Football Season Guide

Hartberg have spent the majority of their history inside the Austrian regional leagues, but have had a remarkable ascension over the recent years and are set to play in the top flight after achieving back-to-back promotions. It seemed that the minnows would be denied a Bundesliga place due to administrative reasons for a long while, but were awarded a top-flight licence at the second attempt, following an appeal. What was left for them after that was to maintain their superb Erste Liga push, which they did, as they clinched promotion after finishing second in last season's second division table. However, their remarkable results over the recent years were not unnoticed by other clubs and Hartberg were victims of their own success in a way, as they lost their highly-rated manager Christian Ilzer to Wolfsberger and also lost the majority of their last season's starting lineup, with Ilzer himself coming back to take as many as three regulars with him to his new side. Markus Schopp, whose managerial CV contains only a stint as a caretaker at Sturm, has been named their new manager, while the club have worked frantically in a bid to rebuild their squad. Most of the players who signed during the summer do have Bundesliga experience, but neither of them has made a real impact in the top flight. Hartberg will therefore enter the new season as by far the smallest club in the league and without most of the men who played key roles in their promotion-winning campaign. Needless to say, they will be under everyone's favourites to go down.