Patrick Mainka, the captain of 1.FC Heidenheim, has set a new Bundesliga record. The 31-year-old played 83 games in a row without missing a single minute. Not a given for him.
He has been a long-time favorite at 1.FC Heidenheim. Now he is also the record outfield player in the Bundesliga: Shortly before Christmas, Patrick Mainka was on the pitch for the full season in the 83rd game in a row against FC Bayern. Without missing a single minute or second. New record!
That’s an impressive 124 hours or 7,470 minutes in a row. Without an injury break, without load control, without a yellow card or red card suspension. Heidenheim’s captain, always there and indispensable: “It takes a lot of discipline,” says Patrick Mainka, answering SWR Sport’s question about the secret of his success: his extraordinary consistency, “preparation and follow-up.”
Mainka, the model professional. With 83 games, he has passed Freiburg’s Christian Günter (82 / 2020-2022). World champion Philipp Lahm has 79 games (2009-2011).
“Gift and no “obviousness”
The 83 games in a row within two and a half years since FCH was promoted to the Bundesliga in the summer of 2023 are “a gift and not a given” for the central defender. Patrick Mainka enjoys “every minute and every single game in the Bundesliga”. Because he knows exactly where he comes from. “A few years ago,” he says, when he was still playing in the lowlands of the second division, he would have given “a lot for a single Bundesliga game. Now there are even more. And I hope there will be a few more.”
Duels with Bayern and Harry Kane are “amazing”
Example Bavaria. The last game of the calendar year on December 21st against the champions from Munich (0:4), his record game, the duel with the football stars from the Isar: “The fact that I can face Harry Kane and compete with him is something I’ve been working towards my whole career,” says Mainka, the Gütersloh native who first made the leap into the first division with 1.FC Heidenheim after stints in Bielefeld, Bremen and Dortmund.
“And that’s why,” he says, “it’s still crazy. Even if it’s a difficult situation, you should approach the task with a smile, you have to enjoy that too, because it’s crazy for Heidenheim too.”
The football year 2025 “cost a lot of nerves”
Success or failure, it doesn’t matter: Patrick Mainka, the Bundesliga late-comer, has an unbridled passion for football. In just a few days, another turbulent football year will come to an end for the FCH captain. Twelve months full of emotions, between hope and fear, between constant relegation battles, successful relegation with last-minute relegation and another slide into the bottom of the table.
“The year cost a lot of nerves because it was a constant ups and downs,” says Patrick Mainka, revealing a look into his mental life in 2025, “especially the relegation was absolutely nerve-wracking. First there were setbacks, then back on top.”
Enjoy the winter break
Now Mainka, currently in relegation place 17 with Heidenheim, is enjoying the short winter break until the first game of the new year on January 10th at home against 1.FC Köln. “The break is good at the end of the year to take a breather. And to be able to reorient ourselves for 2026,” he says.
In any case, long-running favorite and record player Mainka is sure that “there will be a lot of emotions again until the end of May. Both positive and negative.” With then, in the best case scenario, relegation for 1. FC Heidenheim in the bag.
