A quick contract termination with the team boss is not an issue for the designated ÖFB President Gerhard Milletich.
Gerhard Milletich is the designated President of the ÖFB. On Saturday the electoral committee decided that the 65-year-old president of the Burgenland Association would be elected top footballer on October 17th. At 11 p.m. he had arrived in his hometown Parndorf from Salzburg.
In the morning he was back in Leithaprodersdorf, where the local football club celebrated its 75th anniversary. The phone rang again and again, and in the evening there was a long TV interview.
KURIER: Is this a stressful time for you right now?
Gerhard Milletich: Yes. You can see that it is obviously interested in who becomes president of the ÖFB. But it was important to me that I go to the club's anniversary, after all, I am President of the Burgenland Association.
At its meeting in Salzburg today, the election committee decided by a majority after a tie in the 1st ballot in the 2nd ballot! #Milletich https://t.co/JRYbguZ4t0
– ÖFB – oefb.at (@ oefb1904) September 11, 2021
What spoke for you that the electoral committee voted 7: 3 for you after a 5: 5 in the first ballot?
I know the problems faced by clubs. I know what is going on in amateur and professional football. With Parndorf, I brought a club from the fifth performance class to the second.
Was it an advantage that you have been a functionary for a long time?
I have been with the Burgenland Association for 17 years, nine years on the Presidium of the ÖFB, but also on the supervisory boards of companies of the ÖFB. This gives you experience and insights into how things are going in an association.
Wasn't the national team one of your cornerstones in times like these?
Naturally. The national team is our flagship. After October 17th I have to talk to team principal Franco Foda and his staff. But sports director Peter Schöttel and our sports committee, which also includes Salzburg's sports director Christoph Freund, have to assess the situation.
Have you already asked sports director Schöttel to take a look around the team boss market?
I won't say anything to Schöttel until October 17th. But first: I like Franco Foda. But you have to look at everything. It's not about shooting from the hip. A Horuck action would only be populism.
When looking for a team boss, the state presidents had a lot to say. Wouldn't it be better if experts were looking?
Before the appointment of Franco Foda, sports director Peter Schöttel was looking for coaches who were free and whom he considered capable of doing the job. Then he mentioned three names without a sequence.
Do you want to stick with this procedure?
I want to make it even broader and involve the sports commission, which coach fits as team boss. We in the Presidium should only decide on economic feasibility.
A training center for the national teams is also always in the room. With you too?
I do believe that there is a need. The ÖFB office in the stadium is also not ideal at the moment. You have to look at the financing via the ÖFB, the federal government, the state and the city of Vienna.
So is Vienna-Aspern the location for you?
There is a fundamental decision of the Presidium on this, why shouldn't I accept it?
And Parndorf is getting a national stadium?
This topic is currently not a priority.
