Hoffenheim striker Demba Ba has contradicted his own club by claiming he is now free to join Bundesliga rivals Stuttgart.

The Senegalese striker met with Hoffenheim bosses Ralf Rangnick and Jan Schindelmeiser on Thursday and it appeared he had been told to stay after general manager Schindelmeiser emerged saying he was "not interested in selling Demba".

But Ba told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper: "They agreed that I can go.

"They are obviously not happy about it, but they said they would do nothing more to stop me.

"I want to play in the Champions League. Stuttgart and Hoffenheim will now meet to resolve the transfer."

Stuttgart have already expressed their desire to sign Ba, but they cooled off their interest when Hoffenheim owner Dietmar Hopp pronounced him not for sale at any price.

Depending on who they listen to, Stuttgart may now revive their interest with a bid in excess of 10m euros for a man who scored 14 goals in his debut season in the top flight last year.

Ba remains their number one target to replace Mario Gomez, who they sold to Bayern Munich for over 30million euros this summer.

Meanwhile, Hoffenheim appear to have won the race to sign Argentinian midfielder Franco Zuculini from Racing Club for a fee in the region of 5m euros.

According to reports in Argentina, the deal will go through next week when the player arrives in Germany for a medical.


[Soccernet]

Injured striker Vedad Ibisevic has extended his contract with Hoffenheim until 2013.

The 24-year-old Bosnian, who scored 18 goals in 17 matches before the winter break to help his team top the standings, ruptured cruciate ligaments in January and has not played since.

"He is a crucial part of our team. His extension is a signal that we will continue down the path we have followed until now," manager Jan Schindelmeiser told the club's website.


[Reuters]

The Supervisory Committee of the Deutsche Fußball-Bund (DFB) has opened an investigation against two 1899 Hoffenheim players following a petition by the DFB Anti-Doping Agency. Andreas Ibertsberger and Christoph Janker had failed to comply with standard operating proceedures at an unannounced doping test. The incident occured following the Bundesliga game between 1899 Hoffenheim and Borussia Mönchengladbach on February 7, 2009. The game had ended in a 1:1 tie.

After having been drawn by lot, both players violated regulations stipulated in § 7,1 of the DFB Anti-Doping guidelines, by not immediately proceeding to the location of the doping test following the game’s final whistle. Instead, Ibertsberger and Janker participated in a team meeting and showed up for the monitoring with a ten-minute delay. The DFB supervisory committee will now have to determine whether to instigate a legal process against the two players. Both players are under the suspicion to have violated $ 9,1 of the DFB Anti-Doping guidelines in concurrence with §8,3a of the DFB Legal Code of Procedure and Article 2.3 of the WADA-Code.

1899 Hoffenheim had received written confirmation of the investigation on February 20. Both players had tested negative in Mönchengladbach.

Borussia Mönchengladbach had been notified on February 20 as well. So far, Borussia have not pleaded against the outcome of the game (time: Saturday, February 20th, 1.30pm) . Such a formal objection is possible according to § 17,5 of the DFB Legal Code of Procedure, whenever a player guilty of doping participates in a game or if a player has willingly refused to undergo a doping test.

DFB Vice-President Dr. Rainer Koch, who heads the DFB Anti-Doping commission as well, said on Saturday: "The case shows similiarities to the proceedure against the two Italian players Daniele Mannini and Davide Possanzini, who were sentenced to a one-year suspension by the International Sports Court CAS on January 29, 2009. THE DFB Supervisory Committee is now the first in line to determine, whether such a verdict could be applicable for the two Hoffenheim players."

Hoffenheim failed to make use of a two-man advantage in gaining just a draw at home against Schalke but will spend the winter break as Bundesliga leaders.

Gerald Asamoah gave Schalke the lead in the 40th minute but Hoffenheim responded in the 72nd minute with a goal by Selim Teber.

Schalke finished the game with just nine players as Jermaine Jones was given his second yellow card in the 57th minute and Orlando Engelaar was dismissed in the 81st.

Hoffenheim bounced back well from their loss at Bayern Munich last week to finish the first half of the Bundesliga campaign with 35 points - level on points but with superior goal difference to Bayern.

Ralf Rangnick's team are the first promoted side in Bundesliga history to finish the first half of the season top of the table.

In a showdown between the league's best attack in Hoffenheim against the best defence of Schalke, the visitors started the game on the front foot and had the first chance after just three minutes with Asamoah blasting well off-target from just six yards out.

Schalke goalkeeper Manuel Neuer was called on 10 minutes later, diving to his left to save Sejad Salihovic's curling free-kick from 18 yards.

Chinedu Obasi's ball into the area in the 36th minute landed at the feet of Demba Ba, who tried to loop the ball over Neuer but his effort went wide of the left post.
Ba was again just off-target from eight yards in the 38th after a pass from Vedad Ibisevic.

But it was Schalke who grabbed the lead two minutes later. Halil Altintop split two defenders with a pass to Asamoah, who slotted through Hoffenheim goalkeeper Daniel Haas' legs.

The match grew more and more intense after the break with five bookings within eight minutes, including a second for Jones in the 57th for a challenge from behind on Luiz Gustavo.

Schalke assistant Youri Mulder was sent to the stand in the 64th minute for complaining.

Hoffenheim equalised in the 72nd minute with Teber's free-kick from 20 yards curling over the wall and past Neuer at the left post.

Tobias Weis was just inches away from giving Hoffenheim the lead with 10 minutes left but his 20-yard blast went just over the crossbar.

Schalke were reduced to nine men in the 81st minute as Holland midfielder Engelaar was shown his second yellow card for fouling Teber.

Neuer saved two more chances before Schalke's other assistant Mike Buskens was also sent-off with two minutes left.