The End Of A Fairytale: How Heidenheim’s Time At The Top Came To An End

Heidenheim are not a European regular, so when they qualified for the UEFA Europa Conference League last season, it may have come as a bit of a surprise to the average football fan. But would you believe me if I told you that Heidenheim weren’t even Bundesliga regulars, and that their recent rise up the divisions has been an unprecedented one in German football? This is how Heidenheim rose to European glory, but also how that story came to a quick and brutal end.

History

Heidenheim has its roots in one of the oldest clubs in Germany. Turngemeinde Heidenheim was founded in 1846 originally as a gymnastics club, but as time passed and the club folded and was reestablished time and time again, it became a football club. During the 1900s, a lot of local sports clubs in Heidenheim merged with and split off from the Heidenheim football team. The club itself wasn’t particularly successful, playing in just local and regional leagues.

In 2007, the footballing side of the sports club in Heidenheim decided to once again split off and become its own entity. Frank Schmidt took charge and they were quickly promoted from the fifth tier to the fourth tier, which is the highest regional league in Germany. Again, it didn’t take the club long to earn another promotion into the 3. Liga.

Heidenheim's rise 🤯

07/08 - Promotion from Oberliga
08/09 - Promotion from Regionalliga
09/10 - Playing in 3rd tier
13/14 - Promotion from 3rd tier
14/15 - Playing in Bundesliga 2
22/23 - Promotion from Bundesliga 2
23/24 - 8th finish in Bundesliga
24/25 - European football pic.twitter.com/LUFtMA97JN

— Cenk (@eurocenk) November 8, 2024

Their promotion from the third tier took a little longer, however they were competitive in each of the five seasons that they spent in the 3. Liga. On their fifth attempt, they were promoted to the 2. Bundesliga in the 2013/14 season, finishing first with a three better goal difference than RB Leipzig. Like their promotion to the 2. Bundesliga, their promotion to the top flight took a while too.

After nine years in the 2. Bundesliga, and a promotion playoff defeat to Werder Bremen, Heidenheim were finally promoted to the Bundesliga after finishing first in the 2022/23 season thanks to two stoppage time goals on the final day. For the first time in their history, Heidenheim had made it to the top flight of German football, and little did they know that their first Bundesliga season would be incredible.

Heidenheim’s Fight For Europe

Throughout the entire 2023/24 season, Heidenheim’s highest league position was achieved on the final day, when they managed to finish eighth. The season started very poorly, with two frustrating defeats. However the following two matches, a 2-2 draw away at Borussia Dortmund and a 4-2 win over Werder Bremen, gave them hope. Despite two wins in their next nine matches, Schmidt, who became the longest serving manager in German football, was never sacked and actually was given time to turn their form around.

An eight game unbeaten run followed as Heidenheim put distance between themselves and the bottom three, climbing up the table in dramatic fashion. This run included another draw against Dortmund, but was ended by eventual league winners Bayer Leverkusen. For the rest of the season, they went on to lose just three more times, drawing a lot of games but managing a historic home win over Bayern Munich.

49’—Heidenheim 0-2 Bayern
79’—Heidenheim 3-2 Bayern

WOW 😳 pic.twitter.com/ixfH3Vtnxy

— B/R Football (@brfootball) April 6, 2024

They managed to qualify for the Conference League by a single goal difference, winning 4-1 on the final day to overtake both Werder Bremen and Freiburg. The business that they did in the summer before their historic season was clever and purposeful, only buying players for the now, rather than the future. At the time, that allowed them to qualify for Europe, but in the long run, it may have come back to bite them.

The Fall

Last summer, their club was decimated by bigger clubs coming in and buying their two best players. Tim Kleindienst, who had scored 79 times for the club over two spells, joined Borussia Monchengladbach for £7m, and Jan-Niklas Beste left for Benfica for £10m. Financially, the club’s quick rise up the divisions meant that they were still the least wealthy club in the league, and so they struggled to bring in replacements.

The season started off strongly, with three wins from their opening five games, however it quickly took a bad turn when their European campaign started. Between the 6th of October and the 9th of March, the club won just one league match, drawing four and losing 15. In that time they managed to play their first European match, qualify for the knockout stages and then get eliminated by Copenhagen. They won a total of four European games in the time it took them to get two wins in the league.

Chelsea maintain their perfect record in the UEFA Conference League with a 2-0 win over FC Heidenheim ✅

Christopher Nkunku and Mykhailo Mudryk were on target for the Blues! pic.twitter.com/lYfWuedouS

— Premier League (@premierleague) November 28, 2024

Now that their European campaign is over, their league results have started to pick up again. An important draw against Hoffenheim followed by a crucial win over Holstein Kiel gave them stability, and despite losing three games in a row in April, they have managed to give their fans some hope. The club currently sit in the relegation playoff place, so all hope is not lost. They have two games left in which they have to overcome a deficit of five points. They also have to be wary of Holstein Kiel just behind them, as they could easily overtake them.

What Went Wrong?

Sometimes in football, the climb can happen too quickly. Heidenheim’s rise up the divisions came so fast, that they struggled to financially compete in the Bundesliga, and despite an eighth placed finish, were forced to sell some of their key players simply to balance the books. Kleindienst and Beste probably wanted to stay so that they would get a taste of European football, but they were forced out of the door for financial reasons.

Most obviously, the added pressure of European fixtures did not help. A record of six wins, three draws and seven losses in the period when Heidenheim didn’t need to worry about Europe is a perfectly respectable record, however the one win in 16 games in the middle of the season has most definitely been down to their continental commitments. It is difficult to predict who Heidenheim will face in the relegation playoff, as the race for third in the 2. Bundesliga sees seven teams separated by four points, however I do hope they fight off relegation and keep their fairytale story alive.