Philipp Hofmann (born 30 March 1993) is a German professional footballer who plays for VfL Bochum as a forward. Hofmann is a product of the Schalke 04 academy and made his professional breakthrough away from the club on loan, before transferring to 1. FC Kaiserslautern in 2014. Following two years in England with

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

between 2015 and 2017, he returned to Germany and forged a career in the

2. Bundesliga The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...

with Greuther Fürth,

Eintracht Braunschweig Braunschweiger Turn- und Sportverein Eintracht von 1895 e.V., commonly known as Eintracht Braunschweig () or BTSV (), is a German association football, football and sports club based in Braunschweig, Lower Saxony. The club was one of the founding ...

and Karlsruher SC. An average of a goal every other game during three seasons with Karlsruher SC led to a transfer to the Bundesliga with VfL Bochum in 2022. Hofmann scored 18 goals in 36 caps for Germany between U18 and U21 level.

Club career

Schalke 04

A forward, Hofmann began his career as a youth with local clubs RW Wenholthausen and SC Neheim, before signing for Bundesliga club Schalke 04 in 2009. He won the Westfalenpokalsieger with the U19 team in the 2010–11 season and the U19 Bundesliga the following year. He made 24 appearances for the reserve team in the 2011–12 season, scoring six goals. Hofmann won his first and only first team call up for a dead rubber Europa League match versus Maccabi Haifa on 14 December 2011 and remained an unused substitute during the 3–0 victory. Hofmann spent the

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

season on loan with

club SC Paderborn 07 and made the first professional appearance of his career in a 4–0 victory over VfL Bochum on 11 August 2012, as a late substitute for Diego Demme. He made 31 appearances and scored six goals in a mid-table season. On 14 July 2013, Hofmann joined 2. Bundesliga club FC Ingolstadt 04 on a two-year loan. He made 33 appearances and scored 9 goals during the 2013–14 season and notably scored two hat-tricks in three Regionalliga Bayern appearances for the reserves. Hofmann's loan was terminated at the end of the 2013–14 season and he departed Schalke on 5 June 2014.

1. FC Kaiserslautern

Hofmann transferred to 2. Bundesliga club 1. FC Kaiserslautern on 5 June 2014. He began the 2014–15 season in a substitute role and scored on his debut in a 3–2 win over TSV 1860 Munich on 4 August 2014, scoring the winner just a minute after replacing the scorer of the Red Devils' opening two goals,

Srđan Lakić Srđan Lakić (born 2 October 1983) is a Croatian former professional football who played as a forward. Club career Early career and move to Hertha BSC Lakić started his professional career with Croatian teams GOŠK Dubrovnik, Hrvatski Drago ...

. Hofmann won unfortunate media attention for missing a certain goalscoring opportunity from one yard versus Union Berlin on 24 September, but was spared his blushes after Union failed to cancel out Alexander Ring's first half goal. Hofmann failed to come into regular goalscoring form and finished the 2014–15 season with 32 appearances and 9 goals as the Red Devils finished just two points shy of the

promotion playoff Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

place. He departed the Fritz-Walter-Stadion in July 2015.

Brentford

On 23 July 2015, Hofmann moved to England to sign a three-year contract with Championship club

, for an undisclosed fee During an injury-hit 2015–16 season, Hofmann scored four goals in 22 appearances. He returned free from injury for the 2016–17 pre-season, but began the season overweight and behind

Scott Hogan Scott Andrew Hogan (born 13 April 1992) is a professional footballer who plays as a forward for club Birmingham City and the Republic of Ireland national team. Hogan played in the youth system at Rochdale but was released in 2010. He ent ...

and

Lasse Vibe Lasse Vibe (born 22 February 1987) is a Danish former professional footballer who played as a forward or winger. After beginning his career in his native Denmark, he came to prominence in Sweden with IFK Göteborg and has also played in Englan ...

in competition for the team's lone forward role. After slimming down and making just five substitute appearances by early December, head coach Dean Smith challenged Hofmann to work harder to earn a starting place. Despite the departure of Scott Hogan in January 2017, a niggling back injury and a lack of match fitness rendered Hofmann unable to challenge for a starting berth during the second half of the season. He fell behind

B team B, or b, is the second letter of the Latin-script alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''bee'' (pronounced ), plural ''bees''. It re ...

forward

Justin Shaibu Justin Kwabena Shaibu (born 28 October 1997) is a Danish professional footballer who plays as a forward. Shaibu began his senior career at HB Køge and transferred to English club Brentford in 2016. After spending four years on the fringes and ...

in the pecking order and finished the season with 11 appearances and no goals. Hofmann departed Brentford in June 2017, after scoring just four goals in 33 appearances during his two seasons at

Griffin Park Griffin Park was a football ground in Brentford in the London Borough of Hounslow, England. It was the home ground of Brentford F.C. from its opening in September 1904 to August 2020. The ground is in a predominantly residential area and was ...

