A year ago, Ralf Rangnick was on the verge of joining Bayern Munich. In an interview, the 65-year-old has now explained why he decided against the German record champions. And what he still has planned for Austria’s national team.
Will he go or will he stay? This question preoccupied the entire Austrian soccer world in April last year. The reason: After Xabi Alonso turned them down, the mighty FC Bayern Munich had chosen Ralf Rangnick as their preferred successor to Thomas Tuchel. “I had a sleepless night thinking about it,” Rangnick now revealed to Blick. In the end, he decided in early May to stay with the red-white-red national team and turn down the German record champions.
“I would have had a dual role for two and a half months because of the European Championship finals with Austria. That’s not possible,” Rangnick explained his surprising decision a year later. He did not regret it: Austria caused a sensation at the European Championship in Germany and won Group D ahead of France and the Netherlands.
However, the Austrians were denied the big prize, losing 2-1 to Turkey in the round of 16. Marcel Sabitzer and his teammates then had to cope with disappointment in the Nations League as well, missing out on promotion to League A in the play-offs against Serbia.
Austria has not qualified for a World Cup since 1998
The next goal for Rangnick’s team is now to qualify for the 2026 World Cup in the USA, Canada, and Mexico. Austria last participated in a World Cup in 1998, and this time the red-white-and-red soccer players will start in Group H as top favorites. The Austrians will play their first match on June 7 at the Ernst Happel Stadium in Vienna against Romania.
There is apparently no need to worry in the Alpine republic that Rangnick might follow one of the numerous calls from abroad in the summer. “Austria has not been in a World Cup final tournament for 28 years. I want to achieve this goal with the new momentum and euphoria,” said the 65-year-old, who once again emphasized the extraordinary cohesion between the team and the coaching staff: ‘We are so committed and on the same page that we function more like a club team than a national team.’
Rangnick: “You can’t compromise”
Things have been much less harmonious recently between the executive committee and Rangnick. In March, ÖFB interim president Wolfgang Bartosch and Lower Austria’s governor Johann Gartner made headlines with their criticism of Rangnick in Profil magazine. “Leaders who have clear ideas are never easy. Especially as a small soccer country, you have to pay attention to every detail and do some things better than the big ones,” Rangnick countered. ”You have to be absolutely professional in the team and in the environment and not compromise. That can be exhausting for certain people.”
Under the leadership of the ÖFB’s president-elect Josef Pröll, who will be officially inaugurated on May 18 at the federal general assembly in Bregenz, calm is expected to return to the divided association soon. At least the former politician does not have to worry about Rangnick (for the time being).
