Pure experience

The “aggressive leader” provides stability

With Petar Filipovic (center) from Hamburg, GAK has gained a lot of experience for its defense.(Bild: Volker Silli)

Petar Filipovic celebrated his GAK debut in the test against Sibenik. Oliver Glasner's former pupil brings toughness, a good left foot and the experience of 37 European Cup games to the promoted team.

In Petar Filipovic we have found the leader we were looking for. He's a great left-footer, physically strong, good at building up play and shows toughness when necessary. I know him as an 'aggressive leader' whose word carries a lot of weight in the team!" GAK sporting director Didi Elsneg knows what he's talking about with the new defensive bulwark - he played with the 33-year-old German-Croatian at Ried in 2015/16.

The Hamburg native, who was in a team with former Sturm goalie Pliquett ("a positively crazy dog") at St. Pauli, is the oldest player at GAK after Marco Perchtold - and the most experienced in the European Cup with 37 games for Austria, Konyaspor and LASK.

After his contract with AEL Limassol expired, he wanted to take a well-considered step at the end of his career - also for his wife and two sons: "The talks with GAK gave me a very positive feeling as far as the footballing part is concerned, but also the family part, which was important to me. I'm very familiar with Austria, it's like my second home."

He had a fantastic time at Ried under Oliver Glasner, many international successes at Austria with Thorsten Fink, and at LASK he played under Valerien Ismael with Dominik Frieser.

Petar Filipovic (left) and sporting director Didi Elsneg are old pals from their Rieder days.(Bild: GAK)

His role at GAK is clearly defined: "The team has only just been promoted, there are few players with Bundesliga experience, so I will try to contribute my experience and have the best possible success. As a newly promoted team, you have to be good defensively, adapt quickly and stay in the league in your first year!"

His strengths? "I'm familiar with both systems that we want to play. We played the back three at LASK, but also the back four. If everything fits, I'll be able to give the team defensive stability and help build up play."

What will make it easier to join GAK: "We have a lot of relatives who live in Graz. There are even more than expected!"