 | ||||
| Full name | 1. Fußballclub Heidenheim 1846 e.V. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname | FCH | |||
| Short name | FCH | |||
| Founded | 1 January 1846; 179 years ago (1846-01-01) | |||
| Ground | Voith-Arena | |||
| Capacity | 15,000[1] | |||
| President | Holger Sanwald[2] | |||
| Head coach | Frank Schmidt | |||
| League | Bundesliga | |||
| 2024–25 | Bundesliga, 16th of 18 | |||
| Website | Official website | |||
 Current season | ||||
1. FC Heidenheim 1846 is aGerman professional association football club from the town ofHeidenheim,Baden-Württemberg. The club currently plays in theBundesliga, the top tier of theGerman football league system.
The club was formed in 2007 through the separation of the football section from parent association Heidenheimer Sportbund, a larger multi sports club that has 5,800 members in 25 departments.[3] The independence of the football side allows it to operate under the stricter economic standards set for professional clubs which are members of theGerman Football Association (Deutscher Fußball-Bund or DFB).
Heidenheimer SB itself was founded through the 1972 merger of TSB Heidenheim and VfL Heidenheim.[4] The club's origins go back to 14 August 1846, with the establishment of the gymnastics club Turngemeinde Heidenheim, which folded in 1852, but was re-constituted under the same name in 1861.[citation needed] The club was renamed Turnverein Heidenheim in 1872.
A football department was created within the association on 8 July 1890 and became an independent side known as VfR Heidenheim on 21 August 1922.[citation needed] The swimming club Schwimmverein 04 Heidenheim joined VfR in 1936 to form VfL Heidenheim 04.[citation needed] In 1949, following World War II, these two clubs went their separate ways, the swimmers under their original name, and the footballers as VfL Heidenheim 1890.
In the meantime, parent club TV 1846 Heidenheim was joined on 13 July 1935 by SpVgg Heidenheim and then on 3 April 1937 merged with 1. Sportverein 1900 Heidenheim – which was known as Athletenklub Hellenstein until 1920 – to become TSV 1846 Heidenheim.[citation needed] After the war TSV was united with Turnerbund Heidenheim 1902 whose history was as a worker's club.[citation needed] TB was established on 21 December 1902 and was renamed Turnerbund Heidenheim on 6 August 1904.[citation needed] This club merged with Arbeiterturnverein 1904 Heidenheim on 8 March 1919.[citation needed] Like other worker's clubs, TB was considered as politically unacceptable by theNazi regime and was forcibly dissolved in 1933. It was re-established after the war and on 3 February 1946 joined TSV 1846 Heidenheim to form TSB 1846 Heidenheim.
The 27 May 1972 merger of TSB and VfL brought all these threads together, returning the footballers to the fold of the original gymnastics club. Heidenheimer SB and predecessor VfL Heidenheim played in theAmateurliga Württemberg (III) from 1963 to 1975 and again from 1976 to 1979.[citation needed] Regional cup wins led to the team's participation in the opening round of theDFB-Pokal (German Cup) in 1975, 1978, and 1980, before the side slipped into lower-level competition.
The club has since recovered and in 2004 advanced to theOberliga Baden-Württemberg. In 2007, the football department decided to split off from Heidenheimer SB as a legally independent club with retrospective effect from 1 January 2007.[5] A successful season finish in 2008 saw the club being promoted to theRegionalliga Süd.[4] Having simultaneously won theWürttemberg Cup, Heidenheim was allowed to participate in the first round of theDFB-Pokal in the following season, where the team lost 0–3 toVfL Wolfsburg.[6] In 2009, Heidenheim finished first in the Regionalliga Süd and got promoted to the3. Liga.
After five seasons in the 3. Liga with the club always finishing in the upper half of the table, 1. FC Heidenheim won the league in2013–14, and earned promotion to the2. Bundesliga for the first time.[7] At the same time the club, however, withdrew its reserve team, playing in the Oberliga Baden-Württemberg, from competition after such teams ceased to be compulsory for professional clubs.
