The German Luton Town

[TheSkipper]

I recently came across an interesting video on YouTube by Zealand, an American who makes great videos about football. Along with gaming videos, such as his Football Manager career series.

FC Heidenheim and Luton Town are two football clubs that have their own unique stories. FC Heidenheim is a more fairytale type story, while Luton Town has its own history and achievements. Both clubs have passionate fan bases and are worth following.

One for @DangerousSausage and @Piethagoram.

FC Heidenheim 1846 is a German association football club from the city of Heidenheim, Baden-Württemberg. The current day club was formed in 2007 through the separation of the football section from parent association Heidenheimer Sportbund, a larger sports club that has 5,800 members in 27 departments. The club’s origins go back to 14 August 1846, with the establishment of the gymnastics club Turngemeinde Heidenheim.

 

[Chris]

I came across this the other day myself, I casually watched his channel as I like his FIFA and Football Manager series. He pops up with a great video like this and, I know people often say American's don't know anything about football, yet he's very knowledgable.

Very much addicted to gaming mind.  

I hadn't heard of this club before. It's a great story, yet it's silly how they had to repeat the same league twice despite winning it. Surely it would've made more sense to promote them? Well, it doesn't bother them now. It will be interesting to see how they adapt to life with the big boys. I might show more interest in these than any other foreign team. I do keep tabs on Juventus but not so much these days.

[Piethagoram]

Really interesting @TheSkipper. Perhaps @DangerousSausage can throw light on the origins of "gymnasium" in football terms? Is my understanding correct, that gymnasium may refer to German secondary schools as well?

[super_ram]

A great ,interesting unusual story.Thanks for posting this  @TheSkipper

[DangerousSausage]

Heidenheim are not really comparable to Luton as they've never scaled these heights before.

I started following Waldhof Mannheim in 2007, when they and Heidenheim were both in the Oberliga Baden-Württemberg. This is the second level of regional football in Germany, so it's more comparable to the NLN than League Two. Both teams won promotion to the newly formed Regionalliga, and I saw Heidenheim's visit in what I think was the first game of the following season. They won comfortably and went on to win promotion again. Crazy to think they still have the same manager!

They're a well-run club who have established themselves in Bundesliga 2 for some time and deserve their chance. Good luck to them. However, they'll do well to hold on at that level. 

@Piethagoram a "Gymnasium" is a kind of state grammar school, but Turngemeinde means gymnastics association. Many German football clubs grew out of general sports clubs, in Heidenheim's case relatively recently. Another one is TSV 1860 Munich - the T in TSV also stands for "gymnastics club".

[thommo]

Fantastic story of a team that has grown from a small club to being a small fish in a big pond. You have to support and like teams like this; such a good underdog story.

[CliftonMagpie]

Brilliant story. I think it makes it better than Luton because of how they have risen through the leagues without having fallen. It will be nice to see them do well in the German top flight; they seem to have a decent team.

[liampie]

why has hardly anyone mentioned this? its a great story of triumph. it's a really good video, hope they do well. maybe we can adapt them?

[RetroPie]

I haven’t even heard about this myself from anywhere, which I find surprising. It’s a great story of success and interesting to see money not holding them back. This wouldn’t happen in the UK; I highly doubt it would. Certainly not a Luton situation, although that is a good tale in its own right."

[upthepies]

This is a tale and a half. The video doesn’t actually say why the club had to play the same league twice? I thought that part was odd. It’s good to see a small club rise. It reminds me of Wimbledon in the 90s.

[DangerousSausage]

@upthepies their promotion in 2008 coincided with the creation of the nationwide third division. So they were effectively promoted from the fourth division (the state-level Oberliga) to the fourth division (the new Regionalliga). 

[BlackandWhitePie]

FC Heidenheim’s rise in German football is an amazing story that deserves to be shared with a wider audience. Underdog stories are always captivating, but this one is truly special. I hope they continue to do well, just like Union Berlin.

[Countyman]

@DangerousSausage, are you well-versed in German football? Has this been on the news a lot over there? Like @liampie, I am surprised to have only learned about this on a Notts County fan site instead of a more mainstream site.

PS. The topicfeed seems to be misplacing the location of replies, this ended up in a thing about Jodi Jones.

[DangerousSausage]

I am @Countyman, I've lived here for a long time and i follow a team in the third division. Used to have a season ticket until the pandemic.

Obviously it's been reported on, but they've been threatening to go up for a few seasons already. To be honest, there's some indifference towards this club as they have little history in professional football and no real rivals. There's also an accumulation of unattractive, relatively poorly supported clubs (that realistically won't challenge for the title) in the Bundesliga while traditional giants such as Hamburg, Schalke and Nuremberg slum it in the second flight, making the league less attractive and competitive. But of course that's hardly Heidenheim's fault.

@Chris is aware that there are a couple of issues with the forum and is using his computer wizardry to sort them out

[AmericanPie]

This is a nice tale for German football; it seems money isn’t everything for the German league. Unless you aspire to win the title, then you just need to be rich like Bayern Munich and spend fees signing everyone else’s talent. I have limited interest in them, but I do like the heroics of many of the underdogs. Where are Hamburger SV and Hannover 96 these days?

[DangerousSausage]

@AmericanPie HSV got relegated to the second division five years ago (prior to that they were the only team to have played in the Bundesliga in every season since its creation in the 1960s). Since then they've become something of a promotion escapologist, finding increasingly comical ways to mess it up right at the death. This season they missed out on automatic promotion thanks to their rivals scoring in the tenth minute of stoppage time on the final day, and lost the playoff against Stuttgart. Hannover have been treading water in Bundesliga 2 for a few years and are more likely to go down again than up. 

[Joshua]

I haven’t noticed any mention of this and I watch a lot of football YouTube channels; I am really surprised. The video is very good; I’ve given his channel a sub. It’s great to know that some clubs in the European leagues are throwing cash to gain promotion.

[OoooooTommy]

@DangerousSausage, how do you think they will do in the German top flight? Are they tipped for relegation? I like the story of underdogs coming good and hope they manage to establish themselves in the Bundesliga.

[Nocturnal-Magpie]

I wish them all the best. It sounds like they have a real desire to succeed and are prepared to fight together. It’s a very unique story.