The home match against Bochum not only has the TSG’s motto “Africa”, this Saturday could also be a memorable one for some Hoffenheimers.
It was nine years ago to the day on Saturday that Alexander Rosen was appointed to his post. Initially under the title “Head of Professional Football”, later as “Director of Professional Football”, the 42-year-old has since acted as Hoffenheim’s manager. Rosen has thus accompanied and shaped a large part of the 14 Bundesliga years of the Kraichgauer in this function. On 2 April 2013, the then NLZ boss of TSG was promoted and enthroned together with the new head coach Markus Gisdol.
With the double separation of coach Marco Kurz and manager Andreas Müller, the club, which was in serious danger of relegation at the time, pulled the ripcord and actually managed to stay in the relegation zone at the end of the season. At the time, it was the fourth double-digit league position in a row. After finishing 7th as autumn champions and surprise promoted teams, the club then finished 11th three times and just avoided relegation. Since then, TSG have only been in the bottom half of the table twice under Rosen’s stewardship, but have finished in the top half seven times, making two starts in the Europa League and one appearance in the top flight. In the current season, they are aiming for their fourth international competition. On Rosen’s ninth anniversary, they will be aiming for their ninth home win of the season to achieve that.
Baumann ahead of 100th win, Rudy ahead of 300th game
This would also mean Oliver Baumann breaking a sound barrier. The Hoffenheim number 1 would be the first player in the club’s history to break the mark of 100 wins in the Bundesliga with TSG.
It could be an equally memorable match for Sebastian Rudy. He has played more games for Hoffenheim than Baumann, but has not won as many. On the other hand, the ex-national player is about to play his 300th competitive game for Hoffenheim, which is unprecedented.
Vogt and the goal-less streak
Also aiming for a round number is Kevin Vogt, who could play his 150th league game for Hoffenheim against his former club. And in doing so, he comes up with a special feature: The defender is still goal-less in the TSG jersey. Across the club, the 30-year-old has now been waiting for 210 games without scoring a goal. The last one he scored was eight years ago in the 1. FC Köln jersey in a 2:1 win against Dortmund. If Vogt is denied his debut goal for TSG on Saturday, he would draw level with Reinhold Zech (Stuttgart, Saarbrücken), who currently holds the second-longest drought for an outfield player in Bundesliga history with 211 goalless games in a row from 1970 to 1978. Incidentally, the record holder is Dietmar Schwager (Kaiserslautern) with 266 games without a goal.
