The man who bankrolled Hoffenheim to the Bundesliga has become the object of such anger, that he has been repeatedly depicted in the crosshairs of a sniper’s rifle. Why is the 79-year-old such a figure of hate?
Dietmar Hopp is a very successful German entrepreneur. After graduating from university as a certified engineer, Hopp worked for several years as a software developer and system consultant at IBM. In 1972, he and four associates set out on their own, founding the SAP software company, where he served as chairman from 1988 to 1998. SAP would eventually become the world’s third-largest IT group after Microsoft and Oracle.
Hopp retired from the company in 2003, but as he still holds 5.52 percent of the shares in SAP, which is Germany’s biggest in terms of market value. The 79-year-old is a billionaire several times over and is one of Germany’s richest men.
In 1995, he established the Dietmar Hopp Foundation, which has made some €600 million ($664 million) in charitable donations, mainly in the fields of sport, medicine, education and social services. The foundation’s activities are concentrated in the Kraichgau region of southwestern Germany, where Hopp was born and resides.
What does Hopp have to do with the German Football League?
Hopp is best known for his involvement in TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, which he played for in his younger days, when it was still an amateur club and nobody beyond the Kraichgau region had yet heard of it. It was Hopp’s heavy investment in what was then a village club that saw it gain promotion from the eighth to the third tier of German football between 1990 and 2001.
In 2005, Hopp began really pumping money into the club as part of his plan to get it to the Bundesliga. A major part of that plan was his hiring of current RB Leipzig sporting director Ralf Rangnick as head coach. With Hopp’s financial clout, Rangnick was given access to players that no other team in the league could have afforded and under his guidance, Hoffenheim gained promotion to the second division in 2007 and the Bundesliga in 2008. Apart from bankrolling the roster, Hopp also built two stadiums and a modern training center. In total, Hopp is believed to have invested more than €350 million in the club. However, in part due to income from selling players, Hoffenheim haven’t been reliant on Hopp’s cash for several years.
What makes the opposing fans so angry?
Ultras and fans of other clubs reject Hopp as someone who has bought sporting success. Part of the reason he has been able to do so is that he was able to gain an exemption from German football’s 50+1 rule, which is designed to prevent a single investor from holding a majority share of any club.
