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Frank Schmidt, the legendary manager of 2. Bundesliga club Heidenheim, has announced that he will step down from his post at the end of the season after almost 20 years at the helm.

The 52-year-old Heidenheim native was put in interim charge of the team in September 2007 when they were languishing in the fifth-tier Oberliga Baden-Wurttemberg. He turned the club's fortunes around, got the job permanently and reached professional football within two seasons.

Schmidt oversaw successive promotions to the Regionalliga Southwest and the 3. Liga. A spot in the 2. Bundesliga was secured in 2014 and, after coming close in 2020, Heidenheim reached the promised land of the Bundesliga in 2023, which had seemed unthinkable 15 years earlier.

That wasn't the end of the club's stunning rise. In their first-ever season in the Bundesliga, Heidenheim immediately qualified for the Conference League playoffs and eventually reached the competition proper, where they welcomed Chelsea to their 15,000-capacity Voith-Arena.

That was a little too much to handle for this small club, however. Due to competing on multiple fronts, Heidenheim battled against the drop in 2024/25 and only narrowly avoided relegation. It only delayed the inevitable.

Schmidt to step down in the summer

Despite an impressive late-season surge in 2025/26, Heidenheim were relegated to the 2. Bundesliga after three seasons in the top flight. Obviously, Schmidt had more than enough credit in the bank to survive the drop.

However, it has been a disappointing start to life back in the second division this term, and the 52-year-old has now decided that he has taken this team as far as he can. He needs a break and will vacate his post at the end of the season - after 19 years and nine months.

"[President] Holger Sanwald and I have been in close and open communication about this topic over the past few months, including during the recent international break," Schmidt explained. "It was impressive how much the club tried to extend my contract.

"However, in recent weeks, I've come to the conclusion that it's time to make a decision, also with regard to FCH's ability to plan for the future. Therefore, I informed Holger Sanwald on Monday that I will not be extending my contract again because, after almost 20 years as FCH coach, I simply want to take a break this summer.

"I'm not currently thinking about how long this break will be or what will happen in my life after July 1st - quite the opposite: I'm forbidding myself from thinking about it until then. Instead, I will give everything until the last game to ensure our maximum success this season.

"One thing is certain: together, we at FCH have written a unique story in German professional football over many years, but the final chapter is not yet over. I'm looking forward to it now and am very excited about it."

Heidenheim are currently sixth in the 2. Bundesliga, with four victories, three draws and three losses after 10 matches. However, they are winless in five and also suffered a humiliating 5-2 defeat to fourth-tier Jeddeloh in the first round of the DFB-Pokal in August.

As a player, Schmidt was a goalscoring defender. He started his professional career at SSV Ulm and Bundesliga club Nurnberg, but he didn't play for the latter in the top flight.

After leaving Nurnberg, Schmidt was part of one of the biggest upsets in DFB-Pokal history. In 1994, his club, third-tier TSV Vestenbergsgreuth from a village of 360 souls, knocked reigning German champions Bayern out of the cup.

The following year, the club merged with three-time German champions Furth to form SpVgg Greuther Furth. After a spell in Austria, Schmidt returned to Germany with Alemannia Aachen and won promotion to the 2. Bundesliga.

He moved to hometown club Heidenheim following a brief spell at Waldhof Mannheim in 2003, and the rest is history.

The longest serving managers in Europe

Until his official departure from Heidenheim on 30 June, Schmidt will be the longest-serving manager in any of European football's elite leagues (fully professional first and second divisions). Having taken charge of the 2. Bundesliga side on 17 September 2007, he has held his current position for 19 years and one full month as of early November 2026.

He is followed by Qarabag manager Qurban Qurbanov, who has been at the helm since 5 August 2008, bringing his tenure to 18 years and two months. He will replace Schmidt as the longest-serving manager next summer.

Diego Simeone sits third. Cholo took the reins at Atletico Madrid on 23 December 2011. He has turned the Rojiblancos into the third-biggest club in Spanish football in his 14 years and 10 months in the dugout.

There is a rather large gap between Simeone and Stephen Bradley, who has been the manager of Shamrock Rovers for 10 years and four months after initially being appointed caretaker on 4 July 2016.

Slavia Prague boss Jindrich Trpisovsky has been dominating Czech football for eight years and 10 months. He got the job on 22 December 2017 and has won five league titles.

Nearly 3 years ahead of the rest 🤯

Mikel Arteta is set to continue his run as the Premier League's longest-serving current manager 🔴 https://t.co/4q3GwNWGvf

— Premier League (@premierleague) October 7, 2026

Once Schmidt leaves, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta will complete the top five. He replaced Unai Emery on 22 December 2019 and has now held his post for six years and 10 months.

Of course, there are even more impressive managerial tenures than the ones mentioned here the further down the footballing pyramid you go. Luigi Fresco, for example, has been with Italian lower-league side Virtus Verona literally since his childhood.

After being a player and youth team coach, he became the club's president and manager at age 21 in 1982. He has held the job ever since, with the exception of a 19-day spell earlier this year when he resigned, appointed his assistant, and then reappointed himself. There was no new-manager bounce, and Virtus were relegated to Serie D.

In Germany, Ingo Kahlisch has been the main man at fifth-tier side Optik Rathenow from the eastern part of the country since 1989. His reign predates Reunification; he began his tenure in a state that no longer exists - the German Democratic Republic.

Over in England, Simon Weaver became player-manager at Harrowgate Town in the Conference North in May 2009. In 2020, he led them into the English Football League for the first time. They dropped out again last season, but he remains in charge.

Meanwhile, Marc White has been calling the shots at National League South side Dorking Wanderers since 1999 - but he's the founder and owner of the club, so it's not really comparable!