(Drivebycuriosity) - If you are interested in football, in the US known as soccer, you might follow Deutsche Bundesliga. Germany´s first football division has a new member: 1. FC Heidenheim. The clubs doesn`t have the huge budgets of Bayern München, Dortmund, Red Bull Leibzig, VFL Wolfsburg (owned by Volkswagen) or Bayer Leverkusen, owned by pharma giant Bayer. The newcomer`s home is Heidenheim, a tiny industrial town (50,000 residents) between Stuttgart and Munich. The club isn´t supported by the fan base of a big city, neither are there huge sponsors. Anyway, in its first season in the Bundesliga, the top German league, Heidenheim collected 42 points and finished at 8th place of a table with 18 teams.
( source)
Heidenheim`s success was made by Frank Schmidt, the lead coach of the club. In 2007, Schmidt, a former soccer player, who also is educated in banking (Bankkaufmann), took the lead of Heidenheim when they played just in Germany´s Oberliga, the fourth tier of the professional system. Since then he had led the club upwards, even with tiny budgets. In season 2008-09 Heidenheim climbed to Regionalliga Süd (third tier), in 2009-10 up to 3rd Liga (league), in 2013-14 to 2nd Bundesliga and finally reached the Bundesliga in 2022-23.
Combative Mindset
In his autobiography "Unkaputtbar" Schmidt tells the club`s history and explains his concept ( amazon). The word means "indestructible", contrary to the German term "kaputt gehen" - a quote by another German football coach, who praised Heidenheim`s & Schmidt`s very combative mindset.
According to Schmidt, Heidenheim`s sociological & economical background is shaped by the climate (highest and coldest stadium in German professional football) and the frugal regional "Swabian" mentality. Because Heidenheim relies on a tiny budget, the club could not keep top players for long. If one of them got attention, for instance as goal shooter, a bigger club wanted to buy him (the contract between club & player). These transfers supported the finances of the little club.
Therefore the coach often needed to find replacements who fit into the club and to Schmidt´s concept. For instance next season Heidenheim will have to replace Eren Dinkçi, one of the "Leistungsträger" (high performers), who was on loan from Werder Bremen. Next season Dinkçi will play for Freiburg, who payed allegedly € 5 million to Bremen who owns the contract. But Heidenheims´s rise shows that the coach not only successfully replaced the "Leistungsträger", he shaped the team even stronger!
Schmidt wrote: "Heidenheim is a chance for many players. We often chose players, who failed elsewhere. Players who start promising, but whose careers stall. These are very good premises - for the player as well as for us. Giving someone a second chance is not only human, it usually also pays back".
Heidenheim`s
coach chooses players who are capable to confront new situations
without
fear and are passionate. Schmidt wants resilience, the ability to never
give
up. He claims that mentality can be exercised and can been exemplified
by the coach. If the coach strives to win always, then the team
endeavors to win always as well.
Schmidt doesn`t measure a player by the goals he scores, but by how many chances he realizes, and primarily, how he behaves, after missing a goal chance and if he is unflinching.
The coach likes challenges; when the team stands with "its back to the wall" he has to find a solution. "There is nothing better, than having a new idea to revitalize a difficult situation".
Schmidt lays the basis on athletic exercise, giving the team the strength to run more kilometers - and more sprints - than their opponent. But crucial is the willingness to reach the limits again and again and even to shift them sometimes.
I believe that this mentality gives Heidenheim the chance to perform even better in the coming seasons. Time will well.
Good luck to Schmidt and 1. FC Heidenheim.
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