The Miracle Story of the German Club You’ve Never Heard Of
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- čas přidán 29. 11. 2023
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In May 2023, Heidenheim, a team who twenty years earlier were playing amateur football, secured promotion to the country’s top-flight, the Bundesliga.
Their head coach has been in charge since 2007, 25 staff members have been with them since they were amateur, and a last-minute-final-day goal secured promotion to the top flight.
This is the story of the rise of Heidenheim. Written by Seb Stafford-Bloor, illustrated by Craig Silcock.
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#Bundesliga #Heidenheim #FCH - Sport
Some football manager player clearly found a genie to make his save file a reality.
A lot of football manager saves are becoming reality this season. That would explain Girona and Leverkusen
@@bababababababa6124 Well Girona is more down to the City Group than anything.
@@Guns_Blazini dont think you understand how much it's down to proper coaching and quality preparation from the Girona staff.
Reims manager, Will Steel is literally a FM player and pro
@@Anishninho_ballermate, at this point everybody knows that
BTW, Heidenheim didn't just win promotion last year. Darmstadt lost their last game of the season, meaning that Heidenheim didn't just win promotion, they also won the league.
Wir haben darmstadt last minute gefickt😭😭
The last matchday last year across the top three leagues in Germany was crazy. Not only the drama between HSV and Heidenheim, but also in the third league where Osnabrück scored two injury-time goals v. BVB2 to secure automatic promotion. And not to forget, in the 1. Liga where BVB blew it v. lowly Mainz to lose the German title to Bayern who needed a late Musiala goal v. Köln to leapfrog Dortmund.
That was crazy man. Hallo aus Deutschland
I was in a bar in Hanoi, Vietnam. With a dodgy russian stream showing the Hamburg game while sat next to two Hamburg fans. When their game ended, one of them went to get a round of celebratory shots while his mate was refreshing an app to see the score..
At 2-2 they both got very nervous. Then when it went 3-2... There was silence between them for 3 mins. Then one of them slammed his fist on the table and said some expletives and then they both just walked out of the bar leaving the shots.
While I feel their pain, it was one of the funniest things I'd seen in months from pure joy to crushing disappointment.
@@ryuhayabaker😂
sad Osnabrück did badly this season
my man Frank is literally playing Football manager in real life. Respect.
Frank Schmidt was the captain of Heidenhem when they played in the Oberliga 5th tier. The manager got sacked and the former captain who ended his career took over as an interim coach. The club realised he is doing a good job so he stayed. They play in the top tier of germany now.
Loving Joe’s very correct German pronunciations!
Technically Voith would be pronounced as Voit (without the TH sound)?
Also the panels were simply showing "Liga" to refer to the German 3rd Tier when Liga just means league, it should've been 3. Liga
@@ropeisnotadink Foit, if the word is not a loanword form Latin or the Romance languages v is pronunced f. Th is just archaic orthography found in names, German lost the th sound a millenium ago.
... Except for Kleindienst lol
@@char6364The mixup of ie and ei is a typical anglophone thing.
as a HSV fan I was shedding a tear in silence by myself while watching this video. Congratulations to Heidenheim again of course. they have earned it. :(
Dw man, keep believing hsv will reach the bindesliga soon
@@siddhantpatnaik3216 I wish 😭
Warte mal, bist du wirklich ein HSV Fan der nicht toxisch ist und Hdh als Dorfverein, der nicht in die Bundesliga gehört beleidigt?
@@Mister-lc3vc er hat sich als fake-fan entlarvt
@@prysrek8858 seh ich genauso
Another example from Portugal, where the second-tier team Belenenses is also writing a beautiful story! Belenenses is one of the most historic teams of the country, being the 5th team with the most titles, including the League and the Portuguese Cup and even being invited by Real Madrid to play the first game at Santiago Bernabeu. However, in 2018, Belenenses members took a bold move and split from the investors' team: Belenenses SAD (now known as B SAD), deciding to restart at the bottom of Portuguese football: the 7th division (amateur Lisbon regional league). Fast forward to 2023, they achieved 5 consecutive promotions, equalling the world record, while B SAD was relegated twice and this season failed to meet the league requirements... Football still belongs to the fans!
