One week longer

“Silbi” just can’t get enough

Coach Thomas Silberberger can't get enough of WSG Tirol.

(Bild: Birbaumer Christof/Christof Birbaumer)

After eleven years, coach Thomas Silberberger is leaving WSG Tirol at the end of the season! But that's not quite true: he just can't get enough and will continue for another week. As already agreed in winter, he will continue training with almost the entire team.

Thomas Silberberger's last game as WSG Tirol coach is scheduled for Saturday. In Wolfsberg, the longest era that has ever existed on a coaching bench in Tyrolean top-flight soccer comes to an end. And with "Silbi", goalkeeping coach Hermann Steinlechner and condi-tional coach Andreas Gerg are also stepping down.

And yet they will all be back on the training pitch in Wattens after two days off.

Can Silberberger just not get enough of Wattens?

One week of additional training in Wattens.

(Bild: Birbaumer Christof/Christof Birbaumer)

Well... The overtime is due to the planning last winter. At that time, possible qualification for the European Cup play-off also had to be taken into account. Wolfsberg and Austria Vienna will battle it out for a place in the play-off final against the fifth-placed team in the Champions League on Tuesday, with WSG no longer in with a chance. However, the extra week of training is planned.

Together instead of alone
Another consideration during the winter was that four weeks of vacation (i.e. doing nothing) would be too much for the pros. The start of the next season is later this year due to the EURO. "You have to keep yourselves in shape somehow anyway," WSG sports director Stefan Köck argued to the pros, "it's certainly more varied with a team." What's more, they are all on WSG Tirol's payroll until 31 May anyway.

"This is not meant to be harassment, but an offer," said Köck. And most of them agreed.

Clean handover
So Silberberger will also be working (almost) unexpected overtime at the Watten training ground after the end of the season.

"I want to hand everything over cleanly. We also offer testing. It would be brutal to just leave everything as it is," explains the long-term coach, who will be without Bror Blume on Saturday. He suffered a torn fiber.