Lutz Pfannenstiel: ”This club will always have my heart”
“Here in St. Louis, I’m separated from the Kraichgau by 7,500 kilometres and a six-hour time difference, but I still feel closely connected to Hoffenheim. TSG will always be the club that has my heart. For me, every visit to the office in Zuzenhausen or the arena in Sinsheim is like coming home, a family visit. The closeness of the people, the intimate relationship between them has left its mark on me. TSG was never a job, but always a vocation for me. In terms of content, I was always fascinated by the willingness of the club’s leaders to think ‘out of the box’, as you would say today. There is always a willingness to approach things differently, whether it is modern training methods, the personal development of young people or important ideas about sustainability and climate protection. This ‘more than a football club’ has always made TSG a special and particularly important part of the game for me. I was able to introduce and implement many of TSG’s ideas and approaches here as the manager at MLS club St. Louis CITY, ‘Hoffenheim reloaded’, so to speak. I’m very much looking forward to getting a taste of Bundesliga life in Hoffenheim again on my next visit home after the MLS season. Not just because I still keep in touch with a lot of people at the club, whether players, staff or manager, but also because I am convinced that this club belongs in the Bundesliga.”