Bundesliga club-by-club historical guide: 1. FC Heidenheim 1846
Heidenheim may well be the newest team to compete in the Bundesliga, but they're far from the youngest...
bundesliga.com is taking you through all the teams to have graced Germany’s first division over the last 60 years – based on the number of seasons they’ve played up to and including 2023/24.
Discover many more memorable moments and records in the Bundesliga's 60-year history!
1. FC Heidenheim 1846
Years in Bundesliga: 1 (2023-present)
Most appearances: N/A
Most goals: N/A
Youngest player: N/A
Heidenheim are the Bundesliga’s newest, but by no means youngest, club following their historic promotion in 2023. The club itself traces a history back to 1846 and TG Heidenheim. Football was introduced in the 1910s, multiple clubs have merged/split, and there have been name changes – but the city of Heidenheim an der Brenz had never played home to top-flight football.
Watch: Heidenheim break Hamburg hearts in thrilling promotion finale
The club in its current form was created in 2007 with the first team in the fourth tier and pushing for promotion. It was on 17 September that year that current head coach Frank Schmidt, a former player at predecessor club Heidenheimer SB, was handed the reins from Dieter Märkle. Come the same date in 2023, when Heidenheim host Werder Bremen in the Bundesliga, he will become the longest-serving coach in German professional football history at 16 years, surpassing Freiburg’s Volker Finke.
Schmidt took Heidenheim to the 3. Liga in 2009, Bundesliga 2 in 2014 and now the Bundesliga in 2023 after a hugely dramatic finish to the season where Heidenheim were missing out on automatic promotion when the clock reached 90 minutes, before two late goals saw them snatch the division title and reach the big time. The club’s Voith-Arena home is the highest stadium in Germany’s top three divisions at 555 metres above sea level.
