1. FC Heidenheim 1846 is a German professional association football club from the town of Heidenheim, Baden-Württemberg. The club currently plays in the 2. Bundesliga, the second tier of the German football league system. They're also the oldest professional football club in Germany.
History
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. The independence of the football side allows it to operate under the stricter economic standards set for professional clubs which are members of the German Football Association (Deutscher Fußball-Bund or DFB).
Heidenheimer SB itself was founded through the 1972 merger of TSB Heidenheim and VfL Heidenheim. 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. 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. The swimming club Schwimmverein 04 Heidenheim joined VfR in 1936 to form VfL Heidenheim 04. 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. After the war TSV was united with Turnerbund Heidenheim 1902 whose history was as a worker's club. TB was established on 21 December 1902 and was renamed Turnerbund Heidenheim on 6 August 1904. This club merged with Arbeiterturnverein 1904 Heidenheim on 8 March 1919. Like other worker's clubs, TB was considered as politically unacceptable by the Nazi 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 the Amateurliga Württemberg (III) from 1963 to 1975 and again from 1976 to 1979. Regional cup wins led to the team's participation in the opening round of the DFB-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 the Oberliga 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. A successful season finish in 2008 saw the club being promoted to the Regionalliga Süd. Having simultaneously won the Württemberg Cup, Heidenheim was allowed to participate in the first round of the DFB-Pokal in the following season, where the team lost 0–3 to VfL Wolfsburg. In 2009, Heidenheim finished first in the Regionalliga Süd and got promoted to the 3. 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 in 2013–14, and earned promotion to the 2. Bundesliga for the first time. 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 the 2019–20 season, 1. FC Heidenheim finished third to play against the 16th-placed Bundesliga club, Werder Bremen, in the promotion-relegation play-offs. The tie ended in a 2–2 draw on aggregate, as 1. FC Heidenheim lost on the away goals rule to stay in 2. Bundesliga.
On the final matchday of the 2022–23 season, 1. FC Heidenheim managed to score two goals in the stoppage time to win 3–2 against Jahn Regensburg, in which they finished top of the table ahead of Darmstadt on goal difference and promoted to the Bundesliga for the first time in their history.
On 17 September 2023, the club won their first ever Bundesliga 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. An impressive Bundesliga campaign saw the club finish 8th in the 2023–24 season, comfortably securing safety, and with German champions Bayer Leverkusen's victory over Kaiserslautern in the DFB-Pokal final meant that Heidenheim qualified for their first European appearance, the UEFA Conference League play-offs in their debut Bundesliga season. On 29 August 2024, Heidenheim advanced to the Conference League League Phase for the first time in history after defeating Swedish club BK Häcken 3–2 at home and 5–3 on aggregate in the play-off round.
In the 2025–26 season, Heidenheim were relegated to the 2. Bundesliga after a 2-0 defeat to Mainz on the final matchday.
Honours The club's honours:
League 2. Bundesliga Champions: 2022–23 3. Liga Champions: 2013–14 Regionalliga Süd (IV) Champions: 2008–09 Oberliga Baden-Württemberg Runners-up: 2006‡ Fourth place, promoted: 2008 Verbandsliga Württemberg Champions: 2013#
Cup Württemberg Cup Winners: 1965†, 2008, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 Runners-up: 1977‡, 2005‡
‡ Won by SB Heidenheim. † Won by VfL Heidenheim. # Won by reserve team.
Players Current squad
Out on loan
Non-playing staff Position Name Head coach Frank Schmidt Assistant coach Bernhard Raab Goalkeeper coach Bernd Weng Athletic trainer Said Lakhal Tobias Häußler Team doctor Andreas Heintzen Medical department Dr. Udo Tiefenbacher Physiotherapist Marc Weiss Roland Bosch Team manager Alexander Raaf Kit manager Manuel Henck
Recent managers
Recent managers of the club:1. FC Heidenheim 1846 .:. Trainer von A-Z weltfussball.de. Retrieved 18 September 2011
ManagerStartFinish Dieter Märkle 1 July 2006 17 September 2007 Frank Schmidt 17 September 2007 Present
Recent seasons
The recent season-by-season performance of the club:Das deutsche Fußball-Archiv Historical German domestic league tablesFussball.de – Ergebnisse Tables and results of all German football leagues
1. FC Heidenheim SeasonDivisionTierPosition 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. BundesligaII 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 16th2025–26Bundesliga 17th ↓ 2026–27 2. Bundesliga II
1. FC Heidenheim II SeasonDivisionTierPosition 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 With the introduction of the Regionalligas in 1994 and the 3. Liga in 2008 as the new third tier, below the 2. Bundesliga, all leagues below dropped one tier.
Key ↑ Promoted ↓ Relegated
European record
UEFA club competition record Accurate as of 20 February 2025 UEFA competitions Competition Last season played UEFA Conference League 10 6 1 3 15 14 2024–25 Total 10 6 1 3 15 14
Matches All results (home and away) list 1. FC Heidenheim's goal tally first.
Season Competition Round Opponent Home Away Aggregate2024–25UEFA Conference League Play-off round BK Häcken 2–1 3–2 5–3League phase Olimpija Ljubljana 2–1 align=center 16th out of 36 Pafos align=center 1–0 Heart of Midlothian align=center 2–0 Chelsea 0–2 align=center İstanbul Başakşehir align=center 1–3 St. Gallen 1–1 align=center Knockout phase play-offs Copenhagen 1–3 2–1 3–4
UEFA Club Ranking UEFA coefficient
Rank Team Points109 HNK Rijeka18.625110 Mainz 0518.466111 1. FC Heidenheim18.466112 TSG Hoffenheim18.466113 1. FC Köln18.466
Stadium 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 called Voith-Arena and accommodates 10,000 visitors. Following another extension in 2013 the stadium holds 13,000 visitors.Voith-Arena weltfussball.de. Retrieved 18 September 2011 At the beginning of 2015, another extension was added increasing capacity to 15,000.
References
Sources Grüne, Hardy (2001). Vereinslexikon. Kassel: AGON Sportverlag
External links
1. FC Heidenheim 1846 at Weltfussball.de Das deutsche Fußball-Archiv – historical German domestic league tables eufo.de – European football club profiles and current rosters