For the first time in almost three decades, are back at the World Cup. Under head coach Ralf Rangnick, the national team have been reinvented in recent years – both on and off the pitch. A clear identity has brought bold football, and with it a growing sense of euphoria across the country.
Rangnick has been in charge of the Austria national team since 2022 and is heading into his second major tournament in this role. Before for the finals, the 67-year-old shared his thoughts with FIFA on the upcoming .
Ralf Rangnick: First of all, everyone is so happy – the fans, but also the team and the staff. Over the last few years, we've worked really hard to qualify not just for the EUROs two years ago, but for the World Cup, too. I think the biggest thing of all is that we're really, really looking forward to being back at a World Cup.
Above all, I think, we have won people's hearts with the way we play. We are very proactive, in possession and out of possession, and I think you can sense the team spirit. When you see the team play, you sense they're not playing by-the-numbers football to win games any old way. We're not just a group with the same objective, we have really become a kind of family. The players talk about that themselves, too, and I think that's what makes us stand out.
We are playing and they're reigning world champions. Opposition doesn't come much tougher, even from Pot 1. So, of course, we're all looking forward to that game, but we also know that the first game, against , could be decisive. We're really determined to qualify [for the Round of 32].
David is a gift for any coach, for any team. His role goes well beyond that of a player. His words carry real weight, and he's not just very popular within the team, he is also highly respected. This time, it'd be massive for us to have him available to play, and not just as a non-playing captain as he was at the [UEFA] European Championships.
When I think about our game in Cyprus [a 2-0 qualifying win last November], where more than 2,000 Austrian fans made the trip, that shows how much people have taken this team to their hearts. At the same time, we know that according to Opta data we're in the toughest group in the entire tournament. If we manage to get through this group, I think we'll have achieved the minimum objective.
Yes. I think it's not just football fans, it's the whole country. It's given the whole country a boost, an energy boost, and I think you can sense that. It's good for the country, good for the people who live in Austria, and we were aware of that responsibility, which was why the pressure was actually far higher against Bosnia and Herzegovina [in the final qualification match] than anything that might happen at the World Cup.
I hope we'll have as many supporters there as possible, even though we're playing in San Francisco, on the west coast. It's a wonderful city, of course, and the other two, Kansas and Dallas, are also definitely worth visiting. I hope we'll have lots of fans behind us and we get a similar atmosphere to what we got in Berlin [at UEFA EURO 2024]. And then we'll see how far the journey takes us.
It's about introducing surprise. We want to surprise people. I think a lot of countries still don't have us on their radar. We did that at the EURO, in the group phase, in the toughest group, against France, the Netherlands and Poland. We want to do that again and, above all, learn the right lessons from the game against [their EURO 2024 Round of 16 defeat], so that we get as far as possible in the knockout rounds.
We want to show our face, in every possible sense – in terms of the way we play, in terms of team spirit, but also in terms of the players' values. The spectators should be able to see that and sense it, from the first minute.
Sources: FIFA Official
