TSG Hoffenheim must lift stadium ban against player agent

Player agent Roger Wittmann has once again been granted free access to his box at the TSG Hoffenheim stadium. The Heidelberg Regional Court has ruled.

Bundesliga soccer club TSG Hoffenheim suffered a partial legal defeat on Friday in its dispute with player agent Roger Wittmann. The Heidelberg Regional Court announced its ruling in the civil case in writing on Friday morning. It states that TSG must lift the stadium ban imposed on Wittmann. Wittmann had filed a lawsuit against the TSG's home and stadium ban. However, according to the ruling, Wittmann remains barred from the training center in Zuzenhausen (Rhein-Neckar district).

Wittmann is said to have insulted and threatened

TSG Hoffenheim had imposed the home and stadium ban on Wittmann because, according to TSG, he had repeatedly insulted members of the club's management. The management's lawyer stated at the start of the trial last Friday (September 12th) that there were corresponding audio recordings of this.

In its ruling on Friday, the court stated that the insults (and in one case, a threat) were "not sufficient grounds for a stadium ban in this specific case." The insults and the threat had already occurred several months ago. Furthermore, since then, they had "neither been repeated by Wittmann nor reprimanded by TSG." Therefore, Wittmann "cannot be prohibited" from using his box at Sinsheim's Rhein-Neckar-Arena. However, the court also stated that it assumed that Wittmann "had actually uttered the insults he was accused of or the alleged threat."

Wittmann is still prohibited from accessing the training center

However, the court takes a different view regarding the ban on entry to the TSG training center in Zuzenhausen (Rhein-Neckar district): Since the center is not open to the public in the first place, no special reason is required for the ban, the court stated. In other words, according to the ruling, Roger Wittmann is not allowed to enter the training center, so the TSG ban remains in effect.

The ruling is not final. This means that TSG and Roger Wittmann can each appeal to the Karlsruhe Higher Regional Court within one month. Roger Wittmann's law firm did not respond to a SWR inquiry on Thursday. Wittmann is the head of the player consulting agency "Rogon," based in Frankenthal (Rhineland-Palatinate).

TSG Hoffenheim's reaction to the verdict

In its initial reaction to the ruling on Friday, TSG Hoffenheim announced that it would now "carefully examine the reasons for the verdict and then decide on the next steps." Markus Schütz, chairman of the TSG management, stated that the club respects the ruling. At the same time, TSG Hoffenheim remains "an independent club that is not guided by external pressure or one-sided interests." Schütz also stated that it is clear that anyone who "insults others in the most vulgar way or addresses a person not as a human being but as an 'ape' is crossing a line that we will not tolerate either on or off the pitch."

Wittmann offered a cease and desist declaration

Wittmann had not admitted to the insults in court on the first day of the trial. Instead, he had offered to refrain from such insults in the future by signing a cease-and-desist declaration. However, TSG rejected this. The judge had repeatedly tried to persuade both sides to reach an amicable settlement on the first day of the trial – ultimately unsuccessfully.

TSG management: Player agent too close to Dietmar Hopp?

Wittmann's lawyers claimed that TSG's sole aim was to silence a confidant of Hoffenheim shareholder Dietmar Hopp. Player agent Wittmann currently advises several players in the Hoffenheim squad, including Fisnik Asllani and Tim Lemperle. Wittmann has long been considered a close friend of Dietmar Hopp. Hopp recently stated in an interview with broadcaster Sport1 that he had nothing to do with Wittmann's stadium ban. Instead, he described the club's actions as a "complete disgrace."

"Incitement" and "smear campaign" - verbal battles in the courtroom

On the first day of the hearing a week ago, Roger Wittmann was present, as were the two TSG managing directors, Frank Briel and Andreas Schicker, on the other side. There were occasional verbal exchanges between the two parties in the courtroom. For example, the TSG lawyer accused Wittmann's lawyers of "pure propaganda," while one of Wittmann's lawyers spoke of a "smear campaign" by TSG against her client.

Broadcast on Fri., 19.9.2025 9:30 a.m., SWR4 BW Studio Mannheim - Regional News

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