FC Nürnberg, and was promoted to the first team in 1992, and made his debut for the club in the first round of the 1992–93 DFB-Pokal, as a substitute for Hans Dorfner in a 7–1 win over amateur side TSV Osterholz.

After six months with WSC he joined their neighbours First Vienna, where he spent a year playing in the Second Division, before returning to Germany to sign for Alemannia Aachen.

Schmidt was a first-team regular in Aachen's first half-season in the second tier, before an injury suffered in a match against Tennis Borussia Berlin put him out of football for almost the whole of 2000.

He then signed for his hometown club, Heidenheimer SB, of the fifth-tier Verbandsliga Württemberg, and won promotion to the Oberliga Baden-Württemberg in his first season, with a second-place finish.

He achieved a fourth-place finish in his first season in charge, enough to qualify for the Regionalliga Süd, which was to become the fourth tier of German football, following the introduction of a new national 3.

Schmidt managed the club for five years at this level, finishing in the top half each time, until they won the division in 2013–14 and earned promotion to the 2.

[3] On 17 September 2023, he became the longest-serving manager at a single club in German football history, surpassing Volker Finke's 16 years of service at SC Freiburg.