Glenn Moore: Hoffenheim's style revolution spices up the Bundesliga

At the turn of this century 1899 Hoffenheim, the club that represents a south-west German village of 3,000 people, were competing in the fifth-tier Verbandsliga Nordbaden. Given the regionalisation in German football, this is akin to playing no higher than the Ryman League, or England's seventh tier.

This morning Hoffenheim sit atop the Bundesliga, level on points with corporate-backed Bayer Leverkusen and ahead of Jurgen Klinsmann's Bayern Munich and Martin Jol's Hamburg.

Obviously there is a millionaire involved. Step forward Dietmar Hopp, 67-year-old co-founder of software giant SAP, currently rated 1,062nd-richest person in the world by Forbes magazine, with an assessed net worth of $1bn (£639m). Hopp, however, is not Roman Abramovich. He actually played for the Hoffenheim club as a teenager. Keen to put something back into the community he decided, in the mid-1990s, to invest in Hoffenheim.

He did not spend wildly, but at the lower levels a little cash goes a long way and Hoffenheim quickly climbed into Regionalliga Süd (effectively the third Division South). Progress slowed as Hopp concentrated on developing the club's infrastructure – including a new 5,000-seat ground – and philosophy. Then, in 2006, Hopp hired 48-year-old coach Ralf Rangnick whose unmemorable playing career includes playing for Sussex League club Southwick. Rangnick had a reputation as a forward-looking coach, not necessarily a plus in the conservative world of German football. Successive promotions took them into top flight but instant relegation was expected to follow.

It is not just the subsequent results that have impressed, it is the method and style. Initial resentment of their rise has given way to appreciation of the approach on and off the pitch.

On it, playing fast-paced attacking football, they are the Bundesliga's highest scorers. Joris Mathijsen of Hamburg said after their recent defeat to Hoffenheim, "It was 3-0 after 36 minutes. That simply can't happen. I don't know what these guys ate before [the match]. They were so much better than us."

All this with a team to gladden the heart of Arsène Wenger, whose home village of Duttleheim is less than 100 miles away. Most of Hopp's €200m (£163m) investment has gone on developing infrastructure such as stadiums – they are playing at Mannheim while another new ground, seating 30,000, is being constructed – and the youth academy. The record signing cost €8m (£6.5m) and most players are either home-produced or cheaply acquired young rejects. The team's average age is 23, similar to Arsenal's, while the philosophy is grounded in a moral code even more principled than Wenger's.

Hopp said after he became wealthy: "I pondered the idea that as a rich man I carry a certain social responsibility." Thus the targeting of his investment not just in his old club, but in an academy that is as focused on producing mature young men as it is footballers. "It's not just about football but also about culture and education," said Hopp. "The ones that aren't destined to become pros ought to have a good education and train for a proper job."

There is also a football aspect to recruitment. General manager Jan Schindelmeiser explained: "Our player selection process is subordinate to our style of football. We don't buy 30-year-old-players who can't handle our pace." This is somewhat revolutionary in Germany where, for decades, there has been a belief that teams need a controlling figure, like Franz Beckenbauer or Steffen Effenberg, to dictate the often slow tempo.

But astonishing as Hoffenheim's rise is, the big early-season story was in Bavaria. Klinsmann had been lured away from Huntingdon Beach, California, to take over from Ottmar Hitzfeld at Bayern Munich. He arrived, as he had with the nationalmannschaft, with a retinue of fitness coaches and advisers. He immediately made two dramatic changes: four porcelain Buddhas were erected on the roof of the training ground to "spread positive energy". He also brought back the old 3-5-2 formation.

Within two months the Buddhas had gone and so had the third centre-back. Bayern, the defending champions, had slipped to 11th in the league and the red-top, Bild, nicknamed Klinsi "Jurgen Klapptnix" (Jurgen Nothing Works). Klinsmann's response: "The team's developing rapidly, new hierarchies are forming, we're newly defining ourselves, it's an intensive process."

But since the return from injury of Franck Ribéry – the Bundesliga's outstanding player – Bayern have climbed the table. After five straight wins they are third, a point adrift of Hoffenheim. Bayern are again title favourites, for there is a fragility about their rivals – a consequence of the attacking bent of the Bundesliga, which averages three goals a game, higher than any Premier League seasonal average. Jol's Hamburg were top a month ago but declined, spookily, as soon as Jol's replacement at Tottenham, Juande Ramos, lost his job. New leaders Leverkusen – average age 24 – threw away a 3-0 lead at Karlsruhe on Saturday.

So could Hoffenheim – whose weekend defeat at Hertha Berlin halted a run of five straight wins – be Bayern's main threat? The champions' big three think they could be. "No one was really taking them completely seriously at the start. Now everybody is," said president Beckenbauer. "They're going to cling to us like a limpet and will be playing for the title," said sporting director Uli Hoeness. Klinsmann added: "They are certainly going to be playing in Europe next year, and they'll have a say in the title race."

So far the admiration appears not to have affected Hoffenheim. Midfielder Tobias Weis injured himself in the team shower the night before playing Karlsruhe last week. Quite how he did this is not known but his fitness test was anything but secret. On matchday morning Rangnick bought a football at a garage, took Weis to a nearby asphalt pitch and, to what Rangnick described as "the amusement of the local youth" told him to kick it around. Weis passed the test and played a starring role.

Ibisevic finds happy home after years in exile

Pre-season, Vedad Ibisevic seemed the epitome of the "have boots, will travel" journeyman pro. Aged 24, he had played for six clubs in five countries, achieving little more than fluency in four languages. Three months later the 6ft 3in Bosnian is the Bundesliga's leading goalscorer and, inevitably, Premier League scouts are watching.

Ibisevic has scored 13 league goals for Hoffenheim this season, four more than anyone in the Bundesliga and, remarkably, eight more than he himself managed in 31 appearances as Hoffenheim won promotion last season.

His backstory is even more extraordinary. Exiled at 16 by the Balkan war, he played in Switzerland, then America, as his refugee family sought security. Moderate success in the States – at the level below the MLS – led to a call-up to a Bosnian Under-21's training camp. There he was spotted by Vahid Halilhodzic, then managing Paris St-Germain. Ibisevic moved to France but barely played for PSG and was loaned, then transferred, to Dijon of Ligue 2.

Having prospered he was signed by Alemannia Aachen, newly promoted to the Bundesliga, but Ibisevic scored only six goals as they were relegated. Next stop, Hoffenheim, where his main role last season was acting as translator to two African recruits who were keeping him out of the team. "His attitude was incredible," said coach Ralf Rangnick. "He welcomed his rivals with open arms and brought everyone together. The team respects him very much for that."

This season he has finally earned reward. "It's as if I had signed up a new player," says Rangnick. The small town of Hoffenheim, it seems, suits Ibisevic: "I'm used to it being quiet. I grew up on a farm."

Glenn Moore