Awesome! Sounds similar to the journey of AFC Wimbledon in EPL 👏
Heidenheim the Team that is only 30km away from my hometown. Watched some matches in the Voith Arena. This Story is so incredible and not even finished, I mean 9th place in the Bundesliga after halfway through the season is insane. Even my favorite Team Augsburg is behind. Hope so much Heidenheim and Augsburg stay up and Ulm promotes to the 2. Bundesliga. My football loving heart would jump!
The problem is that it’s really hard to actually imagine this rise unless you were there. In Elementary school I played for a local football club (this would be about 2009) and we got to visit the newly renovated / built stadium. At the end of the tour we met the entire team, that signed autographs and jerseys. 14 years later non of the names stayed the same. Marc Schnatterer retired last year (the longest serving of all those, playing for Heidenheim from 2008 to 2021) after playing for a 3rd division for 2 years. He now serves as the U19 coach.
Heyyy wo hast du gespielt? SVM oder TSG S
@@lptogether1998 Niederstotzingen
This is definintely still an unreal story. I had PE lessons in that Albstadion in the summer and I remember watching a few Verbandsliga matches paying 4€ for the entrance. I could have written that comment in German but I like to share these memories with people that are not German native speakers. It's also incredible that once a year we had federal youth sports events (Bundesjugendspiele) in that non-existent stadium, dressed up in the same locker room that was used for the Heidenheimer Sportbund. I also played for the football club next door (SV Mergelstetten) and I grew up on the Reutenen (a small suburban area on top of that hill in Heidenheim). Exciting to see other locals posting and commenting under this video :-)
Hilarious how the producer got almost all the names correct in terms of pronunciation except for Tim KleinDAINST :D.
PS: I lived in Ehinger Weg so maybe someone can guess who I am 🙂
@@lptogether1998 Mein erster Kommentar ging wohl nicht durch: In Niederstotzingen, also doch ein Stück weiter weg
this warrants a full-length document
And all that without a massive investor like RB Leipzig or Hoffenheim before 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Union Berlin have an uncannily similar story to be fair, but Heidenheim was miraculous, similar to Luton. While Union arguably was similar to Leicester in a way, suddenly fighting for the title.
And these German clubs rise were crazy, I still remembered by the time Svvg Greuther Furth gaining their promotion for the first time thus became the 4th Munich club in Bundesliga.
@@kohikappu no, Fürth does not belong to Munich by any means.
@@kohikappuFürth is about 150 kilometers from Munich. And they wouldn't even like being called Bavarians, because Fürth is in Frankonia.
@@kohikappu Bro, you might start a war by saying that Fürth is part of München 💀💀
I played for Heidenheim nearly my whole youth (2002-2009) and even had some appearances in their 2nd team before I eventually had other priorities in life. Seeing them breaking through from the very beginning to the Bundesliga still feels crazy, like everything was part of a bigger plan haha idk. It was the most humble, professional and heart-warming clubs I could have asked for when growing up and the fact that Holger Sanwald - manager in charge since 1994 (!) - after all these years still greets my parents and ask how their son is doing when grocery shopping is absolutely everything you have to know about that awesome club. 💙❤
It's so crazy to grow up in that town. Running on these tracks back then before they build a new stadium on top of it and now they play in the Bundesliga.
And oh boy how they play. Proud of them ❤
Don't forget that Lennard Maloney became Heidenheim's first ever international player when the USMNT called him up. He's been subbed on a few times.
Really was a masterstroke of a pickup from Heidenheim and their pro scouts. He's a good 6/CB that came through at Union Berlin and Dortmund before signing with them. Has had a good season so far with them as well!
The drama of bouncing between 3rd and 1st on the final match day last season nearly gave me a heart attack but it was amazing to see Heidenheim make history and get to the top league. Thanks for sharing the love, Tifo! ❤️💙
5:32 I just couldn't hold up my tears.. that's what football meant to be, these inspiring stories of success. The fans of Hidenheim are the only ones who truly know this feeling. Frank Schmid is also a GREAT coach!
"The only ones who are euphoric to reach the top are those who started from the bottom of the ladder."
-Ghazi Al Gosaibi.
why you crying mate
@@freddiejones9987Because faking emotions gets you likes from football NPC fans.
I mean unless you’re from the place Heidenheim, there’s no reason to get teared up for this 😂
@@jackwatson6887proper strange behaviour
Apparently having empathy is no longer acceptable behaviour these days, you two above are sick.