Greuther Fürth

On 13 June 2017, Hofmann returned to Germany to join 2. Bundesliga club Greuther Fürth on a three-year contract for an undisclosed fee. After recovering from a medial collateral ligament injury suffered during pre-season, he made his debut for the club in a DFB-Pokal first round match versus

SV Morlautern SV Morlautern is a German association football club from the Morlautern suburb of the city of Kaiserslautern, Rhineland-Palatinate. The club's greatest success has been promotion to the tier five Oberliga Rheinland-Pfalz/Saar in 2016. History ...

on 13 August 2017 and scored two goals in the 5–0 victory. Prior to the winter break, Hofmann made just 11 appearances (scoring three goals) and departed the Sportpark Ronhof prior to the resumption of the 2017–18 season in January 2018.

Eintracht Braunschweig

On 23 January 2018, Hofmann transferred to 2. Bundesliga club

on a -year contract. He scored 12 goals in 52 appearances before his departure at the end of the 2018–19 season.

Karlsruher SC

On 11 June 2019, Hofmann transferred to newly promoted 2. Bundesliga club Karlsruher SC on a two-year contract, with one-year option. He scored 53 goals in 104 appearances during three seasons at the Wildparkstadion and was released when his contract expired at the end of the 2021–22 season.

VfL Bochum

On 4 May 2022, Hofmann signed a two-year contract with Bundesliga club VfL Bochum on a free transfer, effective 1 July 2022.

International career

Hofmann represented Germany between U18 and U21 level. He made his international debut for the U18 team in a 3–2

friendly Friendly may refer to: Places * Friendly, West Yorkshire, a settlement in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England * Friendly, Maryland, an unincorporated community in the United States * Friendly, Eugene, Oregon, a neighborhood in the United States * ...

win over France on 22 March 2011, replacing goalscorer Amin Younes in the second half. He made two further U18 appearances before making his U19 debut with a start in a 5–3 friendly win over Belgium on 1 September 2011, being replaced by

Niclas Füllkrug Niclas Füllkrug (born 9 February 1993) is a German professional footballer who plays as a forward for Bundesliga club Werder Bremen and the Germany national team. A Werder Bremen youth product, he started his senior career with the club's res ...

at half time. He scored his first international goal in another friendly three days later, with what looked to be the winner versus rivals the Netherlands, before Ouasim Bouy salvaged a 2–2 draw. Hofmann scored six goals in six games during Germany's unsuccessful qualification period for the 2012 European U19 Championship. Hofmann scored two goals in four friendly appearances for the U20 team during the

season and made his U21 debut in a 4–0 2015 European U21 Championship

qualifying Qualification is either the process of qualifying for an achievement, or a credential attesting to that achievement, and may refer to: * Professional qualification, attributes developed by obtaining academic degrees or through professional exper ...

win over the Republic of Ireland on 9 September 2013. He showed excellent form during the qualifying period, scoring seven goals in 10 games, but he failed to score in his two finals appearances before Germany were humiliated 5–0 by Portugal in the semi-finals. He scored 9 goals in 17 matches at U21 level.

Personal life

Hofmann attended the

Gesamtschule Berger Feld Gesamtschule Berger Feld is a '' gesamtschule'' in Gelsenkirchen. It is located in the Erle region and has 1325 pupils and 118 teachers. It is known for the fact that a great number of its former students have become professional football players. ...

Career statistics

References

External links

* * * *
Philipp Hofmann
at vfl-bochum.de {{DEFAULTSORT:Hofmann, Philipp 1993 births Living people People from Arnsberg Sportspeople from Arnsberg (region) Association football forwards German footballers Germany youth international footballers Germany under-21 international footballers FC Schalke 04 II players FC Schalke 04 players SC Paderborn 07 players FC Ingolstadt 04 players 1. FC Kaiserslautern players Brentford F.C. players SpVgg Greuther Fürth players German expatriate footballers German expatriate sportspeople in England 2. Bundesliga players Regionalliga players English Football League players Expatriate footballers in England Eintracht Braunschweig players People educated at the Gesamtschule Berger Feld 3. Liga players Footballers from North Rhine-Westphalia FC Ingolstadt 04 II players Karlsruher SC players VfL Bochum players Bundesliga players