The start of the season has failed thoroughly. At the start of the second division, Blau-Weiss Linz lost 2-0 to newly promoted Vienna. Managing director Stefan Reiter has no understanding for the conceptless appearance: “Not only the players, but also the support team have to take a nose at each other. All together.” At the home premiere against the Young Violets, compensation was called for, which was also achieved with a 4:2 victory.
FC Blau-Weiss is one of the favorites for the title. “We accept the challenge,” says Reiter. “But the players also have to accept them.” Of course, this is not a sure-fire success. But after first and third place in the past two years, the goal cannot be second place.
Grown up at SV Ried
Reiter has been in the football business since 1993. He spent most of that time, 20 years, as a sports director at SV Ried. The responsibility is far greater today than it used to be, says the Innviertler. Everything is more complex, also more professional. He had seen a contract drawn up on a piece of paper at the table in the tavern. That sounds romantic, but it was also risky. After stops in Pasching and Oedt, Reiter came to the blue and whites, which were badly hit economically, in November 2019. He started under one clear condition: “I’ll do it the way I can and think it’s right. There’s no second opinion.”
“Women’s football is the future”
The success proves him right, because things are going uphill. The competencies in the narrow club management are clearly regulated: sports director Tino Wawra and head coach Gerald Scheiblehner are responsible for the sporting part, riders for everything economic and organizational. He can confidently be seen as the architect of reconstruction. With an annual budget of around three million euros, the highest in history, the club is on solid ground. After winning the championship title in ’20/’21 and not being promoted due to a lack of a venue suitable for the league, the team fell apart, but the following season was used well. The squad was specifically strengthened. Reiter sees an important development step in women’s football: “This is the future.”
New Donaupark Stadium
The “Donauparkstadion” with a capacity of around 5,400 spectators, which is to be occupied in July 2023, is the main reason for the successful consolidation of blue and white. In the slipstream of the project, Reiter sees the club on the upswing: “We have a high level of sympathy and an incredibly good response in business.” The managing director is back with the men’s kickers: “You also have to justify a stadium like this in sporting terms.”
Plan B
Even if promotion should not succeed, the club would survive another year in the second division economically. “But then you have to make it a year later.” The goal must then be to be a small part of the big group. “More will not be possible, it doesn’t have to be.” Reiter already has a title in his pocket: he is the longest-serving official in Austria’s professional football and intends to stay that way.
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