Jagd auf den Red Bull

Fantastic to see Steegmann guide Wien back into the Champions League after a number of years away from the competition. Looking forward to seeing if you can force yourselves into the group stages - as the qualifying rounds can still be a great challenge.

Yes! Even more excellent work from you. It would be nice for you to exceed the achievements of Franchise FC (Red Bull) in the UCL next season.

Great to see you earn UCL qualification, much deserved! It'll be a nice boost to the club for next season, surely the title has to be the aim now?

”On the whole a very positive way to end the season, given the form we were in. We’ve secured Champions League football now though and we can finally start preparing properly for next season. The squad is strong as it is and will be even stronger at the start of the next campaign. We’ve shown we can compete this month by beating the likes of Rapid, Sturm Graz and Salzburg and we’ve got a lot to be positive about moving forward. The boys deserve a long break now and to regroup ahead of the new season because with European football secured we’re going to have to work extra hard to maintain and improve on the progress we have made this season.”

Comments

ScottT: Forcing ourselves into the Group Stages will be extremely difficult given the side of the draw we’ll be placed on but we’ll give it our best shot, knowing that there will be the chance at Europa League football as a consolation

Jack: That would be amazing but baby steps mate

Justice: More than deserved over the course of the season, things look really positive now. The title is definitely the target for next season now!

Last Update: #35 Austria Secure Champions League Football Despite Loss
Next Update: #37 Die Vielchen Announce Jubal Deal

I think there needs to be some investment in the defence, given the amount of goals shipped this year. A fantastic finish nevertheless, a shame the mid-season collapsed occurred else you could have been champions. Looking forward to next season, where hopefully you'll topple Salzburg and end their dominance.

Defensively, you kept up pace with RB Salzburg. The main gap seemed to be the goal scoring department. Any masterplans for this over the summer?

Die Vielchen Announce Jubal Deal

Die Vielchen have today announced their first new recruit of the summer transfer window, by completing the signing of Brazilian centre back Jubal from Portuguese Liga NOS side Arouca. The deal to sign the 25 year old is a Bosman deal with the defenders contract at Arouca expiring at the end of June, meaning Austria manager Christopher Steegmann has been able to reinforce his squad without busting the bank. In Christian Schoissengeyr and Michael Madl, Die Vielchen already possess two right footed central defenders but in Jubal, Steegmann believes he has added an important rotation option to the squad.

With Austria hoping to have a busier schedule this season, after last season’s achievement of qualifying for the Champions League, Steegmann said “rotating the squad this season will be even more important than it was last season because the physical demands on the players is going to be even greater with less rest time and less time on the training pitch as a result of it. Jubal is a very solid defender that will add a lot to our squad and improves on the quality we already have in his position on the pitch.”

Although Die Vielchen won’t discover their opponents in the third qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League, the playing squad will undergo a thorough and rigorous pre-season schedule with five pre-season fixtures arranged between the return to training and the start of the season. Having made 32 appearances in a loan spell with Portimonense this season and scoring two goals, Jubal will join Die Vielchen off the back of a testing season as he helped the team to a seventh placed finish in the Portuguese top flight, but Austria fans will be impressed by the players work rate and desire to do well for his new team as he made plans to cut short his pre-season break to begin preparations for the new Bundesliga season.

Comments

ScottT: I think the mid-season collapse was the big reason for why we fell away and morale dropped very low and we started shipping goals and stopped scoring unfortunately so for me we need to reinforce in areas and hope that the players we still have at the club can step up slightly and remain focused for a whole season. However there is a lot to be pleased with this year and we can look forward to another positive season!

Justice: We’ll reinforce as much as necessary in this squad and hopefully give ourselves more rotation options. The squad was small this year and perhaps a lack of fitness was a problem which is why the goals scored fell away towards the end of the season. I’ve got a few ideas in mind

Last Update: #36 Month In Focus: May
Next Update: #38 The Youngsters Giving Life To Austria Wien's Future

The perfect signing. His mental and physical stats appear to be well-rounded and he promises to be the perfect recruitment. Looking forward to any further business to come, as this window promises to be one of real importance.

