Johannes Hoff Thorup

Rapid: New head coach is here, Kulovits gone

(Bild: GEPA)

He entered the media room at the Allianz Stadium in Hütteldorf just before ten o'clock: Rapid's new coach is here! Johannes Hoff-Thorup was officially introduced on Wednesday morning. At the same time, it was announced that Stefan Kulovits would no longer be part of the coaching team.

Kulovits, "a highly loyal person" according to sporting director Markus Katzer, expressed his wish to no longer be part of the coaching team after intensive discussions. Daniel Seper is also no longer active as assistant coach. Head coach Hoff Thorup brings an assistant with him, Luka Pavlovic remains in his team and Jürgen Macho remains goalkeeping coach.

"I'm happy to be here"
Hoff Thorup then began his presentation with the words "Welcome! I'm happy to be here." These were the only words he spoke in German. "The rest will be in English," he said. He understands German well and will soon be speaking German himself more often. The 36-year-old explained that he has "a really, really good feeling" at Rapid: "The club's project is more important than the name. It's about the people here at the club. It's really exciting and I can't wait to get started."

Speaking of language: soccer is an international business, "the main language everywhere is English, and it will stay that way. But I will find out how I can best reach players from different cultures with different languages," says the head coach. His new "co" speaks fluent Turkish, for example, which will also help various players. "Once again: soccer is an international business and I believe that I am prepared for it."

"Lots of chances, lots of goals"
Ball possession, good positional play, creating chances - these are the headlines regarding the playing philosophy that he stands for as a coach, but which the club also stands for. "There are a lot of details behind it," says Hoff Thorup. His job is to work these out: "But basically I want to coach a team that creates lots of chances and scores lots of goals." The players he works with in Hütteldorf certainly have the potential to get to grips with this philosophy.

(Bild: APA/HELMUT FOHRINGER)

No problem with expectations
He has no problem with the high expectations at Rapid, explained the new head coach. "In a big club with a big history, expectations will always be high," said Hoff Thorup: "I'm certainly not going to lower expectations. Otherwise it would be boring. My job is to make sure that the players can concentrate on playing soccer and that the pressure isn't too great for them. But if there were no expectations, I wouldn't be here."

(Bild: APA/HELMUT FOHRINGER)

Hoff Thorup is the first Scandinavian to hold this position at SK Rapid in the club's long history. The Dane was already involved as a youth coach in his home country from 2012 and started his career as an assistant coach in professional soccer at FC Nordjælland in the summer of 2021. After one and a half seasons, he took over as head coach at the first division club based near the capital Copenhagen from Fleming Pedersen, who was promoted to technical director. Nordjælland finished as runners-up and made it to the Conference League group stage the following season.

The now 36-year-old moved from Nordjælland to take over Norwich City in the English Championship. They parted ways after 47 competitive matches in April 2025.