Ex-European champion and FC Pinzgau coach Christian Ziege (49) speaks in the big “Krone” interview about the belief in a West League ticket. What has shaped him in particular and how he thinks about his future.
The fall season is drawing to a close. What is your summary so far?
A bit difficult because I want to win every game but we didn’t make it (laughs). The team has developed, but – like everyone – we had problems due to Corona. In the end, it’s simple: we’ve drawn too many times.
Austria is eight points behind, and St. Johann is six points. How big is the belief that you will still make it into the western league?
The prerequisite is that we win the catch-up game against Grünau on Tuesday. Faith is there as long as there is a chance. If someone fails, you have to be there. We still have a duel against Austria, but a preliminary decision has certainly been made. Austria and St. Johann have all the trumps.
Tamas Tandari scored twice in the 2-0 win against Bischofshofen. What does it mean to you?
It was actually intended for the defensive. Then someone got injured, someone else left, and we had to throw everything over. I’m brutally happy for him because they always say he’s too old and too slow. But the age doesn’t matter!
You played for world clubs like Bayern, Milan or Liverpool, where the pressure was much higher than in the Salzburg Regionalliga. Do you still feel any, since the club claims to want to play professional football?
An ex-employee once opened his mouth and talked about the Champions League. I thought that was a disaster. You can have ambitious goals, but you need to know where you are from. High ambition doesn’t mean you’re marching through the league.
FC Pinzgau is the only Salzburg club that wants to go up. Is the determination too hard?
When I train a team, I want to set myself goals. The topmost thing has to be to ascend. If you finish first but don’t want to move up, I wonder why we’re playing. Most of them will not be able to cope with it for reasons of cost, which is why you have to clarify: What is going wrong? Few clubs – not even those that would be promoted to the Bundesliga – can provide all the requirements ad hoc, so I have to grant them a transition phase. It must be in everyone’s interest that there is a change in the form of promoters and relegators.
Your contract ends in summer 2022. What comes next?
There has never been a moment in which I did not feel comfortable here privately and in the club. It’s a lot of fun. I know what I have at the club and can work well here. So I would like to do it for as long as possible.
How does the local football culture differ from that elsewhere?
With us, the players work all day, then come to training and give everything. The enthusiasm with which they do it is impressive to me! I’ve seen other kickers who just wanted to make a living.
Who has shaped you most in the course of your life?
My environment in which I grew up. I lived in Berlin until I was 18, then went to FC Bayern. In Berlin it wasn’t so nice and green, there wasn’t such a great panorama, the people aren’t as nice as here. From an early age I had to assert myself. At school it turned out that I can do something that has earned me recognition. Others left me alone because I played soccer. That shapes. When you come to an ideal world like at Bayern, where the only requirement is that you always win, that can’t do you much. In contrast to the previous one, that was a piece of cake.
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