After the next defeat
Heidenheim coach comes to terms with relegation
March 1, 2026 – 7:59 a.mReading time: 2 minutes
1. FC Heidenheim lost 2-0 at Werder Bremen and suffered another blow in the bottom of the table. Frank Schmidt then becomes clear.
According to its own coach, Bundesliga club 1. FC Heidenheim is increasingly heading towards relegation. “In the end, we clearly underlined today that we cannot avoid saying that our path – as of today – leads to the second division,” explained Frank Schmidt after the 2-0 defeat at Werder Bremen on Saturday.
After the eleventh game without a win, the 52-year-old soberly calculated why he had little hope left. “We would have to catch up on average more points than we got on average after 24 match days,” said Schmidt.
With only 14 points and the worst goal difference in the league (-31), Heidenheim is in a historically difficult position – no club has managed to stay in the league with such a result since the introduction of the three-point rule.
Schmidt doesn’t believe in false hopes: “The faith is unbroken. Hope won’t get you very far in football anyway.” The game in Bremen was such a step backwards that they had to deal with relegation “and now have a lot of time to prepare for the 2nd league.”
The performance in the Weserstadion gave no reason for confidence. Bremen-born and former Werder player Eren Dinkci was clearly self-critical: “I had the feeling that we only made mistakes. Everyone who had the ball was left alone.” Not everyone fought for the individual. The offensive player, on loan from SC Freiburg, called for more courage: “We finally have to be brave, have more balls in our pants to play football. We are in a situation in which we have nothing left to lose.”
While the Heidenheimers have to plan for relegation, the Bremen team climbed into the relegation place, at least temporarily, after their first win after 13 games.
