History

The club was formed in 2007 through the separation of the football section from parent association Heidenheimer Sportbund, a larger multi sports club that has 5,800 members in 25 departments. The independence of the football side allows it to operate under the stricter economic standards set for professional clubs which are members of the German Football Association (Deutscher Fußball-Bund or DFB).

A football department was created within the association on 8 July 1890 and became an independent side known as VfR Heidenheim on 21 August 1922. The swimming club Schwimmverein 04 Heidenheim joined VfR in 1936 to form VfL Heidenheim 04. In 1949, following World War II, these two clubs went their separate ways, the swimmers under their original name, and the footballers as VfL Heidenheim 1890.

In the meantime, parent club TV 1846 Heidenheim was joined on 13 July 1935 by SpVgg Heidenheim and then on 3 April 1937 merged with 1. Sportverein 1900 Heidenheim – which was known as Athletenklub Hellenstein until 1920 – to become TSV 1846 Heidenheim. After the war TSV was united with Turnerbund Heidenheim 1902 whose history was as a worker's club. TB was established on 21 December 1902 and was renamed Turnerbund Heidenheim on 6 August 1904. This club merged with Arbeiterturnverein 1904 Heidenheim on 8 March 1919. Like other worker's clubs, TB was considered as politically unacceptable by the Nazi regime and was forcibly dissolved in 1933. It was re-established after the war and on 3 February 1946 joined TSV 1846 Heidenheim to form TSB 1846 Heidenheim.

The 27 May 1972 merger of TSB and VfL brought all these threads together, returning the footballers to the fold of the original gymnastics club. Heidenheimer SB and predecessor VfL Heidenheim played in the Amateurliga Württemberg (III) from 1963 to 1975 and again from 1976 to 1979. Regional cup wins led to the team's participation in the opening round of the DFB-Pokal (German Cup) in 1975, 1978, and 1980, before the side slipped into lower-level competition.

The club has since recovered and in 2004 advanced to the Oberliga Baden-Württemberg. In 2007, the football department decided to split off from Heidenheimer SB as a legally independent club with retrospective effect from 1 January 2007. A successful season finish in 2008 saw the club being promoted to the Regionalliga Süd. Having simultaneously won the Württemberg Cup, Heidenheim was allowed to participate in the first round of the DFB-Pokal in the following season, where the team lost 0–3 to VfL Wolfsburg.{{cite web |url=https://www.kicker.de/news/fussball/dfbpokal/spielrunde/spielpaarungsbericht/object/865819/saison/2008-09/naviindex/1 |title=

1. FC Heidenheim - VfL Wolfsburg 0:3 |date=August 13, 2008 |website=Kicker |publisher=Kicker Online |access-date=June 1, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080813060843/https://www.kicker.de/news/fussball/dfbpokal/spielrunde/spielpaarungsbericht/object/865819/saison/2008-09/naviindex/1 |archive-date=August 13, 2008}} In 2009, Heidenheim finished first in the Regionalliga Süd and got promoted to the 3. Liga.

After five seasons in the 3. Liga with the club always finishing in the upper half of the table, 1. FC Heidenheim won the league in 2013–14, and earned promotion to the 2. Bundesliga for the first time. At the same time the club, however, withdrew its reserve team, playing in the Oberliga Baden-Württemberg, from competition after such teams ceased to be compulsory for professional clubs.

In the 2019–20 season, 1. FC Heidenheim finished third to play against the 16th-placed Bundesliga club, Werder Bremen, in the promotion-relegation play-offs. The tie ended in a 2–2 draw on aggregate, as 1. FC Heidenheim lost on the away goals rule to stay in 2. Bundesliga.

On the final matchday of the 2022–23 season, 1. FC Heidenheim managed to score two goals in the stoppage time to win 3–2 against Jahn Regensburg, in which they finished top of the table ahead of Darmstadt on goal difference and promoted to the Bundesliga for the first time in their history.

On 17 September 2023, the club won their first ever Bundesliga match, in a 4–2 home victory against Werder Bremen, on the same day that head coach, Frank Schmidt, set the record as the longest serving manager in the history of German football. An impressive Bundesliga campaign saw the club finish 8th in the 2023–24 season, comfortably securing safety, and with German champions Bayer Leverkusen's victory over Kaiserslautern in the DFB-Pokal final meant that Heidenheim qualified for their first European appearance, the UEFA Conference League play-offs in their debut Bundesliga season. On 29 August 2024, Heidenheim advanced to the Conference League League Phase for the first time in history after defeating Swedish club BK Häcken 3–2 at home and 5–3 on aggregate in the play-off round.

