Christian Heidel
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Christian Heidel (born 2 June 1963) is a German football executive who works for
FSV Mainz 05 1. Fußball- und Sport-Verein Mainz 05 e. V., usually shortened to 1. FSV Mainz 05 or simply Mainz 05 (), is a German professional sports club, founded in 1905 and based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. Mainz 05 play in the Bundesliga, the top tie ...
and previously worked for
Schalke 04 Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as Schalke 04 (), and abbreviated as S04 (), is a professional sports club from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its football team, w ...
.


Career


1. FSV Mainz 05 (1992–2016)

Heidel became Mainz 05's manager in 1992 and was a main architect of the club's rise and consolidation in the
Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...
in the following years. He notably made
Jürgen Klopp Jürgen Norbert Klopp (; born 16 June 1967) is a German football executive and former Manager (association football), manager and Football player, player. He is widely regarded as one of the best football managers in the world. Klopp has been ...
the club's coach in 2001, who would later go on to manage
Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, often known simply as Borussia Dortmund () or by its initialism BVB (), or just Dortmund by International fans, is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is ...
and
Liverpool F.C. Liverpool Football Club is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Liverpool, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founded in ...
Thomas Tuchel Thomas Tuchel (; born 29 August 1973) is a German professional Manager (association football), football manager and former player who is the manager of the England national football team, England national team. Widely regarded as a forward-think ...
, who became head coach in 2009 after Heidel put coach
Jörn Andersen Jörn is a locality situated in Skellefteå Municipality, Västerbotten County, Sweden with 797 inhabitants in 2010. The locality developed around a train station along the Main line through upper Norrland. Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ily ...
on leave five days before the start of the Bundesliga season, is another internationally successful manager whose career on the professional level started under Heidel. Under Tuchel, the 05er experienced their most successful time in the Bundesliga to date. In 2011 and 2014, 1. FSV Mainz 05 qualified for the Europa League by finishing 5th and 7th in the Bundesliga but failed to qualify for the group stage on both occasions. After the departure of Tuchel, Heidel committed the future Danish national coach Kasper Hjulmand in the summer of 2014,who was released after a phase of failure in February 2015 and replaced by the coach of the second team, Martin Schmidt. The youth development of the club was forced under Heidel. While the second team was still playing in the B class when Heidel started as manager, they rose to the 3rd division in the 2013/14 season after promotion for the seventh time. The youth training center of 1. FSV Mainz 05 is certified by the
German Football League The German Football League (GFL) is a professional American football league in Germany. The league was formed in 1979. In 1999, the league changed to its current name from American-Football-Bundesliga.
with the maximum of three stars. Under Thomas Tuchel, who later became head coach, the U-19s won the German A-Junior Championship in 2009 after beating Borussia Dortmund 2–1 in the final. Heidel's tasks in 2002 included the expansion of the Bruchweg Stadium, Mainz 05's home ground for many years, and the constructions of the new Coface Arena, where 05ers have played their home games since 2011. Under his responsibility, 1. FSV Mainz 05 increased its annual turnover from €3 million (1992) to €78 million (2014). Another significant achievement of Heidel's time in Mainz was the construction of the club's new home venue, the Opel Arena (then known as COFACE ARENA). He also oversaw the promotion of the club's reserve team to the
3. Liga The 3. Liga is a professional association football league and the third division in Germany. In the German football league system, it is positioned between the 2. Bundesliga and the fourth-tier Regionalliga. The modern 3. Liga was formed for t ...
in 2014, the highest tier of the
German football league system The German football league system, or league pyramid, refers to the hierarchically interconnected league system for Football in Germany, association football in Germany that in the 2016–17 Season (sports), season consisted of 2,235 Sports_leagu ...
reserve teams are allowed to compete in. By the end of his time at Mainz, he had become the longest-serving executive manager in the league. Heidel worked as a manager on a voluntary basis until September 2005. After his car dealership went bankrupt in 2005, he worked for the '05 in his main job. His employment contract was extended in 2012 until 2017. He resigned at the end of the 2015/16season, Mainz has not been in a relegation zone in the last 7 years since promotion.


FC Schalke 04 (2016–2019)

Mainz 05 announced that Heidel would leave the club after the end of the 2015–16 season on 21 February 2016. On the same day, Schalke 04 presented him as their new executive manager for the following season. Heidel installed
Markus Weinzierl Markus Weinzierl (born 28 December 1974) is a German football coach, who last managed 1. FC Nürnberg. As the manager of Jahn Regensburg, a position he held from 2008 to 2012, Weinzierl achieved promotion into the 2. Bundesliga. On 17 May 201 ...
as the club's head coach, but sacked him the year after, as Schalke's tenth-place finish was insufficient to qualify them for any international competition. Weinzierl's successor
Domenico Tedesco Domenico Tedesco (; born 12 September 1985) is an Italian-German football manager who was most recently the head coach of the Belgium national team. In 2017, he took over as manager of Schalke 04 and guided them to a second place finish in the ...
was initially more successful, with the club finishing runner-up in the 2017–18 season, but when the squad's performance drastically deteriorated in the following year, he was fired in March 2019, with club legend
Huub Stevens Hubertus Jozef Margaretha "Huub" Stevens (; born 29 November 1953) is a Dutch former professional Manager (association football), football manager and player. Playing career Stevens was born in Sittard. While active, he played for Fortuna Sittar ...
filling in for the remainder of the season. Heidel himself had already handed in his resignation weeks earlier, assuming full responsibility for the team's decline. On 14 March 2019 Jochen Schneider was appointed as the new sports director, replacing Heidel prematurely.


Return to Mainz 05 (2020–)

Heidel returned to Mainz in late December 2020, replacing the departing Rouven Schröder. The club announced the dismissal of coach
Jan-Moritz Lichte Jan-Moritz Lichte (born 12 January 1980) is a German football manager, who works as assistant coach for Turkey. As a player, he played for KSV Baunatal. He was an assistant manager at Mainz 05 between 2017 and 2020. Playing career Lichte began ...
and the hiring of Martin Schmidt as sporting director on the same day, in a bid to avoid relegation. This was ultimately successful, as the team won nine of their seventeen games during the second half of the season and came in at a safe rank twelve.


Personal life

After graduating from high school, Heidel completed
vocational training Vocational education is education that prepares people for a Skilled worker, skilled craft. Vocational education can also be seen as that type of education given to an individual to prepare that individual to be gainfully employed or self em ...
as a
bank clerk A bank teller (often abbreviated to simply teller) is an employee of a bank whose responsibilities include the handling of customer cash and negotiable instruments. In some places, this employee is known as a cashier or customer representative. T ...
. In 1989 he bought a 20 percent stake in a
BMW Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, trading as BMW Group (commonly abbreviated to BMW (), sometimes anglicised as Bavarian Motor Works), is a German multinational manufacturer of vehicles and motorcycles headquartered in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Th ...
car dealership in Mainz, becoming its commercial director and limited partner. He worked as a car salesman until 2005, when his car dealership declared bankruptcy. Up to this point, he had managed Mainz 05 on an honorary basis. In August 2019, Heidel suffered a stroke while vacationing in Turkey. Heidel is the father of two daughters and a son.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heidel, Christian 1963 births Living people Businesspeople from Mainz 1. FSV Mainz 05 non-playing staff FC Schalke 04 non-playing staff