ÖFB crisis: Mitterdorf resigns-power struggle reaches highlight

ÖFB crisis: Mitterdorf resigns-power struggle reaches highlight

In the past few weeks, the Austrian Football Association (ÖFB) has increasingly been shaken by internal conflicts. The President Klaus Mitterdorfer announced his resignation on Thursday. While he leaves the association, the chaos remains within the organization.

The resignation of Klaus Mitterdorfer marks a highlight in an inner -association power struggle that runs over for several months. Again and again there are public disputes that affect not only the management level, but also sponsors as well as Team boss Ralf Rangnick and his players. The latter could emerge from this dispute as the winner, while the ÖFB stands as the big loser.

confusion and public unrest

Lately, the ÖFB has gone a hardly glorious picture in public. The constant statements by the state presidents caused a "permanent unrest". This unrest culminated when Rangnick and prominent team player opposed the impending dismissal of managing director Bernhard Neuhold and thus underlined the need for a quick solution.

Klaus Mitterdorfer faced critical voices that accused him of a lack of leadership qualities. These allegations had actually hit a sore point, because the conflict between Neuhold and Secretary General Thomas Hollerer was known from the start. When he took office in July 2023, Mitterdorfer had recognized the problem, but hesitated to set the course.

instead the time disappeared, and the parties to the conflict became more and more formed, so that it was no longer just about individual people, but about power and influence within the ÖFB.

The unexplained situation led Mitterdorfer tried to bring about a solution on October 18 by having the termination of Neuhold and Hollerer approved by the Presidium. However, he both left both in office, which only further fueled the conflict. Mitterdorfer also strived for a structural reform that was approved five weeks ago, but an agreement with his desired candidate for the CEO post, Christian Ebenbauer, was missing.

Despite his hope of enforcing an unknown personality like Silvia Kaupa-Götzl, who previously worked at Postbus, he could not win the necessary support from the Bundesliga. The league representatives had spoken out against the order, which ultimately caused Mitterdorfer to pull the ripcord and announce his resignation.

leader in the ÖFB

With the resignation of Mitterdorfer, the ÖFB is currently there without a clear lead: the president is gone and the two operational bosses were terminated, even though they will remain due to their notice periods for the time being. The next presidium meeting the following Friday is due, in which an interim association is to be elected.

The four current Vice Presidents - Gerhard Götschhofer (Upper Austria), Josef Geisler (Tyrol), Johann Gartner (Lower Austria) and Philip Thonhauser (Bundesliga) - could be potential candidates for the transitional management. However, many of them are viewed with skepticism, especially since Gartner has made controversial statements about the players in the past.

The race for the interim presidency is only a foretaste of what will come. In May 2025, the election of a new president is pending and a rapid, heated election campaign already seems to be foreseeable. Names like Roland Schmid, an entrepreneur and Vienna Vice President, are repeatedly mentioned in this context. Schmid has a close relationship with Rangnick and could act as a serious candidate to the presidential office.