Suddenly front row

A Carinthian takes over the coaching sceptre at LASK

New at the helm: Max Ritscher (left) replaces Thomas Sageder(Bild: GEPA pictures/ Manuel Binder)

Maximilian Ritscher takes over as coach from Thomas Sageder at LASK. This makes him the first Carinthian coach in the Bundesliga since Walter Kogler. After the season, however, he will step back into the second tier.

Maximilian Ritscher has already experienced three coaching changes at LASK. Now the Carinthian is suddenly in the front row himself! Yesterday, Linz parted ways with Thomas Sageder and promoted Ritscher to head coach for the rest of the season.

My goal is to get LASK back on track and offer successful soccer.

Maximilian RITSCHER, LASK-Trainer

"I won't change much about the team's system and style, I'm an advocate of quick transitional play," said the 30-year-old from Dellach/G. The former WAC defender is the first Carinthian coach in the Bundesliga since Walter Kogler at Wacker Innsbruck (2008-2012).

(Bild: GEPA)

Interim until the end of the season
Ritscher has been working in Linz since 2018. First as a video analyst in the academy, then as assistant coach at the OÖ Juniors and most recently as assistant to the Bundesliga squad since 2022 - where he first worked under Andi Wieland, then under Didi Kühbauer and finally with Sageder.

Profile

• Name: Maximilian Ritscher
• Born: January 11, 1994 in Lienz (East Tyrol).
• Stations as a player: SAK Klagenfurt, WAC, Kapfenberg, LASK Juniors.
• Stationsas a coach: Aka Linz, LASK Juniors, LASK (assistant coach).

"Of course I have respect for this task. My goal is to get LASK back on track and offer successful soccer," says Ritscher, who will finish this season and then step back into the second tier as "co-coach" - also because he does not (yet) have a professional license.

For his debut, Ritscher will face none other than champions Salzburg on Friday. A difficult task - because in the last nine league games under Sageder, it was only enough for a 1:0 win against Austria Klagenfurt. Sporting director Rado Vujanovic: "We didn't deliver any results after the winter."