ÖFB youth: academies go on winter break
Winter break in the Austrian football academies.
In the three youth leagues (U18, U16, U15) the last games of the autumn season have been played and it won’t start again until spring.
The FC Red Bull Salzburg academy teams overwintered in first place in all three leagues. The Young Bulls won 32 of 35 games, drew once and only suffered two defeats.
Details of the three leagues:
U18
The leaders Salzburg, trained by ex-Sturm professional Daniel Beichler, have won ten of eleven games, the only defeat was against SK Rapid. The Hütteldorfer ranked ten points behind in third place. Second is Wiener Austria, who are eight points behind but have played one game in hand.
Overall, it’s pretty tight in the U18s – only nine points separate the fourth SK Sturm from bottom St. Pölten.
Curious: Although Salzburg scored an average of three goals per game with 33 goals, their top scorers Moritz Neumann and Phillip Verhounig only saved five goals each.
Top scorers are Austria’s Luka Izderic and Admiras David Puczka, who have each scored seven goals so far.
U16
The Salzburg U16 also leads the table confidently. The team from Wolfsberger AC inflicted the only defeat on the Mozart city-dwellers.
Defending champion SK Rapid is nine points behind and one game less than the first pursuer, followed by WAC in third place and the surprisingly strong Vorarlberger and behind them Admira.
So far there has been nothing to gain for the U16s of SV Ried, who have scored a measly point in twelve games and have a goal difference of 12:55. Austria is also weak with only nine points from eleven games.
Vorarlberg’s Mauro Hämmerle shoots up the league – he already has 16 goals under his belt. With Florian Hangl (13 goals) and Armin Durakovic (8 goals), a WAC duo also distinguished themselves.
Two Salzburg players also scored eight goals: Tobias Lerchbacher and Ilia Ivanschitz, son of former professional Andreas.
U15
The Salzburg U15s, coached by German Wilko Bauer, are the only undefeated academy team. The Young Bulls suffered the only loss of points in the draw against the Burgenland Academy.
The SK Sturm team has established itself as the first pursuer, although they are already seven points behind. They are followed by Rapid, Vorarlberg and Tirol. Burgenland, SV Ried and WAC have only one win each.
Incidentally, eighth is the academy of SK Austria Klagenfurt, which is in the top 10 in all three 13er leagues after a difficult first season and has also improved significantly.
The Salzburg kicker Dominik Dobis, who was once poached from SK Rapid, is the clear number 1 in the scorer list with 20 goals, followed by Nicolas Jozepovic, ex-Rapid player and now Salzburg Academy player, with 15 goals.