With the WAC and Austria Klagenfurt, the two Carinthian representatives of the Bundesliga started the pre-season on Monday. While the returnees in particular acted as “new” faces for the Klagenfurt team, two of four newcomers were spotted in Wolfsberg with the offensive players Florian Rieder and Thomas Sabitzer.
WAC coach Manfred Schmid sensed a good mood when returning to training. “You can tell that we went into the break with a successful qualifying round,” remarked the 52-year-old from Vienna. However, the Lavanttaler do not want to let it come to that in the coming season. The master group is the declared goal.
In addition to Rieder and Sabitzer, Rapid striker Bernhard Zimmermann and Georgian midfielder Sandro Altunashvili were also brought on loan. Altunashvili joins the team on Wednesday, Zimmermann and Tai Baribo are expected in Wolfsberg next Monday. Lukas Ibertsberger, the 19-year-old son of ex-WAC coach Robert Ibertsberger, is said to be a topic for the left flank.
Four loan players return to Klagenfurt
In the morning, Klagenfurt coach Peter Pacult gathered his team at the Viktring sports facility. With Nikola Djoric (HNK Sibenik), Turgay Gemicibasi (Kasimpasa), Fabio Markelic (Viktoria Berlin) and Patrick Hasenhüttl (VfB Oldenburg), there were four players who were loaned out by Austria last season. The Klagenfurt-based company has not yet announced a new signing. Instead, Pacult welcomed three talents with Jannik Robatsch, Bego Kujrakovic and Matthias Dollinger.
“We are facing a major challenge. Because now it’s time to confirm the performance,” demanded Pacult. Klagenfurt had made it into the master group in the previous season, but there they missed out on being in sixth place in the race for a place in the European Cup.
First trainings in Lustenau and Hartberg
In Lustenau, after a short breather – for Austria it was only after the lost play-off final against Austria Vienna that the season ended – the start of preparations was also made. The U21 team player Leo Mätzler, brought from Altach, was on the pitch during the running tests, as were Raul Marte and Jan Stefanon, who played on loan at FC Dornbirn last season.
At TSV Hartberg, the first meeting was also on the agenda on Monday. The East Styrians brought in two young players in Damjan Kovacevic (AKA Vorarlberg) and Paul Komposch (Sturm Graz), Max Entrup (FC Marchfeld) should ensure competition in attack. Dominik Prokop and Ruben Providence were previously committed via a purchase option.
