In the second year after promotion to the Bundesliga, 1. FC Heidenheim is in a relegation battle. Logical! Or? What’s the deal with the “darn second year”?
Most marriages in Germany fail in the “seven damn year”. At least that’s what the saying goes. The whole thing goes back to a comedy from 1955 by Billy Wilder in which Marilyn Monroe plays the main role.
There is rarely any truth to such myths. And anyone who looks at the statistics will quickly learn otherwise. According to the Federal Statistical Office, the average length of marriage was recently around 14.8 years.
If euphoria and carefreeness are there
There is a similar wisdom in football. People like to talk about the “darn second year.” “The second season will always be the hardest, everyone knows that”Uwe Seeler already said. This refers to the clubs in the Bundesliga that are said to have to leave the league more often than average in the second year after promotion.
There is definitely something to that. The euphoria of promotion has disappeared in the second year, the opponents have adjusted to you, the carefree attitude is gone, suddenly there is something to lose, and perhaps even one or two top performers who impressed in the first year have left the club .
Does Heidenheim also fulfill the prophecy?
This season, Heidenheim is threatened with fulfilling the prophecy. Before the 16th matchday, 1. FC is in the relegation zone with ten points, four points short of 15th place. The small club had a great season last season and even made it to Europe in eighth place Conference League withdrawn.
But the success aroused desire. Two top performers in Jan-Niklas Beste (to Benfica Lisbon) and Tim Kleindienst (to Borussia Mönchengladbach) left the club, and the team was simply not used to the additional stress of the international games.
Bielefeld is the last team affected so far
Arminia Bielefeld was the last team to do so. After being promoted to the Bundesliga in 2020, the East Westphalians, as newcomers, initially held the class in 15th place, but a year later the club had to go down another level as penultimate. So there it was, the “second year itch.”
And there are other examples in the recent past. In 2019/20, Fortuna Düsseldorf was hit, and at the end of the 2018/19 season, two clubs that had been promoted together in spring 2017 were relegated – VfB Stuttgart and Hannover 96.
In 2016/17, Darmstadt 98 and FC Ingolstadt were relegated – also in the second year after promotion. By the way, Borussia Neunkirchen set the starting point in the 1965/66 season.
A total of only 26 teams affected
But of course there is hope for 1. FC Heidenheim. For example, this rests on second division top scorer Budu Zivzivadze, who is moving from Karlsruher SC to Ostalb.
And anyone who looks through the statistics of the Bundesliga since 1963 will find out that the first year is still the most dangerous for a promoted team. Of a total of 152 relegated players, 60 were newcomers. Holstein Kiel and FC St. Pauli are also currently in dire straits. However, only 26 teams were affected in the second year after promotion. The supposed football wisdom is not true at all.