The Youngsters Giving Life To Austria Wien’s Future

With another Austrian Bundesliga season over and Austria Wien having secured their return to the UEFA Champions League, or the Qualifying Rounds at least, manager Christopher Steegmann and his squad have been receiving a lot of plaudits for their achievements. Having finished seventh in the 2017/18 season, Steegmann masterminded a remarkable turn around in Die Vielchen’s fortunes, with the side rising five places and sealing European football for the upcoming 2019/2020 season. Should Die Vielchen lose their third qualifying round tie, they will still progress into the Group Stages for the Europa League and Steegmann will be confident that his team can lead themselves to a successful appearance in UEFA competition next season.

Behind their success this season though, has been a reliance on young talent, mixed with a few experienced heads with Austria Wien being praised for their youth academy and the young players who have guided Austria Wien to second in the Bundesliga. Here uefa.com takes a look at the most promising of those youngsters and how they are bringing life to an exciting future for Die Vielchen.

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After being given his opportunity in goal during the 2017/18 season, Patrick Pentz hasn’t looked back, going on to make 56 appearances for Die Vielchen’s first team in two seasons, all at the age of 22. Pentz was already the number 1 when Christopher Steegmann took over and continued to be so during 2018/19, playing in all 32 of Austria Wien’s league games, keeping 14 clean sheets and establishing himself as one of the best goalkeepers in the league and arguably the best young goalkeeper. Has made just one appearance for Austria’s under 21 side, but looks set to outgrow the youth teams sooner rather than later with a call up to the senior squad expected in the near future. Big things are expected of Patrick Pentz, with Serie A sides such as Udinese monitoring the 22 year olds situation, circling in case the youngster decides he wants to move on.

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Having made 11 appearances for Die Vielchen in the 2017/18 season, expectations were high that Alexander Borkovic would push on and have another promising season for Austria Wien in 2018/19. Initially failing to break into the first team, Borkovic would eventually be given his chance in the starting XI by Steegmann in a 3-1 victory over Rheindorf Altach. Although his performance wasn’t anything spectacular, the youngster did enough to convince his manager that he was a capable first team player and soon established himself as the leading left footed central defender in the squad. Borkovic went on to make 19 appearances for Austria Wien in the Bundesliga in 2018/19, developing into one of the finest young central defenders in Austria. Having made 4 appearances for Austria’s under 21s, Borkovic will be looking to push on and earn a senior call up by having another impressive season. Rumours of interest in Tomas Hubocan will not deter the youngster with Borkovic seemingly a firm part of Steegmann’s plans for Austria moving forward.

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David Cancola, the oldest of the players on this list at 22 was rewarded for his hard work on and off the pitch with a breakthrough season at the Generali Arena in 2018/19. Mainly a defensive midfielder, Cancola has adapted well to Steegmann’s 4-2-3-1 system, with the 22 year old spending the early part of Steegmann’s reign, working on being able to play further forward as a central midfielder. Used heavily during the mid-season injury crisis Die Vielchen experienced, Cancola went on to make 25 appearances for Austria Wien in 2018/19 scoring just the one goal, and will definitely be looking to add to that total in 2019/20, especially with the extra games demanded of this squad by European competition. Cancola, averaged 4.16 tackles a game in the Bundesliga last season and will continue to develop in the new campaign if he is given the time on the pitch.

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Dominik Fitz will not have been able to believe his luck. Having made his first team debut for Austria Wien in September last year in a 1-0 victory over Sturm Graz, the 20 year old would have been dreaming of playing a bigger role in Austria Wien’s season. 4 appearances later, Fitz would be taken off the pitch on a stretcher with a break in his lower leg, an injury that would leave him out of action for 5 months. Upon returning to injury Fitz made a further 3 appearances for an Austria Wien side chasing the title and European football and with Lucas Venuto becoming an integral part of the team, Fitz struggled to establish himself. The good news for the 20 year old is the admiration that manager Christopher Steegmann appears to have for the youngster, particularly as he represents a home grown option for the manager and with Fitz’s dazzling runs down the right wing, Austria Wien have the makings of a solid winger as they look to build on a second placed finish in 2018/19.

