Teams, tales and tips – a guide to the local game
Given that FC Heidenheim are a very recent phenomenon – first promoted to the Bundesliga in 2023, European debut in August 2024 – the foundation date of 1846 on the club badge may seem a little out of place. The year was decades before the first recognised game was known to have taken place in Germany, in Braunschweig, and the first major clubs were created in Berlin.
Indeed, before FCH won the 2.Bundesliga title in 2023, few outside Germany could have placed this modest manufacturing town on the map, between Stuttgart and Augsburg, on the border of Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria. This is the historical region of Swabia, the locals pigeonholed as thrifty, hard-working and entrepreneurial, speaking a strange dialect not dissimilar to Swiss German.
Once a bizarre nationwide ban on gymnastics – think exercise classes rather than routines on the parallel bars – was rescinded in 1842, clubs sprang up across industrious Swabia. In the textile and paper hub of Heidenheim, Heidenheimer Sport Bund (‘Heidenheim Sports Association’, HSB) was formed in 1846, mainly attracting factory owners and managers.
Prominent among this class was Johann Matthäus Voith, who had begun to repair and manufacture machinery for paper mills in the 1820s. Voith became the largest employer in Heidenheim, Johann Matthäus passing on the business to his son, Friedrich, who renamed it JM Voith in honour of his father. Nearly two centuries later, this company sponsors the stadium in which FC Heidenheim play, the Voith-Arena.
In 1872, Heidenheimer Sport Bund became Turnverein Heidenheim, the Heidenheim Gymnastics Club. As other sports came into the picture – track and field, boxing – so off-shoot societies were formed. Football, considered uncouth and foreign, was resisted for years until a section was established in 1911.
A team, consisting mainly of engineers from Voith and other local enterprises, had been created the year before, Verein für Bewegungspiele Heidenheim, (‘Heidenheim Movement Games’, VfB). It played its first matches on a pitch at the Ziegler sawmill in 1912, now the Sparkassen Sportpark on the western edge of Heidenheim, by the wooded slopes that supplied local industry. FCH use the ground today for warm up games in the pre-season.
VfB Heidenheim joined the South German Football Association, its regional league dominated by teams from Karlsruhe, Stuttgart and Nuremberg. VfB then merged with the Heidenhem Swimming Club to become VfL (Verein für Leibesübungen, ‘Heidenheim Movement Games Association’) and meandered through the amateur leagues of Württemberg during Germany’s post-war rebuild.
The city could produce players of real talent – locally born Horst Blankenburg, libero at the great Ajax side of the early 1970s, started out as a boy at VfL – but these promising soon went to professional clubs nearby. In Blankenburg’s case, it was 1FC Nürnberg.
Around the time Blankenburg was lifting his second European Cup with Ajax in 1972, VfL merged once more with Heidenheim’s old gymnastics club, then operating under the acronym TSB. The football team duly moved in with the athletics association in the newly opened Albstadion in the shadow of Hellenstein Castle.
This more solid foundation allowed the football club to compete in the highest regional division for amateurs and in the early rounds of the German Cup. By 2006, Heidenheim were knocking on the door of the Regionalliga-Süd, Germany’s fourth tier.
Now with ambitions to go higher, the football section needed to meet stricter licensing stipulations of the German FA, and so split from the main sports association on New Year’s Day, 2007. If any date should be on the FCH badge, it’s this one – although many German clubs identify with the year an earlier sports association was created.
The season dovetailed nicely with team captain Frank Schmidt making the step up to coach – astonishingly, the locally born defender has stayed in place since 2007, setting a record for longevity in German football.
The club was wise to act quickly as two promotions in as many seasons saw the newly formed 1. FußballClub Heidenheim 1846 reach the third tier for the first time. Two terraces were added to the Albstadion before the decision was made to rebuild the whole thing as a football stadium, financed by the City of Heidenheim with FCH the regular tenants.
Sponsorship deals, first with multinational real-estate firm GAGFAH and then with long-established local engineeers Voith, allowed for improvements to what has been called the Voith-Arena since 2011. The year before, FCH hosted illustrious neighbours VfB Stuttgart in a curtain-raising showcase to present the new stadium, and the German national U-20 side played Switzerland here. Heidenheim was on the map.
