The Swabian succeeds his compatriot Franco Foda in the ÖFB. Rangnick is to lead the Austrians to the EM 2024 in Germany as a part-time coach.
Will have two functions from summer: the new ÖFB head coach Ralf Rangnick.
The surprise was great when the name of Ralf Rangnick made the rounds in Austria’s media as the new ÖFB team boss on Thursday evening. Since the departure of Franco Foda, the usual suspects have been named as successors: the Austrians Oliver Glasner (Frankfurt), Adi Hütter (Mönchengladbach) and Ralph Hasenhüttl (Southampton) were considered ideal candidates, but were not available. The circle was reduced to Andreas Herzog, Peter Stöger and Markus Schopp before contacts between ÖFB sports director Peter Schöttel and Vladimir Petkovic became known last week. The former SFV team boss is said to have been in the shortlist until the very end.
It’s been official since Friday noon, after ninety minutes of deliberation in the morning, the ÖFB Presidium approved Schöttel’s proposal: Franco Foda from Hesse will be followed by his Swabian compatriot Ralf Rangnick as ÖFB team boss. Rangnick, who is still under contract as an interim coach at Manchester United until the end of the season and then switches to an advisory role with the “Red Devils”, is to be presented next week.
He will retain his advisory mandate at Manchester United
He will continue to work as a consultant in Manchester from the summer and will also work as a part-time team leader in Austria. «It is a great honor for me to take on the task of the Austrian team boss. The prospect of playing the European Championship in Germany with a young team hungry for success fills me with great anticipation,” Rangnick was quoted as saying in a first statement from the Austrian Football Association (ÖFB).
Manchester United and the ÖFB confirmed the creative part-time solution. This means that Rangnick will be available to Manchester United six days a month in the future. In the ÖFB he will initially receive a two-year contract, which will be extended to the 2026 World Cup if he qualifies for the 2024 European Championships in Germany. Between June 3rd and 10th, the designated team boss will be in the coaching zone of the ÖFB team in four Nations League games against Croatia, Denmark (twice) and France.
ÖFB President Gerhard Milletich said in a press release from the association: “We are very pleased that, in Ralf Rangnick, we have been able to recruit an outstanding expert in international football as team boss. We are convinced that he is the ideal man and that his vision will advance the national team and the ÖFB.”
In particular, it remains to be seen how Rangnick, who is considered to be very ambitious and consistent, will intervene in the existing sporting structures of the Austrian association in order to achieve his goals. The prospect of taking part in the EM 2024 in Germany is said to have been a major incentive for the 63-year-old to take on the double burden in Manchester and Vienna. Alongside Hansi Flick, Rangnick had been a serious candidate for the post of DFB team boss.
Rangnick is more of a strategist than a successful coach
His track record as a coach is manageable with only one title, the 2011 Cup victory with Schalke 04. He’s more of a strategist. As a mastermind, he successfully realigned the football activities of the Red Bull Group between 2012 and 2019 on behalf of Dietrich Mateschitz. This happened both through improvements in the structural area, for example by professionalizing the youth work, as well as through the strategic decision to consistently implement a game system across all clubs and age groups.
The attacking pressing that Rangnick let play distinguished many players who launched their careers from FC Salzburg. These include not only international stars such as Erling Haaland, Naby Keïta and Sadio Mané, but also many current Austrian internationals such as Martin Hinteregger, Xaver Schlager and Konrad Laimer.
With Rangnick’s election, the question of competing views of the game in the ÖFB team – the playful Viennese school or the Salzburg offensive pressing – should already have been answered. Christoph Freund, Rangnick’s student and successor as sports director in Salzburg, is said to have played a not insignificant mediator role in the commitment.