He never planned that Heidenheim’s Frank Schmidt would become a football coach. Image: picture alliance / Eibner press photo
No coach is as connected to his club as Frank Schmidt is to 1. FC Heidenheim. He is someone like Jürgen Klopp, for whom five qualities are particularly important – and he knows how to beat Bayern.
The difference is huge. Frank Schmidt sits on the press conference podium with a bright red face; he looks as if he has just completed a marathon. Tired, exhausted, and yet, if you look closely, you can see a sparkle in his eyes. As if something was still glowing in his eyes, despite the hardships he had obviously been through in the minutes before. To his right on the podium, Dino Toppmöller, the coach of Eintracht Frankfurt, sits neatly and calmly. If you compared photos of him from before and after this game, there was hardly any visual difference. Things are different with Schmidt.
He lost that October evening with 1. FC Heidenheim, whom he led into the Bundesliga for the first time as a coach. Away. It’s late, there’s a long drive home ahead. The 49-year-old seems deeply disappointed. Then he runs his hand over his face and through his close-cropped beard and takes a deep breath. It’s his turn. He has something to say.
