The three-way fight became a case for two

Five rounds before the end of the season, an Upper Austrian club said goodbye to the promotion battle in the regional football league: After the 1-1 draw at Deutschlandsberg, WSC/Hertha are already eight points behind leaders Leoben. The Styrians celebrated their ninth win in a row with a 1-0 win over SAK Klagenfurt.

“We will no longer need to talk about first place, Leoben can no longer take it,” says WSC/Hertha coach Emin Sulimani. Nevertheless, the 36-year-old is proud of his team: “We didn’t do badly. Leoben was just too consistent and strong this season.”

While the end of the title race seems sealed, Sulimani’s future is still unclear: final talks are scheduled to take place this week. However, the ex-professional also has inquiries from the professional sector – there are even reports from abroad. Should Sulimani decide to go further with the third division club from the trade fair city, he naturally wants to attack again in the coming season and continue on the path he took last summer. “We rejuvenated the team over the summer. It would be wise to avoid another upheaval. There is room for development with this team.”

Enengl’s future is also still open

The three-way battle for the title became a case for two at the weekend: The LASK Amateure Oberösterreich remain on Leoben’s heels after the 4-1 win at Weiz and are only four points behind. “Everything that we have in our own hands, we want to do in the best possible way,” LASK II coach Patrick Enengl does not want to put the master word in his mouth yet. Rather, he wants to deal with the main task of a second team: “We are very satisfied with the development of our kickers. We have other highlights than with a normal third division team. Such as the debuts of young amateur players like Gabriel Zirngast, Luca Wimhofer or Stefan Radulovic with the pros,” says Enengl, whose future is still open. The talks are ongoing.