@@farhanatashiga3721 There’s a difference between having empathy and just wanting to score easy internet points. Nothing gets football NPC accounts going like sympathy stories. Sorry if I’m being too cynical here but I’ve read too many hyperbolic stories from fans where if you think about what they’re describing and how it looks in your head, they sound either insane or just, well, fake.
You guys are great. Love the video and information. Helps me to want to learn more and follow this underdog team 🤙💥
Thanks for that video! I love the animations, you can see the effort you put into your craft. Keep it up mate!
it has to be mentioned that Schmidt managed to get promoted from the 4th tier two times in a row, because the league system was restructured in 2008 and promotion was nullified. But in the next year he did it again
I had PE in that stadium when there was only one small stand with 500 seats. I played for the local club next door, SV Mergelstetten and I grew up on top of that hill where the stadium is located. A small area called "Reutenen". I went to elmentary school there, had "Bundesjugendspiele" (= federal sporting competition) and dressed up in the changing rooms that were used by the team of Heidenheimer Sportbund (former name of the club before splitting as a separate football club.) This still feels so unreal and I'm so proud of them doing so well in the Bundesliga. A shame I have been a supporter of Bayern Munich for the whole of my life and did not really care much about FC Heidenheim back then. But, now I am proud and it seems like I fancy watching Heidenheim games more than I do watching Bayern games. It's almost like my priority has shifted towards being a Heidenheim supporter
You should do a vídeo about Belenenses. Its a very similar story of an historic climb, but belem is an historic portuguese club
Yeah, would be great, except they might get relegated again
Also do something on Hoffenheim. One of their ex players went on to found the largest German company, then created the greatest football youth program in the world just to get his local village team from the 9th division to the upper half of the Bundesliga.
Heidenheim is Germany’s Luton Town
With the finances of Aberdeen.
or Wrexham!
@ryanwilliams8750
Wrexham is more like a man City
@@blackniall8509to be fair. They found a loophole in investing in the club rather than just cheating.
Being tied to the owners got them massive publicity and deals worth more than anyone around them but technically fair deals.
Not ideal when they get promoted ahead of you or get you relegated but technically fair.
lmao no @@ryanwilliams8750
3:30 first time I’ve heard my team (Regensburg) talked about on Tifo and it’s about relegation 😢 haha
"It's finished at Sandhausen. Hamburg have done all they can, that Dompe goal was enough for the 3 points. Heidenheim are still alive here... Mainkaa... KLEINDIEEEEEEENST!"
THIS!!! 😀 This is absolutely hilarious and genius. Referring to that Aguerooooo commentary is frigging amazing! And the parallelism is insane. 2 goals in stoppage time and the last one with almost the final kick of the game. and that after coming back after condeding two goals and being down almost the entire match.
I went to college in Heidenheim and remember watching third tier football for 5 Euro in the 09/10 season. Good memories.
Also happen to drink with the team and Frank back then in the bar after a win.
What really impressed me is how organized and active they are in defense. its not just parking the bus infront of the goal but constant Gegenpressing. As soon as the Ball gets into their half 3 players are always pressing and forming a triangle around the opponent. Sometimes it even looks like they have double the amount of players on the pitch.
Watching your channel for many years now and I would have never thought that you’d make a video about my city’s football team. It’s funny also how 3-5 years ago no one outside of our region knew the city. But now most people I speak to say “ahh yes Heidenheim, sure, 1st league”
Seeing Hamburg fans in tears and their spirits crushed is one of the best annual events!
Fiago cried about this...
That Hamburg had to play Stuttgart who are currently sitting in P3 afterwards is just pure comedy.
Definitely you should make a video about Fußball-Club Saarbrücken, a giant killer in this year in the DFB Pokal defeating bayern munich, Eintracht Frankfurt and Borussia Mönchengladbach to reach semi finals repeting their campaign in 2020. Greetings from Bolivia!!
As a Hamburg Fan the 2nd half of the video just hurt
Awesome work to those guys. Congratulations are well-deserved.
As an aside, there are apparently more credible pictures of the Loch Ness monster and Sasquatch than this amazing coach.
This year really is special for German football in general huh?
