Following the Winterpause, the Bundesliga starts up again before the lower divisions do. Today’s clash sees 9th play 17th – with eff zeh looking to claw their way out of trouble against one of the newly promoted teams.
I’d like to mention this guy now. This is Franz Schmidt.
As of September 2023, Franz Schmidt became the longest serving manager at a single club in the entire history of German football.
Schmidt has managed 1.FC Heidenheim since 2007, when, in his first season, he achieved promotion to the Regionalliga Sud (which was then just about to become the 4th tier of the German football pyramid, following the introduction of the new 3.Liga). He took Heidenheim into the Bundesliga for the first time in their history in May 2023, thanks to a 99th minute winner in the playoff against Jahn Regensburg, a game which I was “at” (ie I travelled there, couldn’t get in, and watched it in the pub).
I treated myself to a seat in the business lounge today. I do this occasionally in Germany when I’m tired from travelling or just need to cheer myself up. It’s a decent option. If you do it, try and get there early. For two reasons:
A) the business lounge is sometimes quite hard to find, eg occasionally you have to go up in a lift or something, and there’s no signage for it.
B) Free beer. In England, unlimited free beer at a football ground would constitute cruel and unusual punishment. In Germany? It’s very heaven.