Honours

The club's honours:

League

• 2. Bundesliga
  • Champions: 2022–23
• 3. Liga
  • Champions: 2013–14
• Regionalliga Süd (IV)
  • Champions: 2008-09
• Oberliga Baden-Württemberg
  • Runners-up: 2006‡
  • Fourth place, promoted: 2008
• Verbandsliga Württemberg
  • Champions: 2013#

Cup

• Württemberg Cup
  • Winners: 1965†, 2008, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014
  • Runners-up: 1977‡, 2005‡
• ‡ Won by SB Heidenheim.
• † Won by VfL Heidenheim.

• Won by reserve team.

Players

Current squad

Out on loan

Non-playing staff

Recent managers

Recent managers of the club:

Recent seasons

The recent season-by-season performance of the club:

1. FC Heidenheim

1. FC Heidenheim II

• With the introduction of the Regionalligas in 1994 and the 3. Liga in 2008 as the new third tier, below the 2. Bundesliga, all leagues below dropped one tier.

;Key

European record

UEFA club competition record

Accurate as of 20 February 2025

Matches

All results (home and away) list 1. FC Heidenheim's goal tally first.

UEFA Club Ranking

UEFA coefficient

Sources

• Grüne, Hardy (2001). Vereinslexikon. Kassel: AGON Sportverlag

References

1. "Daten und Faktend". 1. Fussball Club Heidenheim 1846.
2. Florian, Dominik. (May 26, 2025). ""Die Krönung" für den FCH: Was Holger Sanwald und Frank Schmidt zum Einzug in die Conference League sagen". Heidenheimer Zeitung.
3. (9 June 2021). "25 Sportabteilungen". Heidenheimer Sportbund.
4. "Ein Verein mit langer Tradition: Der 1. FC Heidenheim 1846". 1. FC Heidenheim 1846.
5. ""hsb1846" jetzt "1.FC Heidenheim 1846"". hsb-news.de.tl.
6. "3. Liga". Kicker.
7. (28 June 2020). "Heidenheim to face Werder Bremen in the Bundesliga promotion-relegation play-off".
8. Schrader, Max. (6 July 2020). "1. FC Heidenheim – Werder Bremen 2:2: Trotz wilder Schlussphase mit drei Toren – SVW bleibt in der Bundesliga".
9. (28 May 2023). "1. FC Heidenheim steigt nach Drama in Bundesliga auf – HSV in der Relegation". Heidelberg24.
10. (17 September 2023). "Heidenheim 4-2 Werder Bremen: Frank Schmidt makes history in first Bundesliga win". BBC Sport.
11. (25 May 2025). "Heidenheim und Hoffenheim profitieren von Leverkusens Sieg". Sportschau.
12. (29 August 2024). "3:2-Heimsieg – Der FCH zieht in die Ligaphase der Conference League ein!". 1. FC Heidenheim 1846 e. V..
13. "Regionalliga Sued 2008-2009".
14. "Oberliga Baden-Württemberg 2005/2006 » 34. Spieltag". Welt Fussball.
15. "Oberliga Baden-Württemberg 2007/2008".
16. "Verbandsliga Württemberg 2012/13". Das Deutsche Fussball Archiv.
17. "Statistik und Historie". Württembergischer Fußballverband e.V..
18. [https://www.fc-heidenheim.de/profis.html 1. FC Heidenheim squad] {{Webarchive. link. (21 January 2020 fc-heidenheim.de. Retrieved 3 March 2019)
19. [http://www.weltfussball.de/teams/1-fc-heidenheim-1846/9/ 1. FC Heidenheim 1846 .:. Trainer von A-Z] {{Webarchive. link. (7 October 2012 {{in lang). de weltfussball.de. Retrieved 18 September 2011
20. [http://www.f-archiv.de/ Das deutsche Fußball-Archiv] {{Webarchive. link. (5 September 2019 {{in lang). de Historical German domestic league tables
21. [http://www.fussball.de/fussball-ergebnisse-die-top-ligen-bei-fussball-de/id_45692854/index Fussball.de – Ergebnisse] {{Webarchive. link. (18 May 2011 {{in lang). de Tables and results of all German football leagues
22. (n.d.). "UEFA Club Coefficient Ranking".
23. (n.d.). "1. FC Heidenheim UEFA Coefficient Ranking".
24. [http://www.weltfussball.de/spielorte/voith-arena-heidenheim/ Voith-Arena] {{Webarchive. link. (7 October 2012 {{in lang). de weltfussball.de. Retrieved 18 September 2011
25. "Voith-Arena in Heidenheim – Daten u. Fakten".