Also, that's a legend right there... A legend of football. Managing your own club from semi-professional league to defeating the reigning champions of 11 years in top flight football under 20 years without ever relagating 😱
As somebody who grew up in Baden-Württemberg it kinda hurt, when you said "Heidenheim just above Bavaria". Like the home of Porsche, Mercedes, Bosch and many other famous german brands isn't worth to mention :/
Im Englischen ist alles Deutsche bayerisch 🙄
you cant expect non german speakers to say Baden-Württemberg, when they can just say 'next to Bavaria' instead 😅
Germany is the last outpost of pure football
Why would we never have heard of a team that is playing in the Bundesliga?
I watched this play out live. It was truly insane. Watching the pitch invaders realize what had happened was unlike anything I've seen in football.
Just look at the footage when they got promoted to 1st Bundesliga. It's amazing.
My company Vouth is from Heidenheim. Exciting news here from USA. I need to make a match!
Bem-vindo ao País de Gales, Ronald! YJB 🇧🇷🏴
They really dodged a bullet by beating Hamburg, since they then had to face Stuttgart, who just started to improve drastically and went from relegation to currently being ranked third, higher than Dortmund or Leipzig and about to play Champions League next season. Gotta love football.
"the German Club You’ve Never Heard Of" is a BIT of a stretch
Should be "german club story you've never heard of"
UPDATE:
theyre at tenth Place rn, its insane how they keep up that well.
Beautiful story
It's so beautiful that fairytales like this still happens in Football. Its why we love this sport.
Great video, genuinely didn't know about this at all but sounds like something Rob and Ryan wished had happened to Wrexham as that would have made a great episode.
Could you make a video on Union Berlin's terrible form? It's maddening what's happening there.
What a beautiful story
And as of now they are literally one point (and a DFB Pokal win from Leverkusen) away from qualification for international tournaments next year. LOL
Ive heard of it, Florian Pick plays on it
Outstanding video. If you're interested in unlikely success stories of German pro football check out the history of Darmstadt (the team that got promoted along side Heidenheim) starting 2012/13 and the following years.
And now Heidenheim sits on place 8 in the Bundesliga
If I had a nickel for every time a Stadion announcer congratulated a German football team to early, while in the second game, an overtime "miracle" happened I had two nickels... (and the HSV was part of it both times two)
That's why I've said that Frank Schmidt was easily one of the top players in the history of the bundisliga. And after this, maybe even one of the greatest coaches in history too
Frank Schmidt, eine absolute Legende
And now they've just put the final nails on the coffin of Bayern Munich's decade long Bundesliga tittle streak
What a club, what a story.
Football Manager save
I haven't watched the video yet, but what is Cooper Kupp doing in the thumbnail for this video about a German football club?
Fiago is in shambles rn
Hello from heidenheim👍💪
Hello From Voith USA.
I like to think anyone who knows football has heard of Heidenheim by now. So many videos on them during the summer
Figo uploaded shorts about them winning 2. Bundesliga as well, so it helped.
I heard in Zealand video😅👏🔥
I bought my goat striker from heindenheim
I will never forget them
This has vibes of final day of the Premier League a la Manchester City/United. I am always delighted to see stoppage time winners 🏆😂😂
I only really started to watch the Premier League that year, and I remember having my remote set up to cycle through all the available matches that NBC was airing (I think they were showing 8 of them across their networks), but by the end I just kept flipping back and forth between the Manchester games. And I absolutely LOST IT with that Aguero goal. Partly because of the drama, partly because at that time, I was liking anyone who wasn't Man United. It was just an incredible thing to see and I've been hooked since.
@JimTheFly that season was the year I went to uni. Granted, teams like Manchester United/City, Liverpool and Arsenal will have supporters wherever you go in England, but I was living up north and suddenly surrounded by Manchester fans and not so "neutrals".
That whole season was polarising; from the 8-2 Manchester derby to Liverpool fans now chanting for a club from Manchester to win the league. Flatmates were gutted, I had one United mate "glad City won" - presumably a coping mechanism, and I was just chilling with popcorn.
@@JimTheFly Honestly, it was a hopeless task for Manchester United back then - they needed to score 10 goals on Sunderland to win on aggregates of goal-difference, yet Rooney only scored once, meaning it heavily depends on QPR vs Manchester City, and no one did even know where the trophy was, whether it had been at the Stadium of Lights (Sunderland's home), Lufton Park, or both. It was a huge drama because soon after the match ended, Manchester United side were watching, and the score was 2-2 - Mackay scored the late equalizer before the stoppage time, meaning that MU would have secured the title. I watched this like crazy for both games knowing I was hopeless about Arsenal back then, so seeing that Aguero goal during the extra-time (it was the 97th minute of the game, with +8 stoppage time, so literally last minute), despite wanting to hate so much on this team, they really deserved it very well, much more because of the fact that they ended the long running SAF legacy at Manchester for the first time of asking.
