Josef Hickersberger

Infobox Football biography
playername = Josef Hickersberger


fullname = Josef Hickersberger
height = Height|m=1.77
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1948|4|27
cityofbirth = Amstetten
countryofbirth = Austria
currentclub =
clubnumber =
position = midfielder
youthyears = 1960-1966
youthclubs = ASK Amstetten
years = 1966-1972 1972-1976 1976-1978 1978-1980 1980-1982
clubs = Austria Wien Kickers Offenbach Fortuna Düsseldorf SSW Innsbruck Rapid Wien "career totals"
caps(goals) = 112 (28) 118 (28) 59 (5) 35 (6) 48 (4) "372 (71)"
nationalyears = 1968-1978
nationalteam = fb|Austria
nationalcaps(goals) = 39 (5)
manageryears = 1988-1990 1991-1992 1993-1994 1995-1997 1996 1997-1999 1999-2000 2000-2001 2001-2002 2002-2005 2006-2008
managerclubs = Austria Fortuna Düsseldorf Austria Wien Al Ahli Bahrain Arab Contractors Al-Shaab Al Wasl FC Al-Ittihad (QAT) Rapid Wien Austria
pcupdate = 12 July 2008
ntupdate = 12 July 2008

Josef Hickersberger (born April 27, 1948 in Amstetten, Austria) is a former professional football player and former coach of the Austria national football team and Austrian club side Rapid Vienna.

Playing career

Club career

Hickersberger's started his playing career with Austria Wien, where he was brought in by Ernst Ocwirk in 1966. After six successful seasons he was sold for 2,1 million Shillings to German League side Kickers Offenbach. He later moved on to Fortuna Düsseldorf, then returned to Austria to join SSW Innsbruck and finished his professional career with Rapid Vienna. He continued playing for amateur sides Badener AC, UFC Pama, SV Forchtenstein and WSV Traisen where he took up his first coaching posts.

International career

He made his debut for Austria in May 1968 against Romania and was a participant at the 1978 FIFA World Cup. He earned 39 caps, scoring 5 goals. His last international match was at the World Cup in 1978 against West Germany, a game dubbed "The miracle of Córdoba" which the Austrians won 3-2.

Managerial career

Since retiring as a player, Hickersberger has worked as a football coach. He was the coach of the Austrian national team at the Football World Cup 1990 in Italy. However, after the infamous and embarrassing 1-0 defeat against the Faroe Islands, he decided to quit and after that coached Fortuna Düsseldorf (1990-1992) and Austria Wien (1993/94).

Hickersberger then worked for a few years in the Arabian region, where he trained several teams, among them the Bahrain national football team, and Al Wasl FC- Dubai, one of the most popular clubs in the UAE.

In 2002 Hickersberger came back to