System tweaks, new additions and anniversary match against Milan: Fast Season begins

Robert Klaus wants to get his team closer to the top three.
APA/EXPA/UWE Winter

SK Rapid start the new season with around six new players, a new captain and an adapted backbone. As Guido Burgstaller's successor, Matthias Seidl leads the Hütteldorfer squad as new captain, and things get really serious for the first time next Thursday in the Europa League qualifier away to Wisla Krakow. The anniversary match against Milan on Saturday is a dress rehearsal for coach Robert Klaus.

Rapid lost two key players in striker Marco Gröl (Werder Bremen) and central defender Leopold Kerfeld (Union Berlin). Returning players Louis Schwab and Croatian striker Dion Beljou were brought in for attack, Mamadou Sangare for midfield, French central defender Jean-Philippe Roux-Yao for defence and Hungarian European Championship participants Bendejoz Bola and Benjamin Bocchli for the wings. Managing director Steffen Hoffmann said of the squad: “There is a lot of quality, there is more competition and there is fire in training.”

Klaus doesn't want to focus too much on adapting the system.

A large part of the squad has been training for weeks, and the European Championship participants also started this week. “I am very happy that we have replaced the departed, not individually, but differently, I have a good feeling that we have integrated the newcomers well,” Klaus explained last weekend of preparation.

With a friendly double on Saturday against Admira behind closed doors (10:30 a.m.) and a guest appearance by AC Milan on the occasion of Hütteldorfer's 125th anniversary in front of a sold-out house, the signal has been given for an intense few weeks. All players should get 90 minutes of playing time. “Milan is a dress rehearsal against a very good opponent, and we are still getting good impressions of what fits together,” said the coach.

This applies to the personnel, but also to the adapted system. The starting formation has been changed from 4-2-3-1 to 4-4-2. “It's too high for me,” said Klaus. The change is not that dramatic, the only thing that is really new is that Rapid now has two real strikers. “We continue to play with four at the back, with six in pairs and two on the wings,” said the German. The aim is to integrate the operations into several games in a short period of time.

It starts with two games against Krakow on Thursday away and at home on August 1 (8.30pm) and the start of the Bundesliga season with a home match against champions Sturm Graz on August 4. The goal of finishing fourth in the championship has not been set in the past two seasons, but the goal is clear at international level. “The first goal is to qualify for the European group stage,” Klaus explained.

Schwab wants to transfer expertise

The coach recalls that in last year’s tournament there was “a bigger gap to third than to fifth.” “We want to close that gap.” Hoffmann, who will play in the Legends Match before Saturday’s Milan game, also expects improvement. “We were successful in the sport, but not from top to top,” he told the coach. “We hope Robert will change that.”

Schwab, who has returned to his former club after six years abroad (1. FC Köln, Hamburger SV, Lucerne, Hannover 96), is expected to help. “It was the easiest change for me so far, I still know a lot of people,” said the 29-year-old attacker. “I haven't changed much, I've grown a bit and gained more experience.” He now wants to pass that on to the younger players. After his successful international debut, Schwab is the club's third-highest scorer in the European Cup after Hans Krankl and Steffen Hofmann.

Apart from sports, Hoffmann reported at a press conference on Friday that membership has increased by around 30 percent since the election of the new executive board in November 2022, to 20,600 members. Managing Director Economics Markus Knipping also provided good figures. The current collective investment project is “on the verge of being fully subscribed,” Knipping said. Accordingly, €2.5 million has been earmarked for a five-year investment and €1.4 million for the ten-year version.

At the Allianz Arena, the VIP rooms were renovated in the summer to create better marketing opportunities. During the summer break, a new premium partner was found in Raiffeisen Niederösterreich-Wien, with whom we worked together again after more than five decades. Raiffeisen was Rapid's first shirt sponsor for a few months in 1970.