Salzburg bull

City club surprises in front of a full house, Knipser out

Freilassing (blue) made an appealing comeback at the Bandenzauber.

(Bild: Sepp Kühnhold)

It was already clear during the opening evening in the Sporthalle Alpenstraße: the Salzburger Stier 2025 is a crowd-puller. That didn't change on day two, when Bulls keeper Alex Schlager, Bayern export Sarah Zadrazil and ex-national player Julian Baumgartlinger were in attendance. The organizers reported a sell-out.

Hard to believe, but true. On Thursday, the organizers of the "Stiers" were already running out of wristbands, with almost 1,200 wristbands on display. And on the second day, too, the word was "sold out" after half the evening program! Organizer Thomas Selner's only concern: "That the hall might be too small on the final day." A really strong sign that the Bandenzauber rightly has a fixed place in the Salzburg sports calendar, especially on the traditionally poorly attended preliminary rounds on the work days.

Among the favorites, Salzburgligigist Hallein got off to a flying start. Anyone wondering whether the team from Tennengau were playing games to determine their position and possible opponents in the intermediate round found out straight away that they weren't! The Lessacher boys confidently won their group ahead of the regional league teams Adnet, Pfarrwerfen and Bergheim.

Seekirchen wins and is worried about its goalkeeper
It was a similar picture in Group E, where Salzburg league dominators Seekirchen made short work of league rivals Hallwang, Stier returnees Freilassing (participating for the first time since 2011) and Köstendorf. The only bitter note: Goal scorer and ex-professional Fabian Neumayr was ruled out with a suspected lateral ligament injury in his ankle. "I hope he'll be fit again by the spring," said assistant coach Mario Rottensteiner, who replaced boss Mario Lapkalo on the sidelines. Meanwhile, his colleague Pär was crowned the most successful scorer of the second day with six goals (out of a total of 15). Nice: Bayern-Landesliga side Freilassing showed what they can do against Köstendorf. However, a defeat in the sectional match against the indoor specialists from Hallwang soon sealed their early exit.

City club surprised young Grödiger
On goal difference, Salzburgligigist Grödig, who started with a young squad and guest player Julian Kanzler (on home leave from the US university), were beaten by coach Andi Fötschl's new club. Stadtklub Gneis/ASK_PSV Salzburg from the 2nd Landesliga Nord, where Kanzler's dad Andreas is the chairman, won Group F ahead of Berndorf and the teams from the foot of the Untersberg, who were level on points. With six points, Grödig should be one of the best third-placed teams on Sunday. Coach Arsim Deliu was not unhappy about this. "We have a ski day at the club on Saturday. I won't be offended if we don't have to play again at 9am the next day," he revealed afterwards. The intermediate round runs in two blocks from 9 a.m. to 7.30 p.m. on Sunday.

Defending champions still worried
In front of the eyes of coach Sanel Moric, defending champions Golling slipped onto the wobbly chair of the best third-placed teams due to Grödig's performance, the first two of which will be back on Sunday. Grödig with six points (4:4 goals) lead the standings after six of nine preliminary round groups, ahead of Golling with four (6:3). "The boys had fun on Thursday and were disappointed with third place," Moric said.