On Saturday, 8 February 2025, 1. FC Union Berlin’s men’s first team will face TSG 1899 Hoffenheim away from home in the Bundesliga. Kick off is at 15:30 pm.

The lie of the land

A glance at the table underlines the importance of this game, with TSG within striking distance of Union, just three points behind. Hoffenheim are coming off the back of a 3-1 loss at the reigning champions, Bayer 04 Leverkusen, despite being a man up for thirty minutes.

Last Saturday evening, Union had a challenging task ahead of them as they met RasenBallsport Leipzig at the Stadion An der Alten Försterei. However, their strong and focused performance earned an important point with a goalless draw.

The Opponents

TSG Hoffenheim are currently 15th in the table with 18 points. Their disappointing first half of the season ultimately led to a change of coach and Christian Ilzer has been on the sidelines, tasked with leading the Kraichgauer back to safer shores, since November 2024. The Austrian made his debut with a 4-3 win over Leipzig, and there seems to be a slight upward trend under his leadership.

After a convincing 3-1 away win at newly promoted Holstein Kiel, a respectable 2-2 draw against third-placed Eintracht Frankfurt followed. Hoffenheim also showed a combative face on the European stage recently. In a thrilling UEFA Europa League game, TSG defeated the Belgian club RSC Anderlecht 4-3, even if this success was not enough to advance any further in the competition.

The victory in Belgium is still a creditable achievement, as TSG had to make do without no fewer than 18 (!) professional players. The injury problems were so severe that before the game, Ilzer admitted that he had never experienced a personnel situation like this in his entire career. However, some of these absentees are likely to return to the squad in time for the clash with Union.

The personnel

Union's coaching team still have to do without Kevin Vogt, Oluwaseun Ogbemudia and Aljoscha Kemlein on Saturday afternoon.

The reunions

The weekend's clash could almost feel like a class reunion for many of the players from both teams. Four Union players have a past in Kraichgau. Kevin Volland wore the TSG shirt 144 times between 2012 and 2016, while Janik Haberer played for the second team in the Regionalliga Südwest during the 2014/15 season. Kevin Vogt only moved from Hoffenheim to Köpenick last winter– he played for TSG in an impressive 226 games. Summer signing Robert Skov also spent five years at Hoffenheim, making 126 appearances, before joining Union.

There are also some familiar faces on the other side. Grischa Prömel, who has been in Hoffenheim since the summer of 2022, called Köpenick home from 2017 to 2022, scoring 20 goals in 141 competitive games and celebrating promotion to the Bundesliga with Union in 2019. He will not be able to play on Saturday due to injury.

Christopher Lenz will also miss the game due to injury. The left-back made 72 appearances for Union between 2016 and 2021. Marius Bülter, Union’s striker between 2019 and 2021, is another familiar face. And finally, promotion hero and crowd favourite Jakob Busk has also found his way to Hoffenheim, although he has only been part of the TSG squad for a few days. The goalkeeper was still between the posts for the Danish first division side Sönderjyske during the first half of the season before signing for Hoffenheim at the end of the transfer period.

The coaches’ quotes ahead of the game

“Hoffenheim are a team that have more quality in their play than their current league position would suggest,” said Union’s head coach, Steffen Baumgart, during his press conference on Thursday afternoon. “Nevertheless, we want to take the momentum from our last home game with us and be prepared to quickly shrug off any setbacks and get straight back into the game. That means further refining our processes, playing to our strengths and giving our all in every tackle.’

‘Union Berlin is within reach for us, so the game is very important to us. We have a lot of direct duels in February and March, and these games need to be won. We have prepared very well for the game. From Steffen Baumgart we know that we will get an energetic opponent. You can already clearly see what kind of play you can expect,’ Hoffenheim coach Christian Ilzer said at the press conference.

Service information

For the away game in the Rhine-Neckar region, the Union players can count on the support of 1,800 fans in the away section. Union’s mobile zeughaus will also be on site. Information on visiting the stadium can be found here (German)

The game will be broadcast live on Sky. There will also be an audio stream on rbb24 Inforadio and on rbb24. As usual, Union will also provide information on the game via the club's live ticker, as well as offering live updates in English and Spanish on Twitter.