 "Austria’s National Soccer Team: Ralf Rangnick’s Vision and Uniting the Team")
Portrait. Austria can plan for the finals in Germany before the end of the European Championship qualification. This is also thanks to team boss Ralf Rangnkick, who describes himself as a visionary and dreamer. The perfectionist demands a lot – and manages to motivate and unite the team.
Austria’s national soccer team has already qualified early for a European Championship finals. This was unthinkable for a long time, but recently it has become almost routine, after all it happened for the third time in a row last week. And yet this time the situation seems to be a bit different than last time – and that doesn’t just have to do with the fact that next year the game will be played at “big neighbor” Germany from June 14th. The head coach of the ÖFB national team is responsible for the new – or at least different – way of thinking: Ralf Rangnick.
It was surprising that the 65-year-old had even accepted the job in Vienna around a year and a half ago. After all, the Swabian was and is considered an international luminary and a sought-after master of his field. Even if his collection of international titles is manageable and his work at Manchester United with and not least because of superstar Cristiano Ronaldo was ultimately characterized by one thing that the German cannot stand: failure. In fact, it was mostly successes that paved the career path of the “football professor,” as his nickname was in Germany. However, not with absolute, established top teams, but mostly in development. The great strength of the physically not so great teacher: development. Or better: develop a vision, subordinate everything to it and pursue it.
“You have to be able to think big to achieve extraordinary things,” he said when asked what was realistic for his team at the tournament in his home country. So why set mental boundaries? Everything is possible is the credo he follows. Or to put it another way: Having and developing visions sometimes borders on dreaming. And even Austria can dream, not in stages, i.e. of the round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals or even the final, but of playing an important role in the concert of the greats.
“It’s all about the details”
Rangnick is the right leader for this. Because he knows only too well that dreams alone are not enough, but that in order to make visions become reality, you have to work hard. Not just him, but everyone involved in the project. Never be satisfied, always passionately strive to do better – and above all: don’t settle for compromises. Rangnick is considered a perfectionist. For example, when he talks about how the grass on the training field at a training camp wasn’t mowed accurately enough, sparks still fly years later. Because, according to his credo: It’s all about details. These are the ones that ultimately make the difference.
During the time when he was not working as a coach or sports director, Rangnick gave lectures and training courses for managers. And preached there: “In order to convince employees of the vision and take them on a long-term journey, you have to inspire them. you touch. I would even go so far as to say that you have to reach their hearts and souls.”
In Austria’s team he does this in many ways. At the Kleine-Zeitung-Salon in Vienna, he told how he got his players to never lose sight of the goal of the European Championship: every player and every member of the support team received (and newcomers still receive) a silver one carbine. The contour of Austria is engraved on it, as well as the flag and the (secret) goal for the European Championships. In this way, Rangnick wanted to combine daily contact with players and goals, so to speak. Another example: At Christmas of the previous year, he sent a personally designed WhatsApp message to every single squad member. To build closeness. It seems to be working. “The mood in the team has never been as great as it is right now,” said Michael Gregoritsch recently in the Kleine Zeitung’s “Abstaubt” podcast.
Internally, Rangnick seems to have found the right tone to fulfill the role of motivator perfectly. In any case, you cannot deny him the qualities that he demands. Rangnick is passionate and obsessed with the task – in a positive sense. A trait that pushed him to or even beyond his own limits a little more than a decade ago: After a burnout, he pulled the emergency brake and reorganized himself, changed his diet and said in a conversation with ” Time”: He wants success, yes, but not at any price. His open approach to burnout also made him a role model in this respect. He himself didn’t see anything heroic at the time: “I had no other choice.”
The dream of success in Germany
That was a long time ago. Rangnick has found his hunger again and, it seems, has found the perfect field of activity with the position of national team coach in Austria. His vision is to prove what he is capable of in his home country of Germany – especially with “little” Austria. And you know: For him, the plan is not just a dream.
2023-10-23 03:32:04
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