1. FSV Mainz 05 has extended the contract with sporting director Christian Heidel, which expires in 2022. The term is not clearly defined.
What kicker reported in its Thursday edition, the club confirmed this morning: Mainz 05 and Christian Heidel will continue to work together in the coming years. The sporting director’s working contract would originally have expired in the summer of 2022.
Heidel himself had insisted on a term of only one and a half years when he returned in December 2020, although Detlev Höhne, the head of the supervisory board at the time, had wanted to tie the 58-year-old down for longer. Heidel wanted to wait and see whether everyone in the seemingly divided club was pulling in the same direction, especially with a view to the new supervisory board elected in June.
After staying in the league, everything was just a formality
With the sensational achievement of staying in the league, the talks that had already begun during the summer break were apparently only a formality. In any case, according to information from kicker, the parties have not only agreed on an extension beyond 2022, but also on the simplest possible parameters in the event of a termination of the cooperation, which, unlike usual in the industry, should not have a defined term.
“Together with Martin Schmidt and Bo Svensson, we freed ourselves from an almost hopeless sporting situation last season and thus fulfilled the first part of our mission,” Heidel explained in the club statement. “I want to continue on this path and further stabilise and develop the club. We are not yet finished with our project. For me, it’s about not letting up now, about continuing to push the positive development. “
What Heidel’s extension means for Schmidt
There is something to be said for Heidel, who returned last year after three years at Schalke, quitting for good if he sees Mainz 05 in a good long-term position. That’s where Martin Schmidt comes in. The contract of the sports director, who together with Heidel and coach Svensson kissed the ailing club awake, also ends in 2022. The sports director is responsible for his extension. He is likely to hold talks with the Swiss in the near future, now that his own future has been fixed.
“Mainz 05 will always remain a matter of the heart for me,” Heidel continued. “There is no normal working relationship between the club and me after these many years together. The basis of my job is that we agree in the committees on the common direction of our work and the future of Mainz 05. I feel this common understanding for a trusting cooperation. “
