In the future, Austria’s youth team players will have had more than one coach on the way from being sighted in the U15s to the U20s. The ÖFB decided to shorten the coaching cycle to two years from the 2024/25 season. In the future there will be two coaches for the age groups U16/U17 and U18/U19, the association announced on Thursday. A team boss is currently accompanying a year of players from the sighting to the possible participation in the U20 World Cup.
The ÖFB announced that the change of team boss after two years should give the players new impulses and stimuli. It was also announced that the restructuring of the pool of team bosses will increase from the current four – Hermann Stadler (U16), Martin Scherb (U17), Manfred Zsak (U18) and Oliver Lederer (U19) – to five.
Ponweiser’s new U15 team boss
From autumn, Franz Ponweiser will act as U15 team boss in addition to his duties in the ÖFB trainer academy. The ex-Mattersburg coach will take care of the scouting, the first contact with the talents, the sightings and the general further development of the processes in the U15.
“In addition to my work as division manager in our coaching academy, it was always my wish to work as a coach with a team again,” said Ponweiser. The two tasks would create synergies. “I’m firmly convinced of that.” ÖFB sports director Peter Schöttel was delighted to have found the “ideal solution”. “Franz not only has the experience as a Bundesliga coach, but also worked for many years at the Burgenland Academy and knows exactly what is important when working with talented people.”
Same gameplay, new interface
According to the ÖFB, in addition to the trainer cycle, an even more uniform way of playing and working should be implemented in all ÖFB national teams in the future. This provides for a proactive style of play, which, however, offers space for individuality and would adapt to the squad conditions. The game idea should become a mark of recognition for all ÖFB teams. In addition, the exchange between the team bosses among themselves, but also with the academies, will be further intensified.
For more direct communication, there will be an interface for every youth team boss in the form of a direct contact person from the sporting support team of senior team boss Ralf Rangnick. In addition, the very successful perspective player course, which premiered in November, should become an annual fixture.
“Our aim is to keep questioning ourselves and to see where there is still room for improvement. We have identified potential for improvement and are convinced that with these steps we are making important adjustments in order to be optimally positioned for the future,” said Schöttel.
