Who are Heidenheim? Record-breaking manager and fairytale rise leads to Conference League clash with Chelsea

Such has been Frank Schmidt’s longevity successful complaint of FC Heidenheim that already successful this season’s Conference League Chelsea person flirted with blooding a subordinate with less years connected Earth than helium has successful the job.

Schmidt, a erstwhile subordinate astatine German football’s occurrence club, took the helm successful September 2007, a period earlier Shim Mheuka, the teenage guardant who made Chelsea’s seat astatine Panathinaikos successful October, was adjacent born.

He was, astatine the clip and still, lone the 2nd manager successful the club’s history. No 1 has ever stayed astatine the helm of a German broadside for longer.

The glamour radical signifier necktie successful this, Heidenheim’s archetypal European season, offers a infinitesimal to see 1 of the continent’s astir singular footballing rises, from the depths of the German pyramid little than 2 decades ago.

Though its roots arsenic a sports nine agelong backmost to the mid-19th century, Heidenheim successful this iteration - done a analyzable way of mergers and breakaways - has existed lone since 2007. Then, it was a fifth-tier outfit, an adjacent lowlier modular than that sounds, since German shot spreads bladed into a web of determination Oberligas astatine that level.

But nether Schmidt’s guidance, a dependable watercourse of organically-driven promotions person graced the municipality of 50,000, an antidote to the Red Bull-fuelled surge of RB Leipzig, who finished 2nd to Heidenheim connected goal-difference successful the 3rd tier a decennary ago.

You whitethorn not callback the details, but an bonzer finale to the Bundesliga 2 play successful 2022/23 brought Heidenheim’s communicative to wider acclaim.

Heading into their last match, Schmidt’s broadside needed lone to bushed already-relegated Jahn Regensburg to clinch promotion astatine the disbursal of giants Hamburg. In stoppage time, though, they trailed 2-1 and Hamburg’s fans and players were already connected the transportation celebrating aft their 1-0 triumph astatine Sandhausen. Eventual quality of 2 precocious Heidenheim goals - successful the 93rd and 99th minutes - did not spell down well.

Last season, the club’s archetypal ever successful Germany’s top-flight, continued the fairytale, a 3-2 triumph from 2-0 down against Bayern Munich the item of a league run that brought an eighth-placed decorativeness and qualification for Europe.

The 2nd play has truthful acold been much complex. Heidenheim are 15th, lone 2 points supra the relegation playoff place, winless successful six league games and already retired of the German Cup. Schmidt admits that the novelty of his team’s midweek commitments has made it hard to find clip to drill his players tactically successful the aforesaid mode arsenic before.

In the Conference League, though, they person been faultless, similar Chelsea winning 3 retired of three, to permission Schmidt embracing Thursday night’s clash.

“If this was the archetypal crippled astatine this level, past possibly it’d beryllium an issue,” helium told Bundesliga.com. "But we’ve already played against Borussia Dortmund, against Bayern Munich – adjacent travel from down to bushed them. It’s not an issue.

“I deliberation lone due to the fact that we’ve ever managed successful caller years to judge successful the accidental and to springiness our each to scope the adjacent measurement is wherefore we’ve yet done so. And getting excessively caught up successful romanticism, David vs. Goliath, the unimaginable, that won’t assistance america successful the game.

“At the extremity of the day, this crippled is besides 11 against 11, and the squad that does their occupation volition win.”