SVWW narrow defeat to Champions in season finale
Pros |
History: 1. FC Heidenheim 1846 have worked their way up from the Oberliga Baden-Württemberg to the Bundesliga 2 in the few years since they were formed – and the Blue & Reds have frequently found themselves in the upper echelons of the table in the second tier. The predecessor club of the modern-day FCH, VfR 1911 Heidenheim, were on the verge of promotion to the top tier back in the 1933/34 campaign – but narrowly missed out on the promotion round for the Gauliga Württemberg. The club as we know it today came into being when it broke away from the football department of the Heidenheimer Sportbund (Heidenheim Sports Association) in January 2007.
Stadium: FCH's home stadium is the Voith Arena, which is located on the castle hill in Heidenberg. Situated 555 metres above sea level, the stadium is at a higher altitude than any other in Germany. Formerly known as the Albstadion, the arena was used to host several different sports between 1972 and 2009. The stadium is currently named after "Voith", one of Heidenheim's biggest sponsors along with "Hartmann". However, 1. FC Heidenheim 1846 have been the owners since 2019. It can hold 15,000 spectators.
Coach: The partnership between 1. FC Heidenheim 1846 and Frank Schmidt has been working fairly well for almost 13 years now. The 46-year-old tactician was born just a few hundred metres from the stadium as the crow flies, and has basically been at FCH since the beginning. He took over the role of head coach a short while after his playing career with the Heidenheimer Sportbund came to an end. Schmidt subsequently steered the club from the Oberliga to the Regionalliga. That was followed by promotions to the third tier and then the second division, where Heidenheim have been for six years now.
Personnel matters: The team from the Ostalb consists of a mixture of experienced and young, up-and-coming players. Niklas Dorsch is somewhere between the two categories. At the age of 22, the defensive midfielder has already established himself as one of Heidenheim's key players and has almost always been in the starting XI in his 58 FCH appearances to date. Patrick Mainka is another to have taken a leap forward since arriving in Heidenheim, joining Schmidt's team from Borussia Dortmund at the same time as Dorsch. He is now the defensive linchpin. Meanwhile, Marc Schnatterer has almost been at the club as long as his coach and is part of the furniture at Heidenheim. A set-piece specialist and a pacey right winger, he has worn the blue and red jersey 420 times, notching 122 goals and the same number of assists.
The scenario: Heidenheim find themselves in the upper echelons of the table again this term. Frank Schmidt's team currently occupy fourth place with 41 points, three points behind VfB Stuttgart. But the resumption of the campaign certainly didn't go how FCH would have hoped. They suffered a 3-0 defeat away to VfL Bochum last week – their fifth loss on the road this season. FCH have always been a force to be reckoned with at home, however, with seven wins, four draws and only two defeats on home soil this term. Their last meeting with SVWW at the Voith-Arena came a few years back in October 2013. The match that day ended in a goalless draw – as did the reverse fixture at the BRITA-Arena earlier this season.