Hoffenheim's biggest Irish fan - Ryan O'Grady

“The volunteer team were unbelievably nice to me, I could help out a bit and saw a lot of the sights in the stadium - The press conference room, the X-Zone, the media centre and lots more. It was a special highlight to be allowed onto the roof of the arena. I could help out a bit more in the autograph hour with the first team at the end of the game and got to speak to Adam Szalai and Janik Haberer.”

The most important question we all want to know though: How does one become a TSG fan in Ireland?

Ryan became a big TSG fan after reading about the side's rise to the Bundesliga from amateur level in an English football magazine at the age of 14. He also surprised father Eddie with his passion. The 16th birthday is traditionally a big deal in Ireland so Eddie O'Grady wanted to give his son a special present – a visit to a European football stadium of his choice. Ryan didn't choose Manchester, neither Madrid, Munich, Turin nor Barcelona, but instead opted for Hoffenheim.

He keeps up to date with TSG in Ireland with achtzehn99.de and the English version of the website. He also tries to watch as many games on television as possible. In Ireland, where Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund are the symbols of German football, it's not that easy to watch TSG on the screen. But he likes to watch the boys in the stadium the most. He showed that in the season opener against Genoa. Therefore he's coming to Sinsheim again for the Bundesliga opener against Augsburg with his father. “I hope that I can see even more

TSG games in the coming year. I absolutely have to see at least one live game a season,” Ryan said.

TSG are grateful for all their fans – whether from Sinsheim, Wiesloch, Dielheim, Heidelberg or even Ireland!