Stefan Smarkalev

Goalkeeper - Heidenheim
10 Oct 2026
Saturday
Process

Marked for Stefan Smarkalev

7 Edition

The Werder Bremen Courier

14 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Player ratings

Justin Njinmah was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 36. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

Market

Jens Stage asks to leave Werder Bremen

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Jahmai Simpson-Pusey

Werder Bremen asked and Köln said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

Match

Werder Bremen caught on 91 minutes

The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Köln scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.

Squad

Too much change too quickly at Werder Bremen

14 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.

Loan watch

Stefan Smarkalev wants to come home

“I did not go to Heidenheim to sit and watch. I want to come back to Werder Bremen and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.

Match

Honours even between Werder Bremen and Köln

1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.

The dugout

Half-satisfied: Karl Brandt on the draw

“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.

The dugout

Senne Lynen does not fit this one

Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.

In brief

Back issues
1 Edition

The Heidenheim Chronicle

3 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Budu Zivzivadze puts it in writing

“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Heidenheim, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Marvin Pieringer signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Marvin Pieringer commits to Heidenheim for another 4 years.

Squad

Home is on Budu Zivzivadze's mind

“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Heidenheim are dealing with a man who wants a different country.

Squad

Words exchanged at Heidenheim

Patrick Mainka and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Transfer targets

Venezia tell Heidenheim: Albion Rrahmani is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

Market

The clock runs on Marvin Pieringer's contract

49 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.

Transfer targets

Heidenheim try to borrow Obed Nkambadio

Paris FC have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.

Transfer targets

A loan move for Stefan Smarkalev is in the works

Heidenheim have made the call to Werder Bremen. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.

Transfer targets

A loan move for Kacper Potulski is in the works

Heidenheim have made the call to Mainz 05. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.

In brief