Earth wall as a solution?

Austria Salzburg fights for its home ground

Austria Salzburg chairman David Rettenbacher hopes that the fan stand (in the background) can be retained.

(Bild: Tröster Andreas)

Fierce dispute with the developers! The soccer club Austria Salzburg continues to tremble over its home ground in Maxglan. Politicians continue to promise solutions - but time is running out.

"It's about more than the promotion of Salzburg Austria to professional soccer. The entire sports facility is at risk." Austria President Claus Salzmann seems at a loss - and remains combative. "We'll manage somehow," he says. The fact is: the future of the current home of the violet soccer club in Salzburg-Maxglan is once again hanging by a thread.

As reported, property developers want to build apartments next to the soccer pitch from 2027. They have little joy with their sporting neighbors. Austria itself has concluded an agreement with the three developers and Stiegl GmbH, according to which the fan stand and floodlights must be dismantled at the end of June. The club worked together with Harald Preuner (ÖVP), who is still mayor, to find a solution. A noise barrier was considered. This was to guarantee that the grandstand would remain in place. "We were actually in agreement and wanted to decide everything in the municipal council next week," says Preuner. And: "Then came a completely unacceptable proposal from the developers." According to the proposal, they wanted no noise and no bright lights in future. "How is that supposed to work? A sports field is not a boarding school for girls."

Will children soon be tobogganing here? An earth wall is to be built on the long side of the stadium.

(Bild: Tröster Andreas)

Preuner now wants to renegotiate with the developers as quickly as possible. "An earth wall would also be possible instead of a noise barrier. Children could even go tobogganing there in winter," says the head of the town.

Chairman Rettenbacher: "Veto sets us back"
Austria's dream of the second division has definitely suffered a severe setback. "We believed that everything was on track. That puts us under pressure and sets us back," says chairman David Rettenbacher. There had been great euphoria since Monday because the license documents had been submitted to the Austrian Football League. There was hardly any sign of this on Friday. Although the premature veto by the developers does not automatically mean that the club will not return to professional soccer. Nevertheless, time is pressing once again. The Bundesliga will make its first decision on April 10. If this is negative, Austria will have to go through the second instance. Further documents would then have to be submitted within two weeks. If home games in Maxglan are impossible, this question does not even arise. Rettenbacher also puts it this way: "Then you have to think about whether to give something up or not."