Lars Schmid - News | Open Football Simulator

253 Edition

2 Jun 2031

From our football correspondent Steady

Boardroom2 Jun 2031

Up they go: Heidenheim promoted

Confirmed, mathematical, and a town awake all night. Whatever else the season contained, it finishes a division higher than it started.

Squad2 Jun 2031

Archie Brown breaks a bone — 89 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 89 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Squad2 Jun 2031

A knee injury of the worst kind for Lars Schmid

17 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Heidenheim lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Transfer targets2 Jun 2031

An offer of $15.8M for Ernest Poku

Heidenheim have gone to Bayer Leverkusen with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.

Transfer targets2 Jun 2031

An offer of $9.9M for Kauã Santos

Heidenheim have gone to Kaiserslautern with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.

Market2 Jun 2031

VfB Stuttgart watching Berkay Yılmaz

The interest is real enough to have reached print. Heidenheim have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.

Transfer targets2 Jun 2031

An offer of $1.8M for Edmond Tapsoba

Heidenheim have gone to Bayern Munich with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.

Transfer targets2 Jun 2031

Heidenheim make their move for Yehvann Diouf

$1.3M on the table at Bayern Munich. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.

Squad2 Jun 2031

Devyne Rensch in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Heidenheim this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

In brief

Squad Mika Baur signs on for more
Market Igor told to find a new club
Market Heidenheim and Owen Beck are talking past each other

252 Edition

26 May 2031

From our football correspondent Steady

Squad26 May 2031

A fracture rules Archie Brown out for 98 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Heidenheim will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Squad26 May 2031

A knee injury of the worst kind for Lars Schmid

24 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Heidenheim lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Match26 May 2031

The view from the top for Heidenheim

74 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.

Market26 May 2031

Only the photograph left for Pelle Mattsson

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Pelle Mattsson will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Heidenheim the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad26 May 2031

A row about effort at Heidenheim

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jan Schöppner was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad26 May 2031

Words exchanged at Heidenheim

Archie Brown 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.

The dugout26 May 2031

Igor is still paying for one afternoon at Heidenheim

Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.

The dugout26 May 2031

Kyle McAdam gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

The dugout26 May 2031

Owen Beck asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

In brief

The dugout When it matters, Angelo Gattermayer plays
Market The clock does Pelle Mattsson’s negotiating for him
Market Talks stall between Heidenheim and Antoni Kozubal

251 Edition

19 May 2031

From our football correspondent Steady

Boardroom19 May 2031

Silverware for Heidenheim

They will talk about this season in this town for a long time. The trophy comes home with the squad, and the route is already agreed.

Squad19 May 2031

A fracture rules Archie Brown out for 105 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Heidenheim will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Squad19 May 2031

The knee: Lars Schmid out for 31 days

31 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Heidenheim lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Market19 May 2031

Only the photograph left for Marcelo Ryan

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Marcelo Ryan will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Heidenheim the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Market19 May 2031

Japhet Sery Larsen 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.

Squad19 May 2031

Christos Tzolis honoured for the season

The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Heidenheim had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.

Squad19 May 2031

A falling-out at Heidenheim

Jan Schöppner and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

The dugout19 May 2031

No hiding place for Matheus Thuler

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Matheus Thuler, and the manager let it.

Market19 May 2031

Heidenheim may not be able to give Tomáš Nemčík what he wants

It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Tomáš Nemčík wants continental football; whether Heidenheim can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.

In brief

The dugout Igor knocks on the manager’s door
The dugout Tjark Ernst has become a man the manager trusts
Market Marcelo Ryan runs his contract down

250 Edition

12 May 2031

From our football correspondent Steady

Squad12 May 2031

A fracture rules Archie Brown out for 113 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Heidenheim will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Match10 May 2031

Whatever happens, Heidenheim do not lose

16 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.

Squad12 May 2031

The knee: Lars Schmid out for 39 days

39 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Heidenheim lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Match12 May 2031

Heidenheim finish in position 1

74 points, and the season has a number on it. Whatever it felt like from the inside, this is what it will look like in a book.

Market12 May 2031

Yannik Wagner 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.

Squad12 May 2031

A falling-out at Heidenheim

Maxime Estève and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad12 May 2031

Antoni Kozubal arrives at the club he grew up with

Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Antoni Kozubal has, at Heidenheim, and the first month will show what that does to a man.

Market12 May 2031

Elias Jelert wants to know where this is going

“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Heidenheim hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.

Match10 May 2031

Nobody wins at Heidenheim

8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.

In brief

The dugout Igor left out for the big one
The dugout The manager makes an example of Mika Baur
Match Late, late show earns Heidenheim a point