The Bundesliga has its 57th member. Heidenheim is a bit of a different team

The German Bundesliga will welcome its 57th member in history next season. At the weekend, Heidenheim crowned its development of recent years with promotion to the top flight. What is this club from the south-west of Germany actually like?

At the weekend, the last round of the 2. Bundesliga decided who will occupy the second promotion place next to Darmstadt, who have already secured the Bundesliga for next season earlier.

Heidenheim entered the last round with a one-point lead over third-placed Hamburg. The latter had won its last match and was waiting for the result of its rival.

Heidenheim were 0:2 down at relegated Regensburg, but turned the result around and were sent into the Bundesliga by the competition’s symbolic top scorer Tim Kleindienst in stoppage time.

The team from the city of 50,000 in Baden-Württemberg was still playing in the sixth highest competition in the 2003-2004 season.

It gradually worked its way up through the competitions and after five seasons in the third league, it was promoted to the second Bundesliga in 2013-2014. Since then, the club has only finished in the second half of the table twice.

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From the summer onwards, this modest club will operate amongst the German elite. Unlike Leipzig or Hoffenheim, Heidenheim doesn’t have a strong investor or a big concern like Leverkusen or Wolfsburg at its back.

It operates in modest conditions, but the club relies on continuous work, the biggest proof of which is the post of coach, which since 2007 has been held by Frank Schmidt, a local native.

Heidenheim doesn’t stand out with a big budget or a large playing squad, but it is through gradual improvement that the club has slowly suggested that promotion to the top flight might not be a utopia.

In the 2019-2020 season, they still failed in the Bundesliga barrage against Werder Bremen, but this time they have already advanced directly, relegating the underdogs from Hamburg to the barrage.

Source: Deník Sport, Instagram