Eight games in from the start of the Bundesliga season and the table in Germany has a very unfamiliar feel.

Bayern are not in the top half, despite a fortunate victory over Karlsruher last weekend, and despite the club's fine performances in Europe, Jurgen Klinsmann, is under a great deal of pressure.

Fortunately for Klinsmann and the Deutchermeister, there is a far bigger story in German football at the moment - a story which seems to be making the headlines all over Europe - the story of 1899 Hoffenheim.

We have to go back to the early 1990s to understand the fairytale nature of Hoffenheim's dramatic rise in German football.

Dietmar Hopp, a former amateur footballer with Hoffenheim returned to the club, but Hopp was no ordinary former player.

Hopp's software company, SAP, was the largest in Europe and Hopp was looking to invest some of his personal fortune in a football club.

At the time, Hoffenheim were playing in the Baden-Württemberg A-Liga, an amateur league eight divisions below the Bundesliga, but with an estimated £120m of Hopp's money over the last 18 years, the club has been transformed.

Some German football fans and pundits are very critical of Hopp and Hoffenheim comparing them to the situation at Chelsea and their financial backer, Roman Abramovich.

But to be fair to Hoff, the club have not spent vast sums of money on star players, instead they have invested heavily in the club's academy structure and scoured Europe's lesser leagues and lower divisions.

Hoffenheim's promotion to the Regionalliga Sud - Germany's third tier of football - was achieved with a squad of mainly local players who had come through the academy system.

But after establishing themselves in the third tier, Hopp decided the time was right to invest in an experienced manager and try to fight for a place in Bundesliga 2.

Hopp secured the services of Ralf Rangnick, who already had experience of managing at Vfb Stuttgart, Hannover and Schalke 04, and within a year Hoffenheim were in Bundesliga 2.

The squad had to be strengthened a bit sooner than expected but once again, Hoffenheim's scouting network was responsible for finding the right players at the right price.

Senegalese international, Demba Ba, joined from R.E. Mouscron in Belgium, and Nigerian, Chinedu Obasi, moved to Hoffenheim following a relatively unsuccessful spell in Norway with Lyn Oslo.

Hopp also used his money to tempt Vedad Ibisevic away from Alemannia Achen, and it is Ibisevic who currently tops the Bundesliga scoring charts.

After a spectacular victory in Hannover last weekend the reporters were all discussing the prospect of European football and even the possibility of winning the championship.

The Bosnian striker laughed when asked if he thought Hoffenheim could be Deutchermeister whilst his manager, Rangnick said they were just concentrating on increasing the distance between themselves and 16th place.

But the last newly-promoted team to have such an impressive start to the season were Kaiserslautern, back in 1997/98 ... and they went on to clinch the title!

Sgorio have been over in Germany this week as Hoffenheim prepare to welcome Hamburg to the Carl-Benz-Stadium - remember to tune in on Monday night to hear more of this incredible story.