Austria's young people in football: Wait challenging groups!

Austria's young people in football: Wait challenging groups!

In an exciting drawing event in the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Austria's youth teams were divided into challenging groups for the upcoming qualifications. The U19 team under team boss Oliver Lederer meets strong competition in the elite round: Denmark, Hungary and Iceland. These opponents are expected in Hungary in March, and only the seven group winners qualify for the final round in Romania. "Denmark is a real chunk," said Lederer, "and we also have to show absolute top services against Hungary and Iceland," as on Laola1

The U17 team from Hermann Stadler is dealing with a real hammer program, as it meets Spain, Germany and Norway in the second round. This mini tournament is held in Spain and is a crucial test on the way to the UEFA U17 Euro 2025 in Albania. Stadler accepts the challenge in terms of sport, because "if you want to go to an EM, you have to prevail against the best". The future U19 national team will also compete against Israel, Slovenia and Luxembourg from October, whereby the games will take place in Slovenia.

Changes in the coaching team of the youth teams

At the same time, the Austrian Football Association (ÖFB) has announced significant innovations in the coaching cycle of the youth teams. The cycle will be shortened to just two years from the 2024/25 season, which means that two trainers will be responsible for the age groups U16/U17 and U18/U19. The ex-Mattersburg coach Franz Ponweiser will appear as a U15 team boss and, in addition to his orders in the ÖFB trainer academy, take care of scouting and the development of young talents, such as the Süddeutsche Zeitung reported. This strategic change is intended to set fresh impulses and promote a more uniform way of playing across all age groups.

ÖFB sports director Peter Schöttel emphasizes that the new structure will intensify the exchange between the team bosses and the academies to ensure direct communication. "Our goal is to continuously improve us and create the optimal prerequisites for the future," continued Schöttel. With these changes, the aim is to further promote the development of Austrian football young people and to optimally prepare them for international challenges.