Hoffenheim in the 1st league

[georg ruf jr.]

I just have to do this. I know most of you prefer rugby. But our little villiage  with about 3500 inhabitants is just mad about soccer.
You may now the software company SAP. well, one it's founders is from Hoffenhgeim. He's been spending so much money in our local team....
We're in the first league and in lead after 2 games!!!
That's just fantastic.
Who knows. Maybe someday we'll be playing in the champions league... lol

Here's proof:

[Michael Alexander]

The mine here has been running on SAP for the last 10 years.....

GO Hoffenheim!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[georg ruf jr.]

lol

The main part of the SAP compony (where everythin started) is about 5km away from where I'm seated now.
People are very proud of this compony here.
There's another world famous compony next door to them. I think the biggest of it's kind:
Heidelberger Druckmashinen
Maybe you know it.

[Michael Alexander]

BERLIN (AFP) - Bundesliga newcomers Hoffenheim beat Borussia Monchengladbach 1-0 on Saturday to stay top of the table while 10-man champions Bayern Munich could only draw 1-1 at Borussia Dortmund.

Hoffenheim, who have climbed up four divisions to reach the Bundesliga, scored their winner through Vedad Ibisevic, also the league's joint top scorer with three goals.

Striker Luca Toni returned for Bayern but he could not propel them to victory.

Dortmund went ahead in the ninth minute through Jakub Blaszczykowski but Munich had to wait till the 76th minute for the equaliser through Tim Borowski, scoring his first goal for the club after joining from Werder Bremen.

Schalke 04 took second following their 1-1 draw at Werder Bremen and Hertha Berlin lie third after getting the same score in their fixture against Arminia Bielefeld.

However it was a chance lost for Bayern to gain ground in their first away match of the season having only drawn 2-2 against Hamburg last week.

About 80,000 supporters were packed into Dortmund's stadium, renowned as one of the most vibrant in the league due to their passionate supporters.

And those fans were celebrating early on when Poland international Blaszczykowski, known as Kuba by team-mates, found the net with a superbly crafted shot.

Worse was to follow for the visitors a few minutes later when Bayern captain Mark van Bommel was sent off for his second yellow card, leaving Munich to play most of the match with just 10 men.

Bayern coach Jurgen Klinsmann said afterwards: "This was a match rich with emotion and very captivating. We wanted to win but we merited at least a point because we played with 10 men for more than an hour. We'll take three points against Berlin next week."

However the day belonged to high-flying Hoffenheim. Hoffenheim topped the league after the first weekend of the campaign with a 3-0 win over Cottbus and their 1-0 victory over Monchengladbach confirmed their top form.

Hoffenheim are backed by millionaire German businessman Dietmar Hopp who made a fortune developing computer software.

[georg ruf jr.]

 
Hopp is a billionare. Is among the top richest people in the world according to Forbes magasine. Can#t remember his position.

[georg ruf jr.]

Dietmar Hopp     620   
64 , self made
Source: SAP

Net Worth: $1 bil  -

Country of citizenship: Germany
Residence: Waldorf,  Germany
Industry: Software
Marital Status: married , 2 children
University of Karlsruhe, Master of Science

Cofounded German software giant SAP with four former IBM colleagues. Still sits on its advisory board. Owns a five-star spa in Germany; a luxury golf resort, Le Domaine de Terre Blanche near Cannes; and shares in brewery Actris AG. A committed philanthropist, he has turned over 9% of his SAP shares, now worth $4.4 billion, to his Dietmar Hopp Foundation, which supports medical research, education and sports.

[georg ruf jr.]

Hopp, Dietmar:
Platz 799 der Forbes-Liste mit 1,2 Mrd. $, Software: Mitgründer von SAP

Number 799 in the world list.
1,2 Billion

As far as I remember he used to have 6 - 7 billion. I just read recently, that he donated something like 4,5 billion to his own foundation, that supports sports, youth and medecine. That's the kind of rich people I like.

[georg ruf jr.]

Hey Mike. Maybe you should join our fan troup. We're more sucsesfull now. We wone 4:1 today. Gets us back in position two!!!!!!!11111

[georg ruf jr.]

Now howabout this. We beat Hamburgs best team yesterday 3:0. Hamburg is the only team that has always been in the first league...

Fußball - Deutschland - Bundesliga 08/09   

Pos.  Team        Points 
1  Hoffenheim        19 
2  Leverkusen        18 
3  Hamburg           17 
4  Stuttgart          16 
5  Bayern             15 
6  Hertha             15 
7  Schalke           14 
8  Dortmund         14 
9  Wolfsburg        13 
10  Bremen          13 
11  Köln              13 
12  Frankfurt        9 
13  Karlsruhe        9 
14  Hannover       9 
15  Bochum          7 
16  Bielefeld         7 
17  M'Gladbach     7 
18  Cottbus         5 


  Champions League 

  Champions League Qualifikation 

  UEFA Cup 

[Bertie Horak]

@ Georg - How far are you into the competition? Still a lot of games left I suppose, going into 2009?

[georg ruf jr.]

this was game 9 out of 34. Still a long way. The point is, our team came from the bottom. We're a villiage of 3200 people which is very very small for Germany.
After 9 games Hoffenheim breaks a 43 year old record in the amount of goals shot to this point in the league. In those days teams would shoot a lot more goals than nowadays.
So this team is realy something special... It's the first year in the first league...

[Bertie Horak]

@ Georg - Asterix's village is also very small, but they always defeat the Romans! 
Good luck and well done to your team!

[georg ruf jr.]

Love that comparison... lol

[Michael Alexander]

We need some pics of the Hoffenheim strip!

[georg ruf jr.]

Strip???