Championship round coup

Hartberg’s premiere: A very peculiar victory

On June 3, 2020, Tadic (right) and Co. celebrated Hartberg's first Top 6 victory.(Bild: GEPA pictures)

Hartberg go in search of their first win in the Bundesliga Champions League on Sunday at LASK (14:30). The team from Eastern Styria achieved their very first success in the elite round of the top flight four years ago - away at LASK. But that was a special kind of match.

Flashback: June 3, 2020: Little Hartberg celebrates its premiere in the Bundesliga Champions Group. In the middle of the coronavirus pandemic. Away at LASK. A strange match. In front of 200 people who were officially allowed to attend "I miss the fans. I would have loved to strap a drum to my back, but I can't do it alone," said TSV president Brigitte Annerl through the mask to the "Krone" at the time. Despite the coronavirus mood killer, the Hartberg fans (with Amadou Dante making his starting XI debut at the time) threw their hands up after Dario Tadic's late 2:1 (93') - and celebrated the first win in the top six for the East Styrian club.

Frieser (still at LASK in 2020) against Luckeneder, then Hartberger. This time the roles are reversed.(Bild: GEPA pictures)

TSV president Brigitte Annerl celebrated the first top six victory in Pasching in 2020.(Bild: GEPA pictures)

However, "only" three further victories (1:0 at Rapid, 4:2 at WAC, 4:1 in Graz against a then "dead" SK Sturm) have been added to the statistics to date. Wins so far in this year's second attempt in the Elite Round? Zero. "But we mustn't forget who we're playing against," says chairman Erich Korherr ahead of the new edition of the Champions Group premiere today at LASK (14:30) - this time not in Pasching, but in the pretty Linz Arena. "Sturm and Salzburg are not within our reach, Rapid are extremely improved in the spring - and LASK also have a team that is in no way comparable to ours!"

Hartberg in the championship group

2020 (wins in italics)

LASK - Hartberg 1:2, Hartberg - Salzburg 0:6, WAC - Hartberg 2:4, Hartberg - Sturm 1:2, Hartberg - Rapid 0:1, Rapid - Hartberg 0:1, Hartberg - LASK 1:5, Salzburg - Hartberg 3:0, Hartberg - WAC 3:3, Sturm - Hartberg 1:4.

2024

Salzburg - Hartberg 5:1, Hartberg - Rapid 0:3, Klagenfurt - Hartberg 2:2, Hartberg - Sturm 1:3.

However, the memory of the 2020 premiere - and the good performance despite the derby defeat against Sturm last round - give hope. Korherr: "Everything has to come together. But we've already found our means against LASK in the past!"