The rise of the club since has been steady and sensibly managed, as would befit any key business in Swabia. Few could have been sat in their seats, however, when two stoppage-time goals at Regensburg on the final day of the 2022-23 campaign curtailed a celebratory pitch invasion by HSV fans at Sandhausen and pushed FCH into the Bundesliga for the first time.
Another push on the final day of FCH’s top-flight debut in 2023-24, a 4-1 win over sorry 1.FC Köln, duly gave Heidenheim the one-goal edge over Werder Bremen to send the Swabians into Europe for the first time. As ever, hard work and fine margins won the day – and prestigious fixtures against Chelsea and Hearts in the Conference League.
Getting Around
Arriving in town and local transport
The nearest major airports to Heidenheim are Stuttgart 82km (51 miles) west and Nuremberg 161km (100 miles) east.
Coming by train from either city, you need to change at Aalen, 1hr 15mins-40mins total journey time from Stuttgart (€30 with the ICE service to Aalen, €17 with two regional trains), and 1hr 40mins (ICE) or 2hrs 25mins (regional trains) from Nuremberg, €40-€45 single.
Heidenheim station is on the eastern edge of the city centre a short walk away. The stadium stands on a steep slope on the south-western outskirts, a real trek on foot. Local buses run from Heidenheim ZOB, the main terminus close to the train station and town. Pay the driver €2.35 (cash or card) on board or €4 for a day ticket.
Taxi Müller (+49 7321 942 200) is as good a local service as any.
Where to Drink
The best pubs and bars for football fans
Easily the best football bar in town, and probably in all of Swabia, is the wonderful König Wilhelm right on the main street of Hauptstraße. Scarves line the low ceiling of this atmospheric little place, with just enough room for regulars to gather and watch the live action on TV. If it all gets too crowded, there’s a pavement terrace.
Among the tiny hub of bars on Eugen-Jaekle-Platz, on the north side of the square bisected by Brenzstraße, Zum Alten Hut is equally old-school, a convivial spot for a drink, showing major games. Alongside, Populär appeals to a younger party crowd, with 5am finishes at weekends, while evening-only Barracuda goes big on big tournaments but otherwise lets music take the spotlight. Handy for games of pool, too.
For televised games, alongside the train station, Deluxe is a key spot, operating from 6pm, Tue-Sat, though it will open early for FCH games. In a previous guise it was called Sport Arena, hence the name over the door.
Integral to the station building but with its own leafy courtyard, Kleine Heile Welt (‘Little Perfect World’) is just that, a cosy spot serving Heineken, Guinness, goulash and Weißwurst sausages. Overseen by Stefan Schaefer for the last 30 years – the bar threw an anniversary party in October 2024 – KHW has a TV screen, though early closing during the week means you’ll have to see evening games elsewhere.
Where to stay
The best hotels for the stadium and city centre
German-only Tourismus Heidenheim has a database of local hotels.
The nearest hotel to the stadium a short walk away is also the prime lodging in town. The four-star Schlosshotel Heidenheim also serves the congress centre opposite and tourists visiting Hellenstein Castle, hence the name. The terrace restaurant and lounge bar – note the framed shirt – provide a more upscale alternative to those here for the game, including the visiting team, officials and press. Guests have free use of the in-house saunas or the large HellensteinBad complex a car journey across town.
Next door to the aqua centre, those staying at the Taste Hotel can reach it down an internal corridor, taking advantage of the large outdoor pool and water chutes. A substantial breakfast comes with the upper mid-range accommodation, though sadly the restaurant is pretty pricy, with no convenient alternatives in the vicinity – the hotel’s a steep trek up Bergstraße.
Right in town, City Studios occupies a prominent, sleek building close to the main bus terminal, so handy for the stadium. Living spaces from modest to massive can be rented for a couple of nights. Also amid the shops and restaurants of the city centre, the Brenz Hotel is more promising inside than out, singles and doubles reasonably priced, factoring in the free parking on offer with a voucher from reception.
Handy if arriving by train, nearby ECOME comprises 56 modern if modestly sized rooms, guests treated to a varied breakfast and free use of the HellensteinBad pool complex a short drive across town. To reach the hotel, turn left out of the station, walk along the narrow walkway, then cross the river.