In the2019–20 season, 1. FC Heidenheim finished third to play against the 16th-placed Bundesliga club,Werder Bremen, in thepromotion-relegation play-offs.[8] The tie ended in a 2–2 draw on aggregate, as 1. FC Heidenheim lost on theaway goals rule to stay in 2. Bundesliga.[9]
On the final matchday of the2022–23 season, 1. FC Heidenheim managed to score two goals in the stoppage time to win 3–2 againstJahn Regensburg, in which they finished top of the table ahead ofDarmstadt on goal difference and promoted to theBundesliga for the first time in their history.[10]
On 17 September 2023, the club won their first everBundesliga match, in a 4–2 home victory against Werder Bremen, on the same day that head coach,Frank Schmidt, set the record as the longest serving manager in the history of German football.[11] An impressive Bundesliga campaign saw the club finish 8th in the2023–24 season, comfortably securing safety, and with German championsBayer Leverkusen's victory overKaiserslautern in theDFB-Pokal final meant that Heidenheim qualified for their first European appearance, theUEFA Conference League play-offs in their debut Bundesliga season.[12] On 29 August 2024, Heidenheim advanced to the Conference League League Phase for the first time in history after defeating Swedish clubBK Häcken 3–2 at home and 5–3 on aggregate in the play-off round.[13]
The club's honours:
League[edit]
| Cup[edit]
|
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
|
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
|
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| Position | Name |
|---|---|
| Head coach |  Frank Schmidt |
| Assistant coach | Bernhard Raab Dieter Jarosch |
| Goalkeeping coach | Bernd Weng |
| Athletic coach | Said Lakhal Tobias Häußler |
| Team doctor | Andreas Heintzen Dr. Udo Tiefenbacher |
| Physiotherapist | Marc Weiss Roland Bosch |
| Head of scouting | Hans-Peter Baamann |
| Director of football | Robert Strauß |
| Team manager | Alexander Raaf |
| Academy manager | Roger Prinzen Nils Weng |
| Stadium announcer | Peter Barth |
| Kit manager | Manuel Henck |
 | This list has noprecise inclusion criteria as described in theManual of Style for standalone lists. Pleaseimprove this article by adding inclusion criteria, or discuss this issue on thetalk page.(January 2024) |
Recent managers of the club:[20]
| Manager | Start | Finish |
|---|---|---|
| Dieter Märkle | 1 July 2006 | 17 September 2007 |
| Frank Schmidt | 17 September 2007 | Present |
| This list has noprecise inclusion criteria as described in theManual of Style for standalone lists. Pleaseimprove this article by adding inclusion criteria, or discuss this issue on thetalk page.(January 2024) |
The recent season-by-season performance of the club:[21][22]
| Season | Division | Tier | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1998–99 | Verbandsliga Württemberg | VI | 3rd |
| 1999–2000 | Verbandsliga Württemberg | 5th | |
| 2000–01 | Verbandsliga Württemberg | 10th | |
| 2001–02 | Verbandsliga Württemberg | 8th | |
| 2002–03 | Verbandsliga Württemberg | 2nd | |
| 2003–04 | Verbandsliga Württemberg | 2nd ↑ | |
| 2004–05 | Oberliga Baden-Württemberg | V | 5th |
| 2005–06 | Oberliga Baden-Württemberg | 2nd | |
| 2006–07 | Oberliga Baden-Württemberg | 3rd | |
| 2007–08 | Oberliga Baden-Württemberg | 4th ↑ | |
| 2008–09 | Regionalliga Süd | IV | 1st ↑ |
| 2009–10 | 3. Liga | III | 6th |
| 2010–11 | 3. Liga | 9th | |
| 2011–12 | 3. Liga | 4th | |
| 2012–13 | 3. Liga | 5th | |
| 2013–14 | 3. Liga | 1st ↑ | |
| 2014–15 | 2. Bundesliga | II | 8th |
| 2015–16 | 2. Bundesliga | 11th | |
| 2016–17 | 2. Bundesliga | 6th | |
| 2017–18 | 2. Bundesliga | 13th | |
| 2018–19 | 2. Bundesliga | 5th | |
| 2019–20 | 2. Bundesliga | 3rd | |
| 2020–21 | 2. Bundesliga | 8th | |
| 2021–22 | 2. Bundesliga | 6th | |
| 2022–23 | 2. Bundesliga | 1st ↑ | |
| 2023–24 | Bundesliga | I | 8th |
| 2024–25 | Bundesliga | 16th |
| Season | Division | Tier | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1999–2000 | |||
| 2000–01 | |||
| 2001–02 | |||
| 2002–03 | |||
| 2003–04 | Bezirksliga Kocher/Rems | VII | 9th |
| 2004–05 | Bezirksliga Kocher/Rems | 2nd | |
| 2005–06 | Bezirksliga Kocher/Rems | 10th | |
| 2006–07 | Bezirksliga Kocher/Rems | 1st ↑ | |
| 2007–08 | Landesliga Württemberg 2 | VI | 12th |
| 2008–09 | Landesliga Württemberg 2 | VII | 3rd |
| 2009–10 | Landesliga Württemberg 2 | 1st ↑ | |
| 2010–11 | Verbandsliga Württemberg | VI | 7th |
| 2011–12 | Verbandsliga Württemberg | 4th | |
| 2012–13 | Verbandsliga Württemberg | 1st ↑ | |
| 2013–14 | Oberliga Baden-Württemberg | V | 12th |
| 2014–present | withdrawn from competition | ||
| ↑Promoted | ↓Relegated |
Accurate as of 20 February 2025
| UEFA competitions | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Competition | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | Last season played |
| UEFA Conference League | 10 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 15 | 14 | 2024–25 |
| Total | 10 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 15 | 14 | — |
All results (home and away) list 1. FC Heidenheim's goal tally first.
| Season | Competition | Round | Opponent | Home | Away | Aggregate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024–25 | UEFA Conference League | Play-off round |  BK Häcken | 2–1 | 3–2 | 5–3 |
| League phase |  Olimpija Ljubljana | 2–1 | — | 16th out of 36 | ||
 Pafos | — | 1–0 | ||||
 Heart of Midlothian | — | 2–0 | ||||
 Chelsea | 0–2 | — | ||||
 İstanbul Başakşehir | — | 1–3 | ||||
 St. Gallen | 1–1 | — | ||||
| Knockout phase play-offs |  Copenhagen | 1–3 (a.e.t.) | 2–1 | 3–4 |
| Rank | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 98 |  Granada | 15.683 |
| 99 | VfB Stuttgart | 15.257 |
| 100 | 1. FC Heidenheim | 15.257 |
| 101 | 1. FC Köln | 15.257 |
| 102 | VfL Wolfsburg | 15.257 |
Since June 1973, the team has played in the Albstadion which has a capacity of 8,000. Since the extension in 2009, the stadium is now calledVoith-Arena and accommodates 10,000 visitors. Following another extension in 2013 the stadium holds 13,000 visitors.[25] At the beginning of 2015, another extension was added increasing capacity to 15,000.[26]
(in German)
