By the way...

Vienna and San Marino

Cheers for San Marino's soccer team

(Bild: FSGC/Trezer)

"Krone Vorarlberg" author Harald Petermichl explains why he could only remember the name Kaupa-Götzl in the ÖFB chaos, why the cancellation of the presidium meeting was a stroke of luck in terms of climate technology and why there is currently no need for structural reform in San Marino.

You have to be a hardcore connoisseur of the Austrian Football Association to maintain anything like an overview in the midst of the current turmoil. As a newcomer, it is all too easy to confuse all the Mitterdorfers, Hollerers and Neuholds who are supposed to play a role in the planned structural reform. At least you can remember Silvia Kaupa-Götzl, not only because she is the former head of Postbus, but also because, if Klaus Mitterdorfer had had his way, she should have taken up the newly created job as ÖFB CEO on Friday. However, as such decisions always require majorities in some committee or other, nothing came of it and so Mitterdorfer handed in his resignation and skipped the meeting on Friday. Quite environmentally friendly, as it meant that numerous long journeys to the capital could be avoided.

The resigning president Klaus Mitterdorfer and Silvia Kaupa-Götzl - who will not become ÖFB CEO after all.

(Bild: GEPA pictures, ÖBB/Marek Knopp)

No need for action in the south-southwest
Let's see whether there will be any new findings next May, when the ÖFB top management meets in Bregenz, in order to be able to boldly enter the new times, but there will certainly be no let-up. Things are more manageable and, above all, more orderly south-southwest of Vienna, a good 550 kilometers away by air to be precise, because the Federazione Sammarinese Giuoco Calcio (FSGC), which was founded in 1931, does not currently see any need for action in terms of structural reform. President Tura is firmly in the saddle; the fact that the national team is currently ranked 210th and therefore last in the world rankings does not change this.

The soccer fairytale
Of course, this has to do with the fact that in the recent past, one record after another has been set: First international win (against Liechtenstein) after 20 winless years, first away win (against Liechtenstein) and three goals in a match for the first time (against Liechtenstein). The footballers from the supposedly oldest republic in the world can pin all this to their white and blue banner; the previous record (a goal after eight seconds against England followed by a 7-1 defeat) is now just a waste of time. Under these circumstances, even the Nations League, at least for dwarf states, takes on a kind of meaning, because in future they will play in Group C and will no longer have to deal with Gibraltar and a principality mentioned several times, but can look forward to completely different caliber such as possibly Finland, Kazakhstan and Montenegro. Let no one say there are no more soccer fairytales.