The Emperor of Austria Pichlmann: an American football player as a striker in Serie B
41 goals in Italy between Serie B and C and a career between Austria and Italy: at the age of 36 he became an American football professional.
A second sporting life. A new chapter in its history. A radical change to get back into the game at 36 and start a new path after more than 30 spent on the football fields. From football to American Football. Thomas Piclmann he decided to hang up his football boots and wear the kicker ones Swarco Tyrol Ridersthe Innsbruck team.
New life for the ‘Emperor of Austria’, who went from the role of weight striker and finisher in the penalty area to kickoffs, field goals and point after touchdowns.
A long journey, lived between his homeland, Austria, and Italy, and a career as a footballer that blossomed at the age of 18 and which saw him protagonist for as many springs on the football fields, before the decision to change his life.
Born in Vienna in 1981, Thomas Pichlmann kicked the ball between Lanzendorf and Vosendorf and joined the youth academy in 1993. Quick Viennawith which he made his debut in the Austrian Bundesliga on 6 October 1999 in the 1-0 defeat against Sturm Graz.
It will be the first of two appearances that season, before being sold in the summer to First Vienna, in the second division. A choice shared between club and player to gain experience and accumulate more consistent playing time.
It’s just with the jersey of First Vienna that Pichlmann scored his first professional goal, the first of six – including the last in the play-off – scored in 22 total appearances that season.
A striker gifted with great physicality (almost 190 centimeters in height), the Emperor of Austria stands out for his individual technique, which often allows him over the course of his career to also fill the role of penalty taker and to help the team both in of finalization and of construction of the offensive manoeuvre.
In 2001 he moved to Leoben, a club in which he played for three consecutive seasons scoring 21 goals in 61 games, in with Matthias Dollinger. It was during that time that he received a call to the Austrian U21 national team, with whom he made his debut on 21 August 2002 in a friendly match against Switzerland, before playing against Moldova and the Czech Republic in the qualifiers for the European Championships.
Just when he wears the Leoben shirt, he also gets the call up for the senior national team. He will take the field against Cyprus and Latvia in the Cyprus Tournament in February 2005.
The exploit allows him to receive the call of the Pashing, with which he made his debut in the UEFA Cup on 11 August 2005 in the match valid for the second qualifying round, at the start of the second and last season with the black and green shirt. Another great goal achieved by Pichlmann, who competes in that race as a starter.
Curiously, just during the period at Pasching, Pichlmann was fired for just cause in May 2005, before being recalled and re-signing the contract.
The level of difficulty increases but for the class of 1981 the watchword remains ‘goal’. 19 goals in 76 appearances is the final booty, before the call of theAustria Vienna.
Thomas finally returns home, in his Vienna, after a long wandering, up to the big chance. With Austria Vienna made his debut in the third qualifying round of Champions League, in the 1-1 home draw against Benfica on 8 August 2006. Pichlmann came on for Lasnik in the final and kicked off a season that will end with 3 goals in 24 total appearances. In the same season the first title arrives, the Austrian Cup won in the final 3-0 against Mattersburg.
A year and a half after that unforgettable night in the Champions League against the Lusitanians, the call arrives from Italy. And the Grossetoin B series, to submit a proposal until the end of the season to Pichlmann. Six-month contract with the possibility of winning the renewal on the pitch.
The Austrian forward didn’t think twice and accepted the challenge. Born in 1981, he made his debut three days after his arrival in Italy, taking over from Consonni in the second half in the 2-0 defeat of the Tuscans at Chievo Verona. His first goal came on 9 February in a draw against Albinoleffe with an imperious gap and a header. The first of three goals that will allow him to renew his contract until 30 June 2010 with an option for another season.
The new season opens with a ‘heavy’ goal. Pichlmann signs Grosseto’s 2-1 victory in the derby against Pisa, a very heartfelt match. The following week he replies with a brace against Piacenza, signing two of the three goals, one of which in a semi-forward kick.
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The Emperor of Austria makes Grosseto and Grosseto fall in love with him. The Tuscan team will reach the playoffs for Serie B also and above all thanks to Pichlmann’s 12 goals in 42 appearances – one of which in the semifinal win 2-0 against Livorno.
The Austrian is ‘on fire’ and in the following season he reaches double figures again. 11 goals in 28 games for him between Serie B and Coppa Italia.
In the last few days of the summer transfer market session, on 31 August 2010, the Verona decides to focus on him for the ascent in Serie Cadetta. The project is attractive and the Austrian agrees to go down a category to be part of it.
Five days after his arrival, on 4 September, the first goal arrived immediately in the thunderous 5-1 on the Monza field. The beginning of a journey that will lead him to score 7 goals in 29 appearances for the Scaligeri shirt up to the achievement of the goal of promotion to Serie B, which will be achieved with merit.
In the following year, the rupture of the knee collateral ligament made him miss the entire first part of the championship. His debut came only on 21 October against Nocerina, while his first goal came on 1 November against Brescia.
Between November and December he experienced the golden moment with the signing of the renewal of the contract until 2015 and four goals in six games against Brescia, Crotone, Reggina and Albinoleffe. On 21 January he will score his last goal in the league against Juve Stabia, a club that had been looking for him in the summer, before a long fast and a complicated period between final moments and the bench.
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On the estate, the streets of Pichlmann and Verona separate. On 15 July 2012 he moved on loan with the right to buy the newly promoted club Spice. The Ligurians rely on the Austrian to conquer salvation. In reality, in the part of the season he is on the edge of the Atzori squad, who don’t consider him a first choice. The turning point can come in February: first he enters and participates in the sensational comeback against Ascoli (4-3) with two assists for Sansovini, then he plays as a starter and scores his first and only goal against Sassuolo a week later.
Pichlmann’s swan song is a double round trip between Austria and Italy, his home and his adopted country given the many years he lived in the beautiful country. In 2013 he returned outright to Vienna Neustadt, with whom he will play a year before the recall of Italy, to which he really can’t say no. He returns to Grosseto, for the second time, in August 2014.
Another not exactly memorable adventure, if not for the 14th place in the club’s all-time scorer rankings with 31 goals and 100 appearances in the red and white shirt. At the end of the season he returns to Austria, where he will play first at WackerInnsbruck – with which he won the Erste Liga top scorer title in the 2015/2016 season – and then at Schwarz.
In 2017, Thomas Pichlmann decides to definitively take off his role as a footballer and put on those of an American football kicker. To hire him are the Swarco Tirol Raiderstraining in Innsbruck, among the most important in the national panorama.
The new adventure starts immediately with a bang. Pichlmann participates as a protagonist in the success of the Swarco Tirol Raiders in the victory of theAustrian bowl against i Viennese viking with a decisive shot and is part of the national team that becomes vice-champion of Europe.
The impact with the new sport is of the best, so much so that Pichlmann will be able to confirm himself also in the successful year with another brace: the Austrian Bowl and the title of European champion with the victory of the Central European Football Leaguewon in 2017 and 2018.
An incredible sports story of an athlete who at the age of 36 decided to take on a new challenge and won it. From soccer to American football, from bomber to kicker. Without forgetting Italy, the country in which he played for most of his career as a centre-forward.