Maximilian Heidenreich (9 May 1967 – 6 November 2024) was a German

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player and manager. A libero and

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

, he played for various clubs in Germany and Switzerland during the 1980s and 1990s. He died from

bowel cancer Colorectal cancer (CRC), also known as bowel cancer, colon cancer, or rectal cancer, is the development of cancer from the colon or rectum (parts of the large intestine). Signs and symptoms may include blood in the stool, a change in bowel ...

on 6 November 2024, at the age of 57.Der Sport-Club trauert um Maximilian Heidenreich

Football career

Heidenreich played his early youth football with

Arminia Hannover SV Arminia Hannover is a German association football club based in Hanover, Lower Saxony. History The club was founded in 1910 as ''FC Arminia Hannover'' and merged with ''Rugby-Verein Merkur'' in 1918, becoming ''SV Arminia-Merkur''. Two y ...

and in 1982 he moved to

Hannover 96 Hannoverscher Sportverein von 1896, commonly referred to as Hannover 96 (), is a German professional association football, football club based in the city of Hanover, Lower Saxony. They played in the Bundesliga for a total of 30 years between 19 ...

, spending two years in their youth department before advancing to their first team, who at that time played in the 2. Bundesliga. Heidenreich immediately became regular player and at the end of the season the team were joint leaders of the division and achieved promotion. Despite immediate relegation he remained with the club for another season. Heidenreich then played one season for

1860 Munich , commonly known as TSV 1860 München (; ''sechzig'' locally ; lettered as ) or 1860 Munich, is a sports club based in Munich. The club's football team plays in the 3. Liga, the third tier of the German football pyramid. Their current home gr ...

in the

Bayernliga The Bayernliga (English: Bavarian league) is the highest amateur football league and the second highest football league (under the Regionalliga Bayern) in the state of Bavaria () and the Bavarian football league system. It is one of fourteen Ob ...

and one season for

Eintracht Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt e.V. () is a German professional sports club based in Frankfurt, Hesse. It is best known for its football club, which was founded on 8 March 1899. The club currently plays in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the German footb ...

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 ...

, before he returned to

in 1989. In July 1990 Heidenreich moved to Switzerland and joined

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

's first team under head coach Ernst August Künnecke for their 1990–91 season. After playing in five test games, Heidenreich played his domestic league debut for the club in the away game at the

Stadion Kleinfeld SC Kriens is a football club based in Kriens, Switzerland, that currently competing in the Promotion League, the third tier of Swiss football. The club uses Stadion Kleinfeld as home ground, and form a local rivalry with FC Luzern. SC Kriens ...

on 25 July as Basel won 3–0 against

SC Kriens SC Kriens is a football club based in Kriens, Switzerland, that currently competing in the Promotion League, the third tier of Swiss football. The club uses Stadion Kleinfeld as home ground, and form a local rivalry with FC Luzern. SC Kriens ...

. He scored his first goal for his new team on 18 November, as Basel played a 2–2 draw, in the away game against

Chiasso Chiasso (; ) is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Mendrisio (district), Mendrisio in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Ticino in Switzerland. As Extreme points of Switzerland, the southernmost of Switzerland's ...

. As a midfielder, Heidenreich strengthened the FCB team and he repeatedly stood out with his technical skills and his overview of the game. During his time in Basel, Heidenreich played 59 competitive matches for Basel, including three

Swiss Cup The Swiss Cup (; ; ; ) is a football cup competition that has been organised annually since 1925–26 season by the Swiss Football Association. The Swiss Cup final is usually the most important game of the year with a high attendance. The co ...

matches, but was denied promotion at the time. He scored seven goals, six in the league and one in the cup. He achieved this promotion with his next club,

SC Freiburg Sport-Club Freiburg e.V., commonly known as SC Freiburg (), is a Football in Germany, German professional football club, based in the city of Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg. It plays in the Bundesliga, having been promoted as champions ...

, to which he moved in the summer of 1992. It was then that he celebrated his greatest successes with the ''Breisgau-Brasilianer''. As a regular player in

Volker Finke Volker Finke (born 24 March 1948) is a German former football manager and a former player. He was the coach of SC Freiburg for 16 years. Coaching career Early career Finke was a player–coach for TSV Stelingen from 1 July 1974 to 12 February ...

's team, he contributed greatly to Freiburg's first ever promotion to the

in 1993 and their first European participation in the

1995–96 UEFA Cup The 1995–96 UEFA Cup was the 25th season of Europe's then-tertiary club football tournament organised by UEFA. It was won by German club Bayern Munich on aggregate over Bordeaux of France. Girondins de Bordeaux went to the final all the way ...

. Heidenreich spent the last two years of his professional career at VfL Wolfsburg and SG Wattenscheid 09 before returning to the southwest of Germany. He worked as a coach at several clubs, including SV Weil for two years from March 2015.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Heidenreich, Maximilian 1967 births 2024 deaths Footballers from Hanover German men's footballers West German men's footballers Men's association football sweepers Men's association football midfielders Germany men's under-21 international footballers Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Hannover 96 players TSV 1860 Munich players Eintracht Frankfurt players FC Basel players SC Freiburg players VfL Wolfsburg players SG Wattenscheid 09 players German football managers Freiburger FC managers German expatriate men's footballers German expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland Deaths from colorectal cancer in Germany