Saturday’s loss against relegation rivals Werder Bremen effectively seals the fate of last-placed 1. FC Heidenheim. Frank Schmidt’s FCH sit dead last in the Bundesliga table on 14 points. The arithmetic simply doesn’t work for the Ostalbenschwaben. With ten matchdays remaining, there’s little-to-no hope that the team can pick up over 20 points. Bremen’s win opens up an eight point gap between Heidenheim and the promotion-relegation playoff place.
Heidenheim’s stay in the German top flight certainly featured plenty of highlights, including participation in the UEFA Europa Conference League in just their second Bundesliga season. The BaWü border club narrowly avoided the drop last season, dramatically coming back against 2. Bundesliga hopefuls SV Elversberg in the promotion relegation season.
“We need more than a miracle to get out of [our place in the table],” Schmidt noted at the post-match press conference. “I’m someone who normally believes. but that’s just as difficult for me right now as it is for our fans. We didn’t stand a chance against the second-to-last team in the table today. That’s why it’s hard to come up with anything to say.”
