New guise for old hero Krankl

Hans Krankl, Austria’s new coach, is his country’s greatest ever footballer. A goalscorer of world-class standing, Krankl scored 34 goals in 69 games for Austria and was voted his country’s player of the year on nine occasions.

World Cup goals
Krankl played in two FIFA World Cups for Austria, in 1978 and 1982, and scored five goals as they reached the second round of both tournaments. Indeed his two goals against West Germany in the second round in Argentina inspired Austria to their first victory in 37 years over their neighbours, 3-1 in Córdoba.

Looking for inspiration
Now he is looking to provide inspiration again. Austria failed to qualify for 2002 FIFA World Cup finals under Krankl’s predecessor, Otto Baric, having missed out also on EURO 2000™. Charged with finding a successor capable of reviving their fortunes, the Austrian Football Association (ÖFB) chose Krankl ahead of the other name on their short list, Englishman Roy Hodgson.

Herzog ‘very positive’
Such is his standing in Austria that his appointment earned an enthusiastic response from the national team captain, Andreas Herzog. “He will motivate the team and drum some patriotism into the squad,” Herzog said. “I am very positive after this outcome.”

Coaching CV
As a coach Krankl has worked in Austria and Germany. His CV includes spells with VfB Admira Wacker Mödling – where he had three periods in charge, one of which, in 1992, brought the club promotion to the Austrian Bundesliga – Germany’s SC Fortuna Köln and SK Rapid Wien, the club of his heart.

Rapid rise
Krankl made his name with Rapid, where won five league titles as well as the 1978 Golden Boot as Europe’s 41-goal top scorer. “I grew up at Rapid,” he said. “I was a young boy of 11 when I went there. It was at Rapid that I went from the youth team to the first team to being an international.”

Spanish sojourn
Krankl, who scored over 300 league goals, left Rapid after Argentina 78 for two seasons in Spain with FC Barcelona, the first of which brought him a UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup winners’ medal and the Pichichi award as Spain’s leading scorer. He returned to Austria in 1979 where he continued playing until his retirement at 36 in 1989.

Admira post
His previous assignment, prior to taking the Austria job, was back at Admira, a post he relinquished in December 2001, having failed to lift the club off the foot of the table. During that third spell with the Maria Enzersdorf club, he reflected: “You can’t always work at the big clubs. You have to work at places like this, where you have to fight, educate young players and bring them into the first team.”

Commands respect
Now he has his country’s biggest coaching job. He will ‘have to fight’ again – and given Austria’s recent disappointments there are no guarantees of a happy ending. However, the first hurdle, that of gaining his players’ respect, should be no problem for this Austrian football legend.