First lie behind, then fight back: 1. FC Heidenheim has a lot of quality in its debut year in the Bundesliga. FC Bayern is now also falling victim to this. A success for eternal trainer Frank Schmidt, who has created a fright for favorites deep in the south.
Did Frank Schmidt lose the Heidenheim cabin? Just like Bayern coaches are always told. In any case, the double goalscorer in the 3-2 win against FC Bayern, Tim Kleindienst, refused to obey. “I didn’t accelerate that much. I grilled a little more and that was it,” he said in Sport1’s “Doppelpass”. “I don’t think I would have handled it quite as well after that game.” The eternal trainer had clearly given the watchword: “If anyone doesn’t go on the slopes today, we’ll throw them out.”
Well, Kleindienst certainly doesn’t have to worry about being kicked out. The 28-year-old has scored two goals in each of the last two games against the top teams from Munich and Stuttgart, who are now tied on points, and also prepared one in the 3-3 draw against VfB. With eleven goals this season, he is seventh on the top scorers list. A very personal success story, just like that of Jan-Niklas Beste, who was recently nominated for the DFB team by national coach Julian Nagelsmann. It was a downer that he had to leave injured before his possible debut. They are success stories that fit so perfectly with the development of the club in Heidenheim. Because 1. FC Heidenheim is much more than the little, gray mouse, the certain relegation that many experts had already written off before the start of the season. Something that had always surprised Schmidt, by the way.
The club from the city of 50,000 people east of Stuttgart has become a favorite fright. The Bundesliga newcomer has already scored nine points against the top five teams in the league. Two points from two draws against Borussia Dortmund, four points from the games against Stuttgart – and now the exhilarating win against Bayern, who are stumbling again. They were 2-0 down both times before scoring three goals each (and having to concede an equalizer against Stuttgart).
Smallest stadium in the league fuels competition concerns
It is a sporting and psychological quality that Heidenheim shows. One that also costs a lot of nerves. And apparently also carries out some cosmetic repairs in the cabin wing. “One or two doors were blown,” Kleindienst said about the half-time break. Schmidt preferred not to repeat what he had said: “I can’t say that,” the 50-year-old told SWR. “This is FSK 18.” But everyone in the squad is of legal age, so Schmidt cannot be prosecuted.
Kleindienst sometimes had the feeling “that we had to go into the game with a 0-2 deficit.” Only then did Heidenheim “develop the self-confidence and say, ‘It doesn’t matter that we’re playing against Bayern Munich, they’re just human beings. And in the end we can beat them too.'” The journey to the Brenz is already a must for many competitors In the first year it became an unpleasant one; the Heidenheimers won six of eight victories at home.
In the highest stadium in Germany at 555 meters above sea level, which is also the smallest in the Bundesliga with 15,000 seats in the stands – these facts should not be missing from any story about Heidenheim – many clubs are having a hard time. Werder Bremen were the first to feel this, the 4-2 win on matchday four was the first Bundesliga victory in the promoted team’s history. The first point had come in the game against BVB. Although Heidenheim has more defeats (11) than wins (8) or draws (9), as tenth in the table the club only has a mathematical chance of being relegated. Ten points separate Württemberg from relegation place 16, which is currently held by 1. FSV Mainz 05.
In general, bad news from the south of the republic is in short supply. He himself considered the fact that Schmidt tore a muscle fiber while celebrating the victory as a highlight: “It’s a nice feeling,” he said jokingly after the great triumph, which caused his colleague Thomas Tuchel and FC Bayern to slide deeper and deeper into the crisis . Otherwise, defeats are planned for the premiere season in the German upper house of football, victories and points are celebrated, but not overrated.
Football fairy tale instead of insurance office
There seems to be a lack of calm in the club. This is also shown by the personnel consistency. Holger Sanwald has been the club boss since 1994 and has been working with the head coach, Frank Schmidt, since September 2007. Schmidt had a solid career as a footballer; the defensive midfielder played 76 of his 305 games in the 2nd Bundesliga, playing for Greuther Fürth and Alemannia Aachen, among others. In 2007, he famously hung up his boots at Heidenheimer SB – shortly before the football department split off to become what is now 1. FC. He had actually promised his family that he would only mow the lawn on Saturdays. But things turned out differently. He started as a coach in September and was supposed to step in on an interim basis for two games because Dieter Märkle had been fired after just six games in the Baden-Württemberg Oberliga. Two games have now turned into more than 16 years. The desire to start working in a friend’s insurance office with his apprenticeship as a banker behind him turned into a football fairy tale.
A year and a half after taking over as coach, the first promotion was achieved – Heidenheim played in the regional league from the 2008/09 season and made it straight into the 3rd league, in 2014/15 it went up to the 2nd Bundesliga and almost had it in 2019 /20 was enough for the climb. But Werder Bremen were too strong in the relegation. No reason to increase the pressure by changing coaches. On May 28, 2023, the time had come: after 16 years and four promotions with the same club, Schmidt achieved promotion to the Bundesliga. With his winning goal in the ninth minute of stoppage time, Kleindienst ensured a dramatic finish against SSV Jahn Regensburg and boundless celebration in the Heidenheim family. In Schmidt’s birthplace. Where almost everyone seems to know him personally somehow.
In February, at the home game against Leverkusen (1:2), ESPN reporter Archie Rhind-Tutt happened to meet Schmidt’s former music teacher – or was it mathematics? That’s where the memories of teacher and former student diverged – in the stands. And as it happens, Marianne Holz was able to tell stories from the past. Like the fact that the now 50-year-old took over the organization of the school football team at the age of eleven when they wanted to take part in a tournament. Talent as a coach shined through early on. No wonder that the man, who still has a contract until 2027, once said: “What I do is basically not real work, but a hobby.”
Schmidt slept in Bayern bed linen
Speaking of hobbies, the win against FC Bayern has special significance for Schmidt. Not just because a win against the German football record champions is something special for all clubs. But because Schmidt says in his biography “Unkaputtbar”, which was published in June 2023 shortly after promotion: “As a child, I was a fan of Bayern Munich, with all the trimmings: Bayern bed linen, posters on the wall, sticking them up and on Saturdays at 3:30 p.m. with your ear to the radio.” However, he fulfilled his dream of winning against the big players from Munich almost 20 years ago. Schmidt was part of TSV Vestenbergsreuth’s starting eleven in their legendary cup coup on August 14, 1994. The current coach was there in the 1-0 win when Oliver Kahn, Lothar Matthäus and Co. were in the first round of the DFB for the last time to date -Cup eliminated.
This time it wasn’t about the cup – FC Bayern had lost it long before – but about the last tiny hope in the league. That’s gone for FC Bayern because they also stumble over Heidenheim. Without any superstars – on the contrary: “Heidenheim is an opportunity for many players. We often choose players who have failed elsewhere, for whom things haven’t gone well so far or whose careers have stalled. It’s human to give someone a second chance If you give it a chance, they’ll usually pay it back.” This is what Schmidt writes in “Unkaputtbar”. A strategy that is completely contrary to FC Bayern. A strategy that really works. A strategy that has carried Frank Schmidt and 1. FC Heidenheim into the Bundesliga. And it doesn’t seem like they’ll be giving up this spot any time soon.