Football Season Guide

Wolfsberger AC

In


Gerhard Struber (manager), Stefan Peric (def) (Wacker Innsbruck), Anderson Niangbo (att) (Salzburg - loan), Alexander Schmidt (att) (Salzburg - loan), Shon Weissman (att) (Maccabi Haifa), Manuel Kuttin (gk) (Admira)

Out


Christian Ilzer (manager) (Austria), Gerald Nutz (sp) (att) (GAK), Bernd Gschweidl (sp) (att) (Altach), Sekou Koita (att) (Salzburg - back from loan), Kevin Friesenbichler (sp) (att) (Austria Vienna - back from loan)

After several seasons in which they left plenty to be desired both in terms of playing style and results, Wolfsberger enjoyed an excellent 2018/19 season, qualifying for Europe and playing some eye-catching stuff in the process. Unfortunately for the Wolves, their success made it impossible for them to keep hold of their highly rated manager Christian Ilzer, who was tempted away by Austria Vienna. The club's reaction was to go for another promising manager in Gerhard Struber, who did a good job in charge of Salzburg's reserve side Liefering, but has no previous experience of managing in the top flight. Struber has brought in two of his former Liefering players in Anderson Niangbo and Alex Schmidt, while two proven Bundesliga players have joined in Manuel Kuttin and Stefan Peric. No important players have left during the summer, with all of the players who left the club having played only bit-part roles this time around. While Wolfsberger's playing squad looks a touch stronger than last season, it needs to be noted that they are widely seen as a side that has overachieved last time around. Moreover, Ilzer was arguably the main reason for their success and their new boss Struber has some rather large shoes to fill.

Target


Wolfsberger will be aiming for a midtable finish. Struber will also be expecting to maintain the attacking-minded brand of football that his predecessor was known for.