The opponents

Including their 2-1 win in Leverkusen on the opening day, Hoffenheim are unbeaten in their last three Bundesliga away games, their best record since 2023, when they would ultimately remain unbeaten in seven trips on the road, with two draws and five wins.

This isn’t new for coach Christian Ilzer, as four of his six Bundesliga wins so far have been celebrated on foreign soil. However, they suffered a 3-1 defeat at home in Sinsheim against Eintracht Frankfurt a fortnight ago.

TSG are particularly fast down the left wing this season. New signing Bazoumana Touré was the fastest Bundesliga player in the first two matchdays, reaching speeds of 36 km/h.

Union have recently edged ahead in the meetings between the sides. After the 2-1 win at  home and the 4-0 away last season, Saturday's hosts have won six in twelve Bundesliga games. Hoffenheim have won four times, and there have been two draws.

Several players on both sides will come up against former teammates on Saturday. Union's squad includes three players with a Hoffenheim past: Stanley Nsoki, Janik Haberer and Robert Skov. Nsoki played 59 games for TSG, Haberer played for the second team in 2014/15 while Skov played 126 games in Kraichgau over five years.

On the other side, Grischa Prömel returns to Köpenick, where he scored 20 goals in 141 competitive matches between 2017 and 2022 and was part of the Bundesliga promotion team. In addition, Fisnik Asllani comes from the Union youth academy where he impressed in the B and A Junior Bundesligas and bagged a five-goal haul in the legendary 13-0 win against Holstein Kiel's U19s.

Diogo Leite, Andrik Markgraf, Livan Burcu, Stanley Nsoki, and András Schäfer will all be unavailable on Saturday.

“We have worked intensively in this training week and developed a clear idea of how we want to approach the game with Hoffenheim," said Union's  head  coach, Steffen Baumgart, during his press  conference on Thursday afternoon. "Compared to last year, TSG have made a big step forward and their well-thought-out attacking game is impressive. For us, it is about bringing our own playing style onto the pitch, getting into dangerous areas more often, and taking our chances.” 

The Stadion An der Alten Försterei will open its gates as usual two hours before kick-off. The match is sold out in both the home and away sections.

The game will see a “Trikot-Tag” where all Union fans are encouraged to wear a club jersey

Please note: There are still significant restrictions on public transport. The tram routes from ‘Altstadt Köpenick’ are only accessible by rail replacement service. All visitors are therefore advised to arrive in good time.

The match will be broadcast live on DAZN and Sky. In addition, there will be an audio stream on rbb24 Inforadio and rbb24. As usual, Union will provide updates in English on Twitter and Bluesky.