Freiburg vs. Heidenheim preview: Basement side aiming for back-to-back wins

Predicted lineup: Atubolu; Kübler, Ginter, Ogbus, Günter; Eggestein, Manzambi; Irié, Höler, Scherhant; Matanović

Heidenheim

Heidenheim looks set to drop down to the second tier after mustering 19 points from their 29 league outings. That said, they have managed to put together a three-game unbeaten run to give themselves some renewed belief ahead of the final five games of the season. After drawing with Bayer Leverkusen and Borussia Mönchengladbach, Frank Schmidt’s side ended their 15-game winless run with a 3-1 victory against Union Berlin last weekend. Mathias Honsak netted a first-half brace before Leopold Querfeld reduced the deficit at the Voith-Arena. Budu Zivzivadze swiftly restored the two-goal cushion to ease the nerves as Heidenheim claimed their first win of 2026.

The basement side need more results like that in the run-in if they are to have any hope of remaining in the division, with seven points separating them from St. Pauli in the relegation-playoff spot. If they are to reduce that gap to four points on Sunday, Heidenheim will need to claim their first away league win since beating Union Berlin 2-1 in November. 

While their away record offers little cause for optimism, Heidenheim can take confidence from the fact they beat Freiburg 2-1 in December’s reverse fixture.

Team News

Heidenheim are unable to call upon the services of Mikkel Kaufmann, Leart Paçarada and Sirlord Conteh, while there are doubts surrounding the availability of Benedikt Gimber and Jonas Föhrenbach.

Predicted lineup: Ramaj; Busch, Mainka, Siersleben, Behrens; Dinkçi, Niehues, Schöppner, Honsak; Zivzivadze, Pieringer