  It is shown that the hadronic phase in ultra-relativistic heavy ion
collisions can be used to understand the properties of the $f_0(980)$
resonance. In particular it is shown that the centrality dependence of the
$f_0(980)/\pi$ and $f_0(980)/\phi$ ratios depends strongly on the
$f_0(980)\rightarrow \overline{K}+K$ branching ratio and whether the $f_0(980)$
is produced as a $\left | \overline{q}q \right \rangle$ or $\left |
\overline{s}s \right \rangle$ state. These conclusions are drawn from
calculations within the partial chemical equilibrium of the HRG model within
Thermal-FIST as well as with the fully non-equilibrium hybrid-transport
approach UrQMD. Our findings show how the hadronic phase in heavy ion
collisions can be used for studies of exotic hadron properties otherwise
possible only in dedicated experiments such as PANDA.
