Football: 1. FC Heidenheim - How A Small German Club Came To Play International

 (Drivebycuriosity) - If you are interested in football, in the US known as soccer, you might follow the Pan-European Tournaments: Champions League, Europa League & Conference League. This season 1. FC Heidenheim will participate, a club with a tiny budget. 

The club`s home is Heidenheim, a small 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 season 2023/24 the budget club arrived in the Bundesliga, the top German league. The newcomer finished 8th place in a table with 18 teams and in the recent days won the qualification for the Conference League.

Heidenheim`s rise 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 fifth tier of the professional system. Since then he had led the club upwards, even with tiny budgets. 

 

                      Combative Mindset

In his autobiography "Unkaputtbar" Schmidt 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 can not keep top players for long. If one of them gets attention, for instance as goal shooter, a bigger club wants to buy him (the contract between club & player). These transfers support the finances of the little club. 

Therefore the coach often needs to find replacements who fit into the club and to Schmidt´s concept. For the new season, Heidenheim had to replace six players including Jan Niklas Beste, a specialist for corners & freekicks, who went to Benifica Lisabon, and their top striker Tim Kleindienst, who scores now for Mönchengladbach. But Heidenheims´s rise shows that the coach not only successfully replaced the "Leistungsträger" (top players), he shaped the team even stronger! And the new season started with 4 wins in a row!

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 be 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. And crucial is the willingness to reach the limits again and again and even to shift them sometimes. 

I believe thanks to this mentality Heidenheim will continue to impress.

Good luck to Schmidt and 1. FC Heidenheim.