Club-by-club historical guide: Heidenheim

bundesliga.com is taking you through all the teams to have graced Germany’s first division over the last 60+ years.

1. FC Heidenheim 1846
Years in Bundesliga: 2 (2023-present)
Most appearances: Patrick Mainka, Kevin Müller (34 - by end of 2023/24) 
Most goals: Tim Kleindienst (12 - by end of 2023/24)
Youngest player: Eren Dinkçi (21 years, 8 months, 6 days)

Heidenheim became the Bundesliga’s newest, but by no means youngest, club at the time of their historic promotion in 2023. The club itself traces a history back to 1846 and TG Heidenheim. Football was introduced in the 1910s, multiple clubs have merged/split, and there have been name changes – but the city of Heidenheim an der Brenz had never played home to top-flight football.

Watch: All about Heidenheim

The club in its current form was created in 2007 with the first team in the fourth tier and pushing for promotion. It was on 17 September that year that current head coach Frank Schmidt, a former player at predecessor club Heidenheimer SB, was handed the reins from Dieter Märkle. Come the same date in 2023, when Heidenheim hosted Werder Bremen in the Bundesliga, he became the longest-serving coach in German professional football history at 16 years, surpassing Freiburg’s Volker Finke.

Schmidt took Heidenheim to the 3. Liga in 2009, Bundesliga 2 in 2014 and now the Bundesliga in 2023 after a hugely dramatic finish to the season where they were missing out on automatic promotion when the clock reached 90 minutes, before two late goals saw them snatch the division title and reach the big time.

The club’s Voith-Arena home is the highest stadium in Germany’s top three divisions at 555 metres above sea level. By finishing eighth in the table in 2023/24 and qualifying for the UEFA Conference League to earn their first taste of European football in 178 years, Heidenheim surpassed all expectations and suggested their part in Bundesliga history will be more than a short cameo.