side that was undefeated in all competitions and had a +5 goal difference in league play against [...]

1899 Hoffenheim is the suburban strip mall of the Bundesliga: unhistorical, placeless, charmless, unstoried, and sometimes not even functional.  Hard to love, yet easy to forget. Hoffenheim could vanish and be replaced with a more romantic club from 2.Bundesliga, yet would many care? I doubt it. Do we mourn the razed strip mall that is [...]

Coupled with Köln’s loss to Bayern, Hertha clinched the relegation playoff with their win over Hoffenheim on the last matchday of the season. Following their abysmal performance in Schalke last week, Otto Rehhagel’s team stepped up when it mattered most to earn the chance to stay in the Bundesliga for another season.  Two goals from [...]

Champions league finalists FC Bayern München have made a move to bolster their defense for next season while an American international has re-signed with his Bundesliga side while a Croat international leaves his for another German club.  Jefferson Farfan and Tim Wiese are also in the news as speculation as to where they’ll perform next season [...]

The next step in what looks to be a continuing turnover of personnel at Hoffenheim appears to be unfolding.  Begun this winter with players such as Vedad Ibisevic sold to Stuttgart along with Chinedu Obasi and Gylfi Sigurdsson leaving the Sinsheim club on loan, the next step begins as veteran Stuttgart defender Matthieu Delpierre, 30, [...]

1899 Hoffenheim and FSV Mainz 05 met Friday evening at the Rhein Neckar Arena with the home team leading Mainz by two points in the table.  After 90 minutes, Hoffenheim maintained their two point lead following a 1-1 result.  The draw keepsHoffenheim’s unbeaten streak at home alive — they last dropped all three points at [...]

The Bundesliga coaching carousel, circling slowly during the Hinrunde, has been cranked up and is whirling full-tilt now, as Michael Skibbe was dismissed from his recent appointment as Hertha Berlin coach while his predecessor, Markus Babbel days earlier replaced Holger Stanislawski at Hoffenheim.  Skibbe’s firing becomes the sixth coaching change during this Bundesliga campaign, following [...]