"Like kids' football": Heidenheim captain absolutely furious after debacle

1. FC Heidenheim is in a deep crisis.

After the 1-4 loss against Hertha BSC in the 2. Bundesliga, the Bundesliga relegated side has now also embarrassed itself in the DFB-Pokal against regional league team SSV Jeddeloh (to the match report >>>).

In the first three competitive matches of the season, Heidenheim has now conceded no less than twelve goals. For captain Patrick Mainka, the current situation is difficult to explain.

"We're playing kids' football"

The 31-year-old finds unusually clear words after the cup debacle. Above all, the lack of order in the team is causing Mainka concern.

"We're playing without any structure. It feels like we're just playing wildly, as if it were kids' football," says the captain. The problems, he adds, are primarily to be found in the "very basic things."

Mainka specifically addresses the lack of concentration and attention. "We're playing without any organization, and that's a very big adjustment that needs to be made," he criticizes.

"Has little to do with the coach"

Asked whether the team and coach are currently not on the same wavelength, Mainka, however, defends his coach Frank Schmidt.

"The basics have little to do with the coach; that's entirely individual," explains the captain. It cannot be that after taking the lead against a regional league team, one assumes they will have a "relaxed afternoon."

"Eleven individual parts" instead of a team

Particularly bitter: Heidenheim again conceded a goal from a set piece. Against both Hertha and Osnabrück, the first goal conceded in each game had also come from a set piece.

"When a mistake happens, it looks as if we are eleven individual parts," criticizes Mainka. As a result, Jeddeloh was able to become dangerous with almost every ball win.

For long-serving successful coach Frank Schmidt, the current situation is thus one of the most difficult of his tenure. The 52-year-old has been on the sidelines since 2007 and led Heidenheim from the fourth division to the Bundesliga.

After the 2026/27 season, Schmidt intends to end his coaching career.