Born in Heidelberg, Herdling began his career with SG Heidelberg-Kirchheim and moved later to SpVgg Neckarsteinach in the youth ranks.
In the third round of the 2003–04 DFB-Pokal, Herdling scored the winning goal for Hoffenheim against Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen, which ended 3–2.
After he had scored twice in Hoffenheim's 9–0 DFB-Pokal first round win against SG Aumund-Vegesack, coach Markus Gisdol took him to the first-team squad for the 2013–14 season.
[6] After ending his career, Herdling became assistant coach alongside Andreas Ibertsberger for the 2016/17 season with Marco Wildersinn at Hoffenheim's second team, which played in the fourth-tier Regionalliga Südwest.
[9] The coaching team won 3 of the final 4 matches and finished the season in 6th place, qualifying directly for the Europa League.