Frank Schmidt wants to turn down potential offers and fulfill his contract as coach of Bundesliga club 1. FC Heidenheim. The 50-year-old is tied to the newcomers until 2027 and would then have been in office for almost 20 years. "I can promise one thing: I won't be leaving before then. If you want to lead a team, you have to be credible and reliable. That's me. We in the coaching team give each other a lot, are not finished yet, have strength and energy," Schmidt told the "Leipziger Volkszeitung" newspaper.
However, there is also an end in sight. "But it's also true that I won't be sitting on a coach's bench when I'm 60," said Schmidt. He signed his current contract in October 2021. In the past, Schmidt had said that his next contract would probably have a slightly shorter term.
The coach has led the club from his hometown from the Oberliga to the Bundesliga. There, the underdogs, who host RB Leipzig on Saturday (3.30pm/Sky), are on the brink of relegation. Five matchdays before the end of the season, Heidenheim are twelve points clear of a direct relegation place and eight points ahead of 16th place in the relegation play-offs. Schmidt wants to "keep going full throttle" in order to avoid relegation. I hate to let things run out of steam. We have a responsibility towards ourselves and the competition."
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