At his debut
Cruciate ligament rupture: Bundesliga player on the ground
24.08.2025 – 4:59 p.m.Reading time: 1 min.
With Koki Machida, TSG Hoffenheim wanted to stabilize the defensive. But the Japanese fails after only one game for months.
Bitter diagnosis for Koki Machida: The central defender of TSG Hoffenheim was seriously injured in his Bundesliga debut and will be missing the club indefinitely. As the club announced on Sunday, the 27-year-old suffered a cruciate ligament tear in the left knee in the 2-1 win against Bayer Leverkusen. The injury occurred in a duel with Leverkusens Alejandro Grimaldo shortly before the half -time break. Machida then had to be replaced, now an operation is to follow.
Andreas Schicker, Managing Director Sport at TSG, called the injury a “bitter message” – both for the club and the player. “As a newcomer, he broke out into the team in a very short time and plays a major role, especially on our defensive. Against this background, this failure hurts us,” said Schicker.
Due to the long downtime, the TSG will “keep its eyes open again on the transfer market”, announced Schicker – especially on the position of the left central defender. Machida changed to the Kraichgau by the Belgian champion Royale Union Saint-Gilloise in the summer.
Wouter Burger, also a new summer, was injured in the Bundesliga start. The midfielder suffered a injury on the right ankle. Schicker said that he was confident that “we won’t be missing for too long”.