Before the Christmas break, Hoffenheim were clear leaders of the Bundesliga in their first season playing in the top German league. Today they are five points off first place, occupying fifth place in the league. Above them stand Hamburger SV, Wolfsburg, and Bayern Munich all level on 48 points and Hertha Berlin hanging on to the top spot with 49 points. A Hamburg win on Saturday would surely end Hoffenheim’s hopes of a remarkable debut season.

Seeking to either end or resurrect Hoffenheim’s charge are a considerable number of African footballers. Hamburg is home to Timothee Atouba and Marcel Ndjeng of Cameroon, Guy Demel of the Ivory Coast, Khalid Sinouth of Morocco, Macauley Chrisantus of Nigeria, Colin Benjamin of Namibia, and Mickael Tavares of the Republic of Cape Verde. Of these players, Demel, Atouba and Tavares have made the most impact this season.

Hoffenheim’s squad contains the free-scoring Cameroonian Demba Ba and his sometime strike partner Nigerian Chinedu Obasi. Together these two have tried to fill in for the club’s injured top scorer Vedad Ibisevic. Both have performed admirably but have looked a little tired of late. To ease the pressure on these two Africans, Hoffenheim have turned to a third. Boubacar Sanogo has arrived on loan from Werder Breman. The Ivory Coast international opened his account in his very first game for Hoffenheim, scoring his new team’s second goal against Energie Cottbus.

Germany is fast becoming a second home for African footballers who are looking to make their name on the European stage. These footballers have helped to turn the Bundesliga into the most contested league in all of Europe, and with only a few games remaining it is likely that African footballers will play a significant role in deciding who comes out on top.