Lots of game time for youngsters

Youth leads the way: TSG Hoffenheim place a lot of value on players from their own academy. There are 10 players in the squad this season who came through the club's own ranks – the joint-most in the league along with SC Freiburg. And also in terms of game time for players who are not yet 20 years of age, TSG Hoffenheim are one of the clubs that field young players the most.

TSG are second in the league when it comes to minutes given to players who are still teenagers (up to and including 19). Prior to the clash with RB Leipzig (Saturday at 15:30 CEST / Live Ticker at tsg-hoffenheim.de), the number of minutes stands at 1,046 – only Leipzig have more (1,243).

However, if this statistic only takes into account players developed by the same club, TSG actually occupy first place because the youngsters fielded by Leipzig were all signed from other teams.

Tom Bischof (605 minutes), Tim Drexler (356 minutes), Max Moerstedt (54 minutes) and Florian Micheler (31 minutes) have so far played for Hoffenheim in the Bundesliga. All four players were trained at the club's own academy and were not signed for transfer fees after they had already turned professional in another league. In addition, another player, Umut Tohumcu, who only turned 20 this year, has already played 275 minutes in the Bundesliga too.

Across Europe, too, TSG are one of the clubs who rely on young players the most. Across the top five leagues (Germany, France, England, Spain and Italy), Hoffenheim occupy eighth place when it comes to game time for players under 20 years of age.

Saturday will therefore be a meeting between the two teams, TSG Hoffenheim and RB Leipzig, that give the most game time to players under the age of 20.