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Having broken through into the Austria Wien first team in the 2016/17 season, 22 year old Prokop established himself as a first team option making 13 appearances before really making a name for himself in 2017/18. Scoring 5 goals in 30 appearances in the Bundesliga for Austria Wien, Prokop established himself as one of the hottest up and coming talents in the Austrian top flight with some impressive performances. 2018/19 was his best season yet, as he scored 7 goals in 30 appearances in all competitions, as he became an integral part of Christopher Steegmann’s attacking unit, drifting inside from the left wing and terrifying opposition defences with his ability on the ball and lethal right foot. Uncapped by the national team, Prokop has made 15 appearances for the under 21’s scoring two goals, but another strong season from the youngster could see him given a national team call up, particularly if he impresses in European competition too.

Comments

ScottT: For the level and league we’re in he is a great piece of business and will slot very nicely into the heart of our defence

Last Update: #37 Die Vielchen Announce Jubal Deal
Next Update: #39 Steegmann: This Season Was A Learning Curve

Jubal is one heck of a signing! He'll prove to be the difference next year! The young players look good, and the terrifying thing is that they can only get better!

Some great talent at the club. I look forward to next season, greatly!

What a great bunch of youngsters, would be cool to see them play for you for years to come, like a Class of '92 sort of thing

Steegmann: “This Season Was A Learning Curve”

As the doors to the Generali Arena are closed for the last time until July, another season was brought to an end. In 2018/19, Die Vielchen and their fans can look back on a very good season with Champions League football secure for next season and some promising signs that the 2019/2020 season could be another huge one for the club. The progress made this season, under Christopher Steegmann has been excellent and extremely exciting and Austria fans will hope that next season, they can push forwards in the league as well as the excitement that will surround the prospective European fixtures. In his final interview for the season, Christopher Steegmann gave his thoughts on the season past and what Austria fans can look forward to this summer and in the future.


Christopher, congratulations on this season, you and the team have put in a tremendous amount of effort and come away with some great rewards, you must be looking forward to a break now?
Thank you, yeah we really have. The last few months of the season have been incredibly difficult and have required a lot of hard work but I’m incredibly proud of my team and they deserve a few weeks off with their families and to just go and enjoy life a little bit. Me, I am taking a few days and then getting straight back to it, there is a lot of hard work still to be done in preparing for the new season. This season has been a huge learning curve, and we have to take everything we can from those lessons and prepare ourselves to face them again next season and beyond.

The defeat to St. Polten on the final day of the season aside, you managed to end your poor run of form during March and April, raise your game again and get the results that got the team over the line. What was the secret behind that revival?
Hard work, determination and perseverance. We had no choice really. We were falling down the league table and we needed a chance to kick start out season again. The boys were working hard and not getting the results and that poor run was really hard to take and work through because it was effecting morale around the club. We made a few little tactical tweaks in how we wanted the boys to perform on the pitch that didn’t see us abandon our playing style and they came off, especially against Wacker Innsbruck and we did extremely well to then go and win the three matches following. The St. Polten defeat was frustrating but it was one of those things.

A second placed finish means Champions League football next season. You must be thrilled at getting the chance to play in Europe, especially having not had European football this campaign?
Absolutely. Not having European football this season certainly helped us, I think I said that earlier in the season, but we can’t wait to get our teeth into a European campaign. The thought of visiting the likes of Zenit St. Petersburg or Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League is a really exciting thought and we are licking our lips at the thought of locking horns with some big teams outside of Austria.

The teams you could face in the Third Qualfiying Round of the Champions League contains teams that are consistent Champions League sides, you’ve mentioned Zenit and Shakhtar already, does that scare you and do you think your team has what it takes to get through?
No it doesn’t scare me at all. They are great teams that are very good in their own right and do extremely well in their own leagues, but we are a very good team and we’ve done extremely well in the league this season, by coming second. We’ll head into those games without any fear of what the opposition can do to us and we will concentrate solely on what we can do to any opposition we come up against. Bring it on.

