Welcome back, Heiko!

The youngster played ten minutes in the game against Karlsruhe SC on 23 August 1989 after coach Jürgen Gelsdorf brought him on in place of Marek Lesniak. The match ended in a 1-1 draw. This was the start of a very successful professional career for Herrlich.
DFB Cup winner with Bayer 04
Leverkusen signed the talented striker from the SC Freiburg U19 team. Quick off the mark and full of tricks were trademarks of the man from Mannheim. Heiko Herrlich spent four years at Bayer 04 making 83 appearances with eight goals to his credit. Herrlich did not play in the 1-0 DFB Cup final win against the Hertha Berlin Amateurs. There was a lot of competition up front at Bayer 04 at the time: Ulf Kirsten and Andreas Thom were the established strike partnership.
Herrlich left Leverkusen a few weeks after the cup victory to join Borussia Mönchengladbach. After learning his trade with the Werkself, his career took off at Gladbach. In his first season he was the second highest scorer for Borussia with eight goals. A year later he was the top scorer in the Bundesliga with 20 goals. He also found the back of the net in DFB Cup ties way scored the winner in the 3-2 quarter-final win against Schalke 04 and in the semi-final against Kaiserslautern (1-0 a.e.t.). Herrlich scored in the 3-0 victory against VFL Wolfsburg in the final – his seventh DFB Cup goal. These performances also came to the attention of Germany coach Berti Vogts and Herrlich made his international debut in the 2-0 win against Georgia on 29 March 1995. He went on to play another four internationals in that year.
Greatest success with Borussia Dortmund
After a second cup triumph, Herrlich moved on to Dortmund in the summer of 1995. He achieved his greatest successes here. In his first season he won the league title with Borussia and in the following campaign he won the Champions League with the Black and Yellows. In the final against Juventus on 28 May 1997 Herrlich came on in the 67th minute just after Juve had pulled a goal back to make it 2-1. He replaced Karl-Heinz Riedle. Borussia went on to win 3-1. The third goal was scored by Lars Ricken with a legendary lob. In the same year, Herrlich was in the Dortmund side that won the World Club Cup when he scored in the 2-0 win against Cruzeiro Belo Horizonte.
The hardest time of his life
His stay at Dortmund was not just marked by success. In the autumn of 2000 he was diagnosed with a brain tumour, which proved to be the most difficult time of his life. In an interview with the magazine 11Freunde he recalled that time: "I couldn't understand it at first. I thought I'd done everything to stop getting ill. I didn't drink alcohol, didn't smoke cigarettes or tried drugs. I had a healthy diet and a life as a top sportsman. Why did it happen to me? But I'm also a very religious person. I remember exactly what I said to my wife: 'Nobody has stayed on earth forever. We all have to go at some point. With or without a brain tumour. What ever happens to me is in God's hands.'”
The tumour was aggressive but was treatable with radiotherapy. "I didn’t have to go through chemotherapy. That was through the grace of God. I was incredibly lucky," said Herrlich in the interview. His wife Sangita was pregnant with their first child at this point. His life took a turn for the better when the tumour disappeared after treatment and his daughter Noomi was born.
After almost a year on the sidelines, Herrlich made his comeback in the derby against Schalke 04 on 15 September 2001 when he was greeted with a standing ovation from both sets of fans when he came off the bench. The season ended with the 29-year-old Herrlich winning the German league title again with Dortmund.
Heiko Herrlich ended his professional career in 2004 at the age of 32 with Borussia. He made a total of 258 Bundesliga appearances scoring 75 goals along the way.
From player to coach
He started his second career a year later: Herrlich gained his DFB coaching licence and he took over as coach of the BVB U19s. In 2007 he was appointed coach of the Germany U17s and he led them to third place in the World Cup in South Korea. The best player of the tournament was Toni Kroos. A year later he was in charge of the Germany U19s. In 2009 he returned to club football. In October he joined VfL Bochum, then in the Bundesliga. He was sacked by Bochum with two games to go in the season. He then moved on to manage SpVgg Unterhaching (2011/12) and the FC Bayern Munich U17 side (2013 – 15).
In December 2015 he took over the helm at SSV Jahn Regensburg where he took the club up from the Regional League to the third division in 2016 and a few weeks ago completed the rise to the second division. Herrlich's team beat 1860 Munich in the relegation play-offs (1-1, 2-0).
Heiko Herrlich once described what was particularly important to him as a coach: "for me there are four performance factors: technique, tactics, athleticism and personality. Personality is often crucial for a player to make it to the first team. You can be as talented as you want but if you only think of yourself then you're lost. I think a successful team is made up of eleven servants - where everybody helps each other."
He has worked under a lot of managers in his career. Ottmar Hitzfeld made the greatest impression during his time at Dortmund. "Ottmar made a point of being modest. That always impressed me. He always showed respect for the players and the media and was always very human."
Heiko Herrlich is now writing a new chapter in his Leverkusen history. Here he will meet up with some familiar faces in Rüdiger Vollborn, Ulf Kirsten, Jürgen Gelsdorf plus staff members Harald Wohner and Klaus Zöller. Old companions at his side. And on the other, the current Werkself squad he wants to achieve new honours with.