Riedau in Glasner fever! When the 47-year-old with Eintracht Frankfurt became the first Upper Austrian ever to win the European Cup, the whole community was upside down. “Half of Riedau was at the sports field to watch the game. When Oliver stood there in the stadium and was celebrated, it was very emotional for me too. I begrudge him that, he’s such a down-to-earth guy. He’s not anymore there so often, but when he does, it’s as if he had never been away,” says Roland Hofpointner, the coach of SV Riedau.
Just like yesterday, when the European Cup hero paid a visit to the top game of his home club during his home vacation: Riedau is at the top of the table in the 1st class Northwest, with Natternbach the direct promotion rival made a guest appearance at the Innviertler. He also kept his fingers crossed for his son Niklas: “It would be nice if Niklas also won a title this season,” says Glasner with a smile. After yesterday’s 1-1 draw, he and his team are well on the way to doing so. The son of all people kept the hosts on course for the title: In the fourth minute of added time he scored the much-acclaimed equalizer in front of 680 fans – Riedau remains three points ahead.
Riedau in a state of emergency
If the local club wins the championship, there will probably be a celebration in Riedau again – just like last time. Hofpointner: “Television and newspapers were here, it was a state of emergency. Suddenly there were only Frankfurt fans in the whole place.”
Mayor Markus Hansbauer is also proud of the currently largest son of the small Innviertel community: “It doesn’t happen every day that a coach from Austria wins the Europa League. Maybe we name a street after him, a place – or we build something.” The local kickers are also following in the footsteps of their great role model. Hofpointner: “We had to be relegated to 2nd class in 2005 due to a decision by the association, but we haven’t recovered from that for a long time.” Because of a dissolved syndicate with the SV Ried amateur team, Riedau had to start at the bottom. Glasner himself had started playing football in Riedau – and often played against SV Ried with Michael Angerschmid as a junior before Glasner also moved to Ried. But Riedau will always be his “dahoam” – no matter where his path in top European football will take him.
Source: Nachrichten
