Fast forward half a decade and Hoffenheim are three points clear in the Bundesliga and preparing to defend that lead against resurgent Bayern Munich in front of a 69,000 sell-out crowd at the Allianz Arena on Friday.
"The whole of Germany is waiting for this one," Bayern's in-form Frenchman Franck Ribery said in the build-up. "I just hope we can win it."
Hoffenheim's rise from nowhere to the top of the Bundesliga has been bankrolled by one of Germany's richest men, the software pioneer Dietmar Hopp, but the money hardly detracts from this outlandishly enjoyable story.
Rangnick's team are the league's top scorers with 40 goals and even when they have lost games they have done so in style, going down 5-2 at Bayer Leverkusen and 5-4 at Werder Bremen.
Hoffenheim's resources are deep and Hopp was the target of abuse by rival fans earlier in the season.
While some may still resent them as 'arrivistes', one thing that is starting to endear them to neutrals is that they have not thrown money at the transfer market in a bid to buy instant glory.
"We know what we're doing," Rangnick said recently. "The team has been together for over a year, with just a couple of changes."
Hopp's money means Bayern may well have cause for concern that their status as German football's only superpower could be under threat but their own good form under Juergen Klinsmann has put them in a confident mood.
"If Hoffenheim win the whole of Germany will be laughing," Bastian Schwein
