So there is this beautiful sports story in Germany that can’t be left unnoticed (and obviously, it has to do with Football - the greatest sport on earth)

The TSG 1899 Hoffenheim is a local football (soccer) team in a town of 3000 in the Southwest of
Germany. So, one day a few years back the owner of SAP Dietmar Hopp, a enterprise software company wanted to do some good with all his money and “bought” the team and invested heavily into the infrastructre of the organzation. Well this team is now leading the German Bundesliga (the top football league in Germany).

To back up and give you some background info:
In Germany Football teams are usually part of the local city-run sports organization. Every town has a sports organization and their own local football team. The organizations promotes all kinds of sports; gymnastics, table tennis, track-and-field and of course soccer. Each teams plays in their league, based on region and skill. So team Hoffenheim started out playing in a small regional league covering an area perhaps the size of Western Washington.

In Germany, Football is structured in leagues. All teams play one home and one away game against every one in the league. You get points of winning a game and the top three teams of the league will get promoted into the higher league, in essence exchanged with the bottom three teams of that league.

Last year they did the “walk-through” not many teams were ever able to accomplish. They entered the 2nd Bundesliga from the regional league below and at the end of the year were promoted into the 1st Bundesliga - the highest league in the country.

So, fast forward several years and millions of dollars invested:
The TSG 1899 Hoffenheim is after almost half the season on top of the national league and continues to win game after game and play their “big city” opponents into the ground.
This Sunday Hoffenheim beat Hamburg 3:0. This is freakin’ amazing. It’s like Olympia Highschool would win against the New York Giants. And this comparison is not too far fetched.
This could not happen over here in the US. As the recent departure of the Seattle Sonics and the arrival of the Seattle Sounders FC showed, the professional sports teams are at the mercy of the league and where they want them. There is even a vote on what city should have a team and what city won’t get one. 

This is how it’s done:
Inject Millions of Dollars. Unfortunately it always starts with money! SAP founder Dietmar Hopp wanted to give back to his commuity, where he grew up and still lives.
He restructed and focused on this amazing and now very successful youth program.
Hired a successful, but not a celebrity coach and filled the roaster with a mix of players from their own youth program and great talents without big egos.

So this year they lead the league. Continue to play wonderful forward-thinking football, outscore they opponents with great goals and are the new darlings of the country, dwarfing struggeling power-houses like Bayern München, Hamburg and Schalke.

This is an absolute “dream come true” for the die-hard sports fan. A fairy-tale to good to be true. Now, after month of proud laughter the football crazy nation is taking this little town serious. A new arena is being build holding 30,000 seats and everyone wants a piece of this team that’s making history.
Just imagine, growing up in this town, having been a fan since day one. Owning the jersey before the big sponsors rebranded it. It must be a fantastic feeling and if I wouldn’t own my allegiance to another team, the VfB Stuttgart, which is, as always a bittersweet experience, I would consider jumping ship to be part of this magic.

Will it last? Who knows. We will see. We saw them play amazing football and the sky is the limit for them. Obviously reality will sink in at some point, the pressure will mount by staying on top of the league and being the hunted team, the team to beat. If they win the league at the end of the season, the bigger teams will want to buy their star players out of their contracts and the usual challenges will arise. But right now, the world is perfect and sports proves again to be a perfect distraction during gloomy times, during difficult times, anytime.

I tried to find some links to news articles in english:
• Here is the NYT with a little blurb at the beginning of the season. 
• And an overview from ESPN Soccernet
**UPDATE** • Bundesliga in Germany in English language. It can’t get any better than that… alright, watching a game live in a Stadium would be better, who am I kidding!

If you’re interested in more background information, shoot me an email or swing by einmaleins.