In the meeting of the small clubs, the 1. FC Heidenheim receives SV Elversberg for the relegation first leg.
The first duel of the “Dorfrelegation” was the 1. FC Heidenheim two days before the first leg. Not with the opponent SV Elversberg. With the Deutsche Bahn. “Our special train for the relegation between Heidenheim and Elversberg,” wrote the company for a photo of a single mini waggon in the middle of green nature. The Bundesliga club’s answer was not long in coming. “We recommend that all FCH fans travel by bus or car,” commented the table-16. the past season the joke with a wink, “after all, you certainly want to be there on time for the kick -off!”
Heidenheim carries the ridicule with the socket
The car should actually be the means of transport for the away fans from Elversberg before the first leg of the relegation on Thursday (8:30 p.m. live in the AudioStream on Sportschau.de). Spiesen-Elversberg, a 13,000 inhabitant community in Saarland and a proud home of the third-class second division season, does not have its own train station. While big clubs such as Hamburg, Stuttgart, Hertha or Cologne have been fighting for the last starting place in the Bundesliga in recent years, two “village clubs” now meet.
But they don’t care about the image of their clubs. “We always felt very comfortable in this drawer,” said Heidenheim coach Frank Schmidt on Wednesday. And his counterpart also emphasized Horst Steffen: “I take it as it is, and I am happy when we deliver good games.”
Elversberg in good shape
Elversberg did this in the past season. With considerable offensive football and a strong final sprint with eight games without defeat, the Saarlanders secured the “greatest success in club history” in their only second year of second division, as attacker Luca Schnellbacher emphasized.
Respect in Heidenheim is also correspondingly large. Elversberg was offensive “the benchmark in the second division,” Steffen for him the “coach of the year”, emphasized Schmidt, who wants to understand the relegation as an opportunity. “For us, it’s not about preventing something, but getting something. They are promotion games, even if we are the Bundesliga club.”
Elversberg goes to the relegation relaxed
At least the statistics speak clearly for Heidenheim. Since the reintroduction of the relegation in 2009, only three out of 16 duels of the second division has prevailed. Accordingly, Elversberg does not see himself in the favorite role despite the better form. “If you look at the latest record, I won’t come with a chance of 50:50,” emphasized Steffen. In any case, they look forward to the relegation in Elversberg. He himself “decided some time ago that I would let the whole theater with the pressure,” said Steffen: “I’m not making a drama anymore.”
And so the 56-year-old should also leave the ongoing jokes cold over his club. “Usually we are always for rail instead of the street,” wrote Deutsche Bahn in another replica, “but if both fans share a car, it can be cope with.”
Prize on Thursday, 22.5.2025 8:00 p.m., Musikclub Rock, SWR1