Do you think the side we have at the moment is capable of performing at the high level needed in the Bundesliga and then subsequently in the Champions League and OFB-Cup too?
If we were told we could make no additions this summer apart from the ones we had already made then I’d be happy with the squad we’ve got. I’ve got full faith in the ability of this team and every single player in the squad that we could compete on all three fronts this season. The matter of the fact is we’re going to be given the chance to improve the squad and add to the team so I’m not worried about anything like that. We’ve got some really good players at this club who will give everything for this club and if we make new signings they will help make next season a very special one for this team.

With the added games to the teams schedule this season, you must surely be looking to add more recruits to the team? Tomas Cuevas and Uros Matic have already joined permanently, and we know Jubal is on his way, do the fans have a reason to be excited about this summer?
Yeah absolutely we are looking and we have been looking for a while now. The scouting department deserve an awful lot of credit because they have been here there and everywhere around Europe and Austria over the last few weeks and months. Tomas and Uros are two very good players, we already know that having had them here this year. Jubal will make a very good addition and defensive reinforcement in this squad and we’re excited to have him here. That deal has been confirmed for a while now and it is great that it is so nearly here. We are in talks with a few other players that we hope to bring news about soon so yes the fans have a reason to be excited, definitely.

There are two players away on international duty this summer with Alexander Borkovic away at the European under 21 Championships with Austria and Cristian Cuevas away at the Copa America with Chile, will that factor in to your thinking about pre-season and do you have any concerns about them being away on international business whilst the rest of the squad gets a well-earned break?
Yeah absolutely it will. I’m very happy for those two because they have more than earned their chance to play at an international tournament this summer. Obviously they are going to the tournament off the back of a long hard season with us so they will be tired and they will be tired when they return to the club so I’m sure we can work them back into the first team plans, a step at a time. I know both will cooperate and appreciate the work they need to do. I wish them both the best away on international duty, but they already know that, it goes without saying.

Speaking of pre-season, what do the team have to look forward to when they return from their holidays? Can you give us a bit of an insight into your thinking surrounding the amount of time you will get on the training pitch?
A lot of hard, rigorous work on the training pitch and in the gym. We have to make sure we are as physically ready for the new season as we possibly can be and have to be ready to get going straight away. We’ll be on the pitch a lot, having a lot of extra sessions to ensure we achieve that goal heading into the first game of the season whoever that may be against.

What about the pre-season friendlies, what can you tell us about them? Will we get the chance to see the team on the pitch before the competitive football returns?
Yeah you will. We’ll be back at the Generali Arena on the 17th July, with a big game against Athletic Club Bilbao, which will be a real test, but having played Villarreal last season and picked up a positive result in that 2-2 draw, we’ll be confident of beating Bilbao or at least giving them a very good run for their money. That will be one of our last pre-season games though. Before it we have a small tour of Germany where we’ll play RW Essen and Offenbach and we have two games against lower league sides in Austria, facing off against Wiener Neustadt and Austria Lustenau. It’s going to be an exciting pre-season, we’re looking forward to the games and hopefully we can come back with some positive results from some entertaining games, having played some good football.

Brilliant, well thank you very much for this Christopher, enjoy your summer break, we shall speak to you in the new season!
Thank you very much, you too!

Comments

Justice: He’s a great signing especially because we managed to pick him up on a free! The young players have looked very good this season and will definitely get better and better.

ScottT: You and me both mate, you and me both!

Jack: They look really good and they’re just the pick of the bunch. If we could have a class of 92 type thing it’d be huge for the club!

Last Update: #38 The Youngsters Giving Life To Austria Wien’s Future
Next Update: #40 Season In Review: 2018/19

It was a fantastic season, full of ups and downs! In the end though, you've managed to bring the club back into the Champions League and as stated, there is no reason to fear the top clubs you may face in the qualifying rounds. You've earned your way there so you have just as much right as anyone else. Looking forward to it all!

It would be fantastic to see you become a UCL regular from this season onwards, and a group stage finish next season followed by a move into the Europa League could do wonders for you.