Handball euphoria in Linz? “There’s much more to come”

Spectators standing on benches and tables in the foyer or lined up in rows of four above the stands to catch a glimpse of the handball field. The approximately 1200 spectators who witnessed the 31:30 of HC Linz AG via Krems on Wednesday meant a record attendance since the modernization of the Linz-Kleinmünchen middle school hall.

With the first final in 20 years, the seven-time champion recalled his own glorious past. It’s as if the team around goalkeeper Markus Bokesch is kissing awake the handball tradition that has been dormant in Linz since the 1990s at the latest. “We haven’t kissed anything here yet,” says club president Bernhard Ditachmair. “There’s a lot more to do.”

He still sees room for improvement, especially in the core community. Ditachmair is quite satisfied with the VIP visit. Above all, he is happy about the many top athletes, including LASK kickers, jetty volleyball players, table tennis queen Liu Jia and rower Lisa Farthofer. But these are not among the regular fans of the club. Not yet. The 270 tickets sold in advance for the Krems game were a league-wide record.

Turned a few screws

Ditachmair admits that he sometimes has to pinch himself a little. Because the rise of his club was steep recently. As a reminder: A few years after the debt relief was achieved, HC Linz 2021 only escaped relegation thanks to the league increase. “You have to remember that Markus Bokesch was in goal back then and Milan Vunjak was the coach,” the president reminds us that the team wasn’t bad.

“We knew that not much was missing, that we only had to turn a few screws.” In addition to the further development of the entire team and several good player transfers, it helped that the league in men’s handball is currently one of the most balanced in Austrian professional sport.

So anything is possible for the seventh-placed regular in the “Best of 3” final series that starts on June 3rd away from home. Regardless of the opponent, the fan trip organized by the club was full shortly after the Krems game. So it’s clear that the home game on June 7th in Linz-Kleinmünchen will be tight again.