They even became champions.
Impressiv, I live in Regensburg but didn't know such info
Regensburg mentioned ❤️🤍❤️🤍❤️🤍
The stuff of FM dreams.
When you said rally track i thought you meant vroom vroom rally, but you mean a running track.
Cant wait they will be in the champion league in 5 years
Frank Schmidt irl Football Manager run
The guy on the thumbnail looks like oliver anthony
See what contunuity brings to the table...
Great ❤
As a Stuttgart Fan I'm just happy for them and look forward to establishing a derby culture between us :)
I think there's an official friendship culture because of that leukaemia boy.
We're gonna have to wait a while for KSC to get promoted
I have to criticize the lack of accuracy in some parts of this video.
0:59 - No, it's not pronounced with a "th" sound, it's pronounced with a "t" sound, someone could at least have listened to the word on Google translator
1:35 - The 3rd tier isn't just called "Liga", imagine someone calling League One and League Two just "League". The official name is "3. Liga" which translates to "3rd League". Every league is a "Liga", so calling the third tier just "Liga" in this video doesn't make sense. Even without knowing German just by looking at the word that should have been very clear.
1:43 - There is no "Bundesliga 2." as that would be "Bundesliga 2nd" in English, doesn't make sense, again just by looking at it. It is "2. Bundesliga" as in "2nd Bundesliga".
That's the Beste beard I've ever seen
The ref really did his part in pushing Heidenheim over the line of Promotion
there was a long break in the game to hydrate cause it was above 30 degrees that day, thats the reason for the 11min stoppage time
@@jore5725 Injurys and hydrationbreaks were in any other Game two. Calling the longest overtime in the season, at this perticular Moment, and gifting them a Penalty, which was in No circumstance a clear call, leaves a bitter taste.
it all makes sense now. Thats why they are spending nothing on wages, they were saving it for the ref on the last day.
Mindblown
@@jore5725 Not saying the ref was payed. He Made Bad and imo unreasonable decisions so Heidenheim got the Last push to be promoted. But as i said, it was Just the Last push, they also played a phenomenal season. But the way the Last matchday played out does have a "geschmäckle".
Just recently they have beaten Bayern Munich 3:2 although Bayern were leading 0:2 after first half of the game. What a miracle! ❤💙 Munich is 950 million, Heidenheim only 60 million Euro worth!
What a story
My girlfriend's cousin plays for Heidenheim. It's a pretty remarkable career.
Whats his name?
@@monkatoxiq4569 Manon Busch
who’s here after they beat bayern 3-2
This would be the equivalent of AFC Wimbledon or Maidstone making the Premier League
Der Hund sagt wir haben noch nie von Heidenheim gehört 💀
Real life Football manager from rags to glory
PATRICK MAINKA RAAAAAAA🦅🦅🦅🦅💥💥💥💥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
The City of Heidenheim, or better a cooparative owned by the city, sold hundreds of appartments and houses to a finance investor (residing in Luxmbourg - paying no taxes) to finance the new stadium. Probably they are still proud in the City Hall: Polishing the image of the city but worsening the live of their citizens.
They beat Bayern Munich last week. Unreal.
I life in Heidenheim 🥹👌
❤💙
City vs United vibes
and they just beat Bayern Munchen 3-2 from 2-0 down at the break 😮
❤️💙
what I find sad is that before the season everyone talked about Luton's rise but nearly no one talked about Heidenheim's rise
bit disrespectful video title bro^^
heidenheim has been one of the consistently solid and improving sides of the 2nd bundesliga for years. they should've gotten promoted on 2 separate occasions already before they finally went up. they showed what can happen if a squad is given time under a capable manager. because it's historically a smaller club with less expectations and media buzz, they could focus on quietly improving the team for years. but it can go the other way just as fast. look at union berlin. they have had a similar upwards trajectory until they became too ambitious and signed superstars like bonucci or volland which got them media attention but things are not working out for them right now
And now we’re one point to playing in europe
Heidenheim is some Dorking Wanderers level story
Reminds me of Man City last minute trophy win 🏆 😂
Wow