Hoeness: "The atmosphere will be special"

Sebastian Hoeness on…

…the personnel situation: "Håvard Nordtveit, Konstantinos Stafylidis and Benjamin Hübner are out this weekend. Oliver Baumann will be in goal on Sunday. We want to give him some match practice with the Bundesliga in mind."

…Chemnitzer FC: "There are only a few players still there from last season's squad. We're up against a club that was relegated from the third tier but is aiming to go straight back up. They'll look to frustrate us and we need to be prepared for that. For Chemnitz, it'll be the game of the year. The fans will give them additional motivation."

…TSG's role as favourites: "There's always the danger that one can underestimate the opponent. We want start the game well, leave no room for doubt and get through to the next round. To do that, we will need clear focus and the right degree of concentration. That'll be a decisive factor."

…the first competitive game in front of fans for months: "There's a lot of excitement. It'll be unusual, even though it'll only be a small group of fans. The atmosphere will be special, we're looking forward to that."

…pre-season: "We're in the middle of a process and we can see a development. But it's not finished yet. I think that we're on the right track, both in a physical and a footballing sense."

Head-to-head record:

It's not the first time that TSG Hoffenheim will have taken on Chemnitzer FC in the DFB Cup First Round. They were away in Saxony in the opening game of the competition in 2008 and emerged victorious, with Vedad Ibišević scoring the only goal of the game in a 1-0 victory.

The opposition's form:

Last term, Chemnitz were relegated from the third tier to the Regionalliga. Things haven't been going swimmingly this season either: the men from Saxony currently sit in ninth position in the Regionalliga Nordost, with seven points from their five league games.