The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Frank Albrecht has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Heidenheim had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Lugano, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Anthony Racioppi 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Stefan Schimmer and Heidenheim agree another 2 years.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Heidenheim training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alessandro Vogt is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Heidenheim asked and Bayer Leverkusen said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Ralph Lehmann has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
SquadA place in the month's best eleven for Elias Baum
The dugoutJan Schöppner without the man who signed him
Back issues
27Edition
The Heidenheim Chronicle
1 Feb 2027
From our football correspondentCrisis
The terraces1 Feb 2027
The mood at Heidenheim has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 5 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 14 actions, 6.58, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marvin Pieringer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Heidenheim asked and VfL Wolfsburg said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
19 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marvin Pieringer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Budu Zivzivadze 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.
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Alessandro Vogt had Heidenheim level again within 4 minutes, and Werder Bremen never got to play with a lead at all.
Eintracht Frankfurt paid $7.7M and Heidenheim took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Heidenheim have done the hard part with Borussia Dortmund, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Anthony Racioppi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Heidenheim can tell you which week it ends in.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The run now stands at 17, and the questions being asked around Heidenheim are no longer polite ones.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
$120.0K settles it between the clubs for Tobias Sippel
Borussia Mönchengladbach have accepted the money. What Heidenheim do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: CSKA Moscow keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 24 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Anthony Racioppi 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 oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Heidenheim can tell you which week it ends in.
The name of Michael Heule has come up in conversations Heidenheim were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Ralph Frank has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The run now stands at 16, and the questions being asked around Heidenheim are no longer polite ones.
The terraces4 Jan 2027
The mood at Heidenheim has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Patrick Mainka was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Words at Heidenheim training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marvin Pieringer is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Heidenheim asked and Cesena said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
0‑3 to Borussia Dortmund, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 10 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
1 for Aljoscha Kemlein, marked 7.76, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Anthony Racioppi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Position 17, 9 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
Boardroom21 Dec 2026
Nobody left the Heidenheim dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marvin Pieringer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Friedrich Kraus is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
7.58, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Heidenheim had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Frank Albrecht was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Heidenheim dressing room was either.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Position 16 and 8 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Alessandro Vogt provided it, and the 8.50 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Patrick Mainka was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alessandro Vogt was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 89. SC Freiburg had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marvin Pieringer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Julian Niehues, and the manager let it.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Patrick Mainka's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager’s verdict
The dugoutSirlord Conteh dropped after a run of poor form
Anthony Racioppi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Heidenheim training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marvin Pieringer is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Frank Albrecht after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Anthony Racioppi 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Heidenheim training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alessandro Vogt is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I watch every Heidenheim game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Mainz 05 runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
0‑3 to TSG Hoffenheim, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Position 16 and 7 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
5 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Patrick Mainka was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marvin Pieringer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 13 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marvin Pieringer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Budu Zivzivadze 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.
9 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Frank Albrecht after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
0‑3 against Borussia Mönchengladbach, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Heidenheim will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Heidenheim training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alessandro Vogt is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Heidenheim can tell you which week it ends in.
0‑3 against Bayern Munich, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
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.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I watch every Heidenheim game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Mainz 05 runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marvin Pieringer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Philipp Kuhn has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Philipp Jung has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alessandro Vogt was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Budu Zivzivadze is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Squad5 Oct 2026
12 new faces, and Heidenheim are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Union Berlin go through and Heidenheim go home, 1‑3 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Marvin Pieringer had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Werder Bremen were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
1 for Luca Kerber, marked 7.91, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Anthony Racioppi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Heidenheim training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marvin Pieringer is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Marked 8.23 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Heidenheim training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marvin Pieringer is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
A 1‑0 win over VfL Wolfsburg, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
7.67, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Heidenheim had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Frank Albrecht, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Elias Baum, 20, is the weekend’s best young player
Measured against every other kid in the division and first among them. The senior award is where Heidenheim would like this to lead.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Wolverhampton have kept their man, and Heidenheim go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Budu Zivzivadze was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Jürgen Möller has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Anton Wagner has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑3 Frank Albrecht left the room before anybody could ask which.
$11.1M was the most the club would pay and RB Leipzig were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Heidenheim asked and SC Freiburg said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Heidenheim close the window on a squad of their own making
20 in and 1 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Heidenheim training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marvin Pieringer is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
A point taken on 93 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
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.
In brief
Squad9 new faces, and Heidenheim are still learning each other
Heidenheim have gone to RB Leipzig 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.
The offer from FC Augsburg for Budu Zivzivadze was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Heidenheim asked and FC Augsburg said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“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.
Heidenheim offered $460.0K; Mainz 05 said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Heidenheim asked and Bayer Leverkusen said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
$14.2M was the most the club would pay and Club Brugge were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
The phone has started ringing about Budu Zivzivadze again, and this time the name on the line is FC Augsburg. Heidenheim are listening politely and promising nothing.
The offer from Austria Wien for Yannik Wagner was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
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.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Heidenheim are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
A season-long audition: Union Berlin still own him, but the shirt and the minutes are Heidenheim's to give. A loan is a bet both clubs believe they are winning.
Heidenheim asked and Bayer Leverkusen said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The deal with Eintracht Frankfurt is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
$460.0K on the table at Mainz 05. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Budu Zivzivadze was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The name of Yannik Wagner has come up in conversations Heidenheim were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
A season-long audition: Mainz 05 still own him, but the shirt and the minutes are Heidenheim's to give. A loan is a bet both clubs believe they are winning.
$12.5M on the table at Club Brugge. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. Heidenheim have paid $4.8M for Anthony Racioppi, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Espanyol is saying, and nobody at Heidenheim is enjoying the guessing.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marvin Pieringer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Tim Pohl is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Heinrich Fuchs has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
The offer from St. Gallen for Marvin Pieringer was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Heidenheim have gone to Sion 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.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Monza have kept their man, and Heidenheim go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
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.
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.