Handball surprise

Vöslau’s success the work of a Spanish artist

Handball coach Sebastià Salvat has already sold one of his paintings for 3000 euros.(Bild: Christian Pollak)

 Three wins, one draw, one defeat, third place in the Handball Liga Austria, remarkable for a club that has only been involved in the relegation battle since being promoted again. It is a small work of art what Bad Vöslau has achieved so far. Behind it is Sebastià Salvat. But the new coach demonstrates even more artistic flair.

"I'm very small - it wasn't enough!" As an active player, Sebastià Salvat soon reached the limits of his abilities, and he remained a hobby handball player. The early end heralded an early start as a coach. "I started when I was 18!"

19 years later, the Spaniard ("I'm a proud Catalan") jumped in at the deep end and turned up in Vöslau in the summer. The start of his debut as head coach at 37 feels good so far. Three wins, one draw, one defeat, third place in the HLA, remarkable for a club that has only been involved in the relegation battle since promotion. On Saturday, the home game against Ferlach will be featured on ORF Sport Plus (20.20).

The "Krone" visited Salvat in the run-up to the game in Sooß, where he found an apartment four minutes by car from the Thermenhalle. The word "coincidence" came up several times in the conversation, and fits in with an experience when he moved in the summer. The phone rang and it was his former player from his time as co-coach in Schwaz, Mischa Miskovez. "Look over here!" The current ÖHB team player was standing in the driveway diagonally opposite his mother's house, whose name is Natascha Rusnachenko, a former goalkeeper with 255 international caps and legendary status.

Small but mighty: Sebastià Salvat (2nd from left) has shaped Vöslau into a top team.(Bild: GEPA pictures)

"You need luck in life," philosophizes Salvat during a visit to a wine tavern. And courage. "In 2012 there was an economic crisis, I had finished my studies, but there was no work as a teacher!" So, after diligently studying German, he set off for Berlin to get a taste of the German Bundesliga club. After three months, the internship was supposed to end, but when he wanted to say goodbye, manager Bob Hanning put his foot down. "You stay, do the video analyst!" As his co-trainer, he wrote his doctoral thesis on attacking play in handball.

After a year as "co-coach" in Israel, his path led him to Austria for the first time - to Schwaz, where he assisted fellow countryman Raul Alonso and Frank Bergemann. With the former, he went to Belarus to Brest, a Champions League participant. After three years in Bietigheim alongside legendary player Iker Romero, with whom he achieved promotion to the German Bundesliga this year, Vöslau boss Schartel contacted Salvat via a consultant, who decided against several German third division clubs and in favor of the HLA.

Vöslau has thrown itself into the top field in the HLA this year.(Bild: GEPA pictures)

His love of tactics is one thing, "but as a coach you should above all be a good communicator!" His credo: "The players must be able to make mistakes in order to develop."

Salvat can impart his knowledge in five languages (his wife is Russian), and he also has a talent for painting. "At school, the teachers were annoyed because I was always drawing!" Salvat is currently preparing for a vernissage in Cologne, where one of his exhibits sold for 3,000 euros.