The fact that Harry Kane came off the Bayern Munich bench this weekend and recorded a hat trick has gotten talk rolling about Kane’s new role as a Bundesliga “Super Sub“. With three goals as a substitute, is Kane presently the best “Super Sub” in the Bundesliga? Not quite. That honor belongs to a total unknown: Heidenheim striker Stefan Schimmer. The 31-year-old has scored four times off the bench this season.
Kane’s three tallies off the bench would have technically tied him with Schimmer, but the FCH attacker came off the bench against Freiburg to score the match winner for the second game in a row. One week after guiding Heidenheim to an upset 1-2 away win against Union Berlin, Schimmer helped his side prevail over Freiburg 2-1 at home. Schimmer also scored off the bench against Werder Bremen and Hoffenheim on back-to-back matchdays, seven and eight.
Why has no one heard of Stefan Schimmer?
Excellent question. Even “Bundesliga connoisseurs” and German “footballing super nerds” will readily admit that they know next-to-nothing about Schimmer prior to this season. During Heidenheim’s first two years in the German top flight, Schimmer barely featured at all. Schimmer made 15 (mostly late) relief appearances for Heidenheim during the 2023/24 campaign. He was mostly anonymous in his lone league start, a 0-0 draw against Dortmund that Bundesliga reporters stand zero chance of recalling.
During the 2024/25 season, Schimmer featured even less. He made 13 league relief appearances and started one cup match. FCH head coach Frank Schmidt didn’t even include Schimmer on his Conference League roster and didn’t select him for the promotion-relegation playoffs. Even in the 2. Bundesliga, Schimmer rarely started. He made three starts at the beginning of Heidenheim’s 2022/23 promotion campaign, then was used exclusively off the bench for the rest of the year.
Where did Stefan Schimmer come from?
Schimmer hails from the village of Gundelfingen; one of the Bavarian Swabian towns on the Donau river not far from larger townships sharing the same mixed heritage such as Heidenheim and Ulm. Schimmer – without any formal academy training – played for his hometown club as a “weekend warrior” in the six-tier for three years before Gundelfingen’s 2015/16 promotion campaign led to FC Memmingen (in the fourth tier) picking him up.
An outstanding 2016/17 season during which he scored 26 goals in the Regionalliga Bayern then saw him move to SpVgg Unterhaching in the 3. Liga. After three years in the German third division, Heidenheim scooped him up for the 2. Bundesliga. As noted above, Schimmer wasn’t a regular starter. Overall, he has made 142 of his 160 FCH appearances as a substitute, averaging 26 minutes on the pitch.
Only three of Schimmer’s 21 goals have come as a starting player. Of some additional interest: He has never scored a goal for Heidenheim in the first half. Given Schimmer’s lack of pedigree as an academy player, few expected him to factor in at the Bundesliga level. The fact that Heidenheim entered the season starved for options in attack (even more so after the departure of Leo Scienza) led to him coming on regularly as a sub from matchday four onwards.
How is Schimmer handling his success?
Like two unexpected rising Heidenheim performers before him, Tim Kleindienst and Jan-Niklas Beste, Schimmer was invited to serve as a guest on Germany’s Saturday evening ARD Sportschau program. Schimmer sat in the very same chair as Kleindienst and Beste once did. Much to their surprise (though in Beste’s case it was only a call up) the pair that preceded Schimmer ended up featuring for the German national team.
Like Beste, Schimmer was shown some clips of his coach and FCH team captain Patrick Mainka praising his performances. The man now unexpectedly working as Heidenheim’s leading goal-scorer noted that the role of a substitute was unfamiliar to him when he arrived at the Ostalbenschwaben. The very-late footballing bloomer also kept the focus on the team as they continue to contest a tough relegation dogfight.
“Since I’ve been in Heidenheim, being the substitute has been a big part of my job,” Schimmer said on the ARD program. “I’m happy that it’s working again. I’m grateful that it’s working out and that I can help the team. As far as I’m concerned, it can continue like this.”
“We have to carry the momentum from the last two games with us,“ nevertheless emphasized. ”We can’t let up one bit. There’s still a long way to go and now we have another decisive game [against relegation rivals St. Pauli] coming up. We’re keeping the games open until the 90th minute. One can see what power the team has to fight back.”
