Ex-Pasching-Kicker becomes the new head of sports at Altach

The Vorarlbergers announced this on Thursday. The Altacher want to reposition themselves in the sporting area, the successor will be the former ÖFB team player and ex-Pasching kicker Roland Kirchler. Festetics was taken off duty Thursday morning with immediate effect. The previous chief scout Wolfgang Meier had already been terminated at the beginning of May.

“The decision to make a change in the sporting area was made after detailed discussion and evaluation of the current sporting situation and what has happened during the season,” the club wrote in a statement. “The exchange with Georg Festetics has shown that the ideas differ, which is why we are making a new appointment immediately,” said Altach President Peter Pfanner. Festetics only joined Altach last November and had previously held various roles at AS Monaco for several years.

Managing director Christoph Längle meanwhile emphasized the “restlessness in the club” and would now like to bring the club “onto calmer waters” again. Together they decided to “get a great player in Austrian football with Kirchler, who is a strong personality,” he said. In addition, the Altacher installed a new chief scout and squad planner with Marc-Andre Kriegl. The future of coach Klaus Schmidt is unclear, just before the start of the qualifying group, Vorarlberg had parted ways with then coach Miroslav Klose.

Kirchler, who will start his new job next week, was already under contract as a player in Altach between January 2007 and July 2008. Most recently, the 52-year-old was sporting director of the Tyrolean Football Academy. “Passion, humility and the indomitable fighting spirit have always been key attributes that have shaped my success as a player and that I now want to embody as sports director,” said the Tyrolean, who has played a total of 28 times in the ÖFB jersey.