At the end, David Alaba, Marko Arnautovic, Marcel Sabitzer, Konrad Laimer, Ralf Rangnick and his coaching team politely made a request: “Please let us successfully continue on the path that we have taken together as a team,” this sentence according to a report by the Delivery manwhich coincides with SZ information, at the end of a document that will go down in Austrian football history. It was a pious request from a team not to jeopardize all the positive energy that they had recently conjured up. A demand to refrain from change, directed at a football association that is in danger of descending into chaos.
On Friday afternoon, the Austrian Football Association (ÖFB) decided on a so-called “structural reform” in a presidium meeting. At first glance, this sounds quite welcome in a complex construct that – similar to its German equivalent – has suffered for years from too much influence from too many different speakers, especially at the state level. But behind this decision to reform there was not a solution, but in reality an enormous danger to domestic peace. Which is not least due to the man who represents the many positive headlines.
Not even a week ago, team boss Rangnick was raised to the highest heights again. The Austrians’ 5-1 win in the Nations League against Norway received international attention; it was one of the brilliant achievements of his term in office. Rangnick managed to grow into a remarkable unit with a team that wasn’t always easy to deal with in previous years. After the summer, there remained the shortcoming of a European Championship finals that ended too early for one’s own expectations in the round of 16, but also the realization that Rangnick still has a lot of desire for a future in Austria – so much so that he decided to do so in the spring As is well known, he even turned down FC Bayern.
This initially led to great joy in the country, until a small group of Austrians once again abused one of the country’s virtues: arrogance. In any case, there is no other way to explain the story that the magazine told us a few days ago Profile published. And which is directly related to what happened on Friday.
Rangnick had placed demands internally
At the end of August, Rangnick took part in a two-day meeting of the ÖFB executive board in order to contribute his sporting expertise and place his ideas and demands in the right circles. According to SZ information, this included, among other things, the hiring of a designated team manager and changes in the junior team. The 66-year-old is known in the football business for his determined approach to change. In some places he is respected for this very reason, in others less so – in the case of the ÖFB and a team that has considerably little footballing expertise, one would have thought that Rangnick’s contributions would be quite welcome. However: not for everyone.
“I didn’t think it was necessary for him to be there for two days,” criticized the Lower Austrian state president Johann Gartner Profile and said in relation to Rangnick: “You always have to watch where he is galloping.” The 71-year-old has been known for years for his lack of restraint in public; he sees himself in the tradition of many politicians and officials from Austria’s largest federal state , which is particularly prone to megalomania. The clarity with the team boss, however, was excessive even for Gartner – but it does provide an impression of the meeting on Friday, which ultimately led to a personnel change.
The two managing directors Thomas Hollerer and Bernhard Neuhold, the personnel on which the debate hangs in many respects, were fired. For years, despite intense mutual dislike, both have led the association in a kind of stalemate situation: Hollerer is supported by a front made up of sovereigns, while Neuhold is valued primarily from the sporting side. So much so that the key people in Austrian football got involved shortly before.
“Bernhard has been our direct contact for all organizational and financial matters for years. He and his team played a significant role in our mutual success, especially in our performance at Euro 2024,” the team council and coaching team wrote in their letter: “Bernhard Neuhold’s expertise is particularly important in view of the important international match year of 2025 and our big goal of the 2026 World Cup and competence is essential.”
However, the committee and apparently also the association president Klaus Mitterdorfer saw things differently: Neuhold was shown the door, although, curiously, both he and Hollerer were invited to reapply. In the future, the ÖFB will be led by a higher-level CEO and two board members – one for sport, one for business. According to reports, Hollerer now has the best chance of getting one of the positions again, while Neuhold, who has been with the association for 20 years, hardly believes anyone can return. It is also unclear whether President Mitterdorfer will run for re-election again next spring.
However, the last small, sworn unit is now finally just the team and the coach, all of whom are more critical than ever of their own association, which fired their confidant. Neither Rangnick nor the players have initially commented on Friday’s results, but behind the scenes there is great outrage – and consequences cannot be ruled out. The team boss’s contract currently runs until 2025; if he successfully qualified for the 2026 World Cup, it would be extended until the end of the tournament.
Some in the association and the vast majority in the country saw Rangnick as an opportunity for a successful era, a departure into the modern era of football and changes in the association. However, under the current circumstances, the ÖFB can be grateful that the team boss has grown fond of his team and the country – the association in its current state is not a framework in which one can shape an era.