By Michael Sinnerton

As the season nears its end traditionally several title races are all but wrapped up throughout Europe, we take a look at why this year offers something different.

Spain - Yes Barcelona are six points clear and yes they have the best team in Spain but with Champions League and Copa del Rey commitments and Real Madrid unbeaten in 13 with only the League to focus on only the most ardent of Catalans would be comptant els seus pollastres (counting their chickens). At the other end of the table Espanyol's 1-0 defeat to Osasuna leaves them 8 points from safety and all but relegated. Numancia, who have 3 points from 14 away games, should join them, leaving one from Osasuna in 18th (29 points) to Racing Santander in 10th (33points) to go.

Italy - This one is more or less done and dusted with Mourinho's Inter 7 points clear of Juventus (themselves 7 clear of Milan). The excitement at the top end comes with Genoa in 4^th leading Fiorentina by 2 points and a resurgent Roma by 5. At the bottom of the table Reggina have probably left themselves with too much to do, leaving two from Lecce, Torino and Bologna with Chievo and Siena looking nervously over their shoulders.

France - Somewhat surprisingly given Lyon's recent dominance the French domestic championship is perhaps the most exciting in Europe right now. Lyon are top on 56 points but have looked shaky all season, they lead Marseille by a single point with the Yoann Gourcuff inspired Bourdeaux a further 3 back. Toulouse, Lille and PSG all sit on 52 points within touching distance of the top. At the bottom Le Havre have just 18 points and will be joined by two from Caen, St Etienne (European qualifiers last year), Sochaux, Nantes and Nancy.

Germany - Arguing against Ligue 1's claim to have the most exciting title race is the Bundesliga. Wins for Bayern Munich, Hamburg and Wolfsburg moved them all to 48 points, just one behind leaders Hertha Berlin (somewhat strangely inspired by Andriy Voronin). Bayern are the favourites, but with a Champions League campaign to distract them and the UEFA cup to distract Hamburg don't discount steady Hertha or improving Wolfsburg. Surprise package Hoffenheim lie 5^th and could have hopes of making up the 4 point gap despite their recent poor form.  Karlsruhe are all but gone at the bottom and Cottbus seem likely to join them, but the league is almost as tight at the bottom with none of Borussia M'gladbach, A.Bielefield, Bochum, Hannover or Frankfurt yet totally safe (play-offs pending)

by Joel Abraham

In the early '90s, Hoffenheim were an obscure amateur team playing eighth-tier football. Fast forward 15 years, and Hoffe are, for now at least, the top team in German football.

Their comprehensive 3-0 victory over high-flying Hamburg was no fluke - Hoffe took the lead after just seven minutes, and had HSV dead and buried by half time. It marks the latest chapter in the tale of one of the most controversial clubs in Germany.

The Hopp

Hoffe's meteoric rise coincided with the return of former player Dietmar Hopp, co-founder of software firm SAP and the 9th richest man in Germany, who has already pumped £125m of his own money into the club. Hopp unsuccessfully sought to merge Hoffe with two other regional German sides, Astoria Walldorf and Sandhausen, who turned down his proposal. Their loss has been Hoffe's gain.

Envy has very much turned into hatred, and Hopp is not a popular figure amongst opposition fans having been subjected to torrents of abuse during Hoffe's 1-0 win over Gladbach. He has stated his reluctance to travel to games in future due to fears over his safety.

The Club

Based in a rural village in Baden-Wurttemberg, with a population of 3000, Hoffe have trodden on more than a few toes on their way to the top. They have been criticised by rival fans as corporate whores who have bought their way into the Bundesliga. For the most part, they're right. The sugar daddy is an unprecedented and unfashionable model in Germany, where traditional, democratic clubs are the status quo. Hoffe are consequently persona non grata in the Bundesliga. As Christian Heidel, general manager of second divison Mainz explained: "They have nothing to do with football. In Germany, they provoke only antipathy." Only four Bundesliga clubs spent more this summer than Hoffe, yet Hopp is not investing solely in players; the club now have terrific training facilities and several youth academies. There is also a growing fanbase, as 12,000 fans have already invested in season tickets.

The Stadium

Until recently, Hoffe played in the modestly-named Dietmar Hopp Stadium, built in 1999, capacity 3000. Management have since unveiled plans to build the 30,000 capacity Rhein-Neckar-Arena, which will cost around €40m. They are temporary tenants at the 26,022 capacity Carl-Benz-Stadion in Mannheim until the project is complete.

The Manager

Ralf Rangnick is a coach very much suited to his club; he has a reputation as a maverick of sorts, despite creating teams that play attractive, attacking football. The fact that he has never played at the top level combined with his progressive image mean that he is very much an outsider in terms of the establishment. He has snidely been nicknamed the 'Football Professor', owing to an appearance on a sports show on German TV in December 1998, in which he conducted a thorough tactical analysis on a blackboard. Rangnick refutes claims that Hoffe are buying their way to success: "I'm irritated when I hear people say our success is all about money and that we somehow are not a real football environment. We have the same annual budget as Energie Cottbus, and our wage structure puts us in the bottom third of the league. Of course we haven't any tradition; we are only starting to write the club's history. But we've earned the right to walk out onto Bundesliga pitches and show what we can do. If participation was on the basis of a vote, you might as well call it a day."

The Players

The emphasis at Hoffe is very much upon youth. After initially recruiting players with Bundesliga experience, including Jochen Seitz and Tomislav Maric, every signing over the last two years has been under the age of 24; the average age of the team is 23. Their stars include 22-year-old Nigerian Chinedu Obasi, fast and powerful, the two-goal hero against Hamburg. Bosnian star Vedad Ibisevic was voted into the ESM September Team of the Month amidst the likes of Kun Aguero and David Villa, a marker of how far he and Hoffe have progressed this season. Ibisevic is the top scorer in the Bundesliga, having already notched ten goals in just eight games. Another interesting proposal is Brazilian striker Wellington, signed from Porto Alegre, a relative snip at £4m. A hard working, technically proficient forward who is dominant in the air, he joins Brazilian compatriot Carlos Eduardo, who himself picked Hoffe over Real Madrid, as he explained: "I wanted to develop my game in peace". The squad has been bolstered by many bargain signings, with Marvin Compper, Tobias Weis and Sejad Salihovic all recruited for a total cost of less than £500k.

"Our tradition is the future", says Hopp. Maybe so, but the present isn't looking too shabby either.