Bundesliga News

Five Bundesliga names linked with Austria National Team head-coaching position

By Peter Weis   @PeterVicey

Former Borussia Dortmund and 1. FC Köln head-coach Peter Stöger has already confirmed that he held talks with Austria's FA about the ÖFB's vacant national team coaching position. 

Only Bundesliga names being linked with the job include Andreas Herzog, Markus Gisdol, Ralf Rangnick, and even Joachim Löw. 
Joachim Löw.
Joachim Löw.
Franco Foda, the historic first-ever German to coach Austria's national football team, will be leaving his post after the country's 2022 World Cup qualification campaign ended in a playoff loss to Wales last week. It may yet be the case that another German replaces the former Leverkusen, Stuttgart, and Kaiserslautern professional.


"Sky Sports Austria" reports that ÖFB sporting CEO Peter Schöttel traveled to Manchester on Monday, possibly in a bid to solicit Man U interim trainer Ralf Rangnick for the job. The broadcaster also floats the idea that, should Rangnick be unavailable, one of his former proteges Markus Gisdol might be a candidate for the position.

Gisdol, brought in by Rangnick during his advisory phase with Lokomotiv Moscow, has been without a job since resigning at the Russian club to protest the country's incursion into Ukraine. Gisdol last worked as the head-coach at 1. FC Köln before being sacked during of last year's relegation campaign.

It can be confirmed that one former Köln trainer is in the running. Peter Stöger has publicly affirmed reports that he spoke with Schöttel about the job. Another Bundesliga veteran of Austrian descent--Andreas Herzog--also held talks with Schöttel.

Herzog, a former FC Bayern München and SV Werder Bremen professional, is currently serving as the head-coach of SV Admira Wacker Mödling in the Austrian Bundesliga.

Though the club's president has said he expects Herzog to remain at the club, the 53-year-old's impressive international career may leave him with the taste to once again work in the international realm. Herzog served as the Israeli national trainer for two years and also served as a long-time USMNT assistant (and U23 coach) during Jürgen Klinsmann's American tenure.


Another name surfacing, albeit in a more speculative fashion, is that of former Bundestrainer Joachim Löw. Germany's 2014 World Cup winning trainer repeatedly stated last spring that he had no plans to retire from football completely and stepping down as the national team coach.

Löw's assertion that he wished to brush up on his Spanish language skills led most to speculate that he wished to perhaps coach in La Liga. The 62-year-old nevertheless has direct experience coaching in Austria (a land in which he already speaks the language) as well.

Löw served as the trainer as FK Austria Wien for approximately 15 months in 2003/04. The job was Löw's final club coaching position before joining Jürgen Klinsmann's DFB staff ahead of the 2006 World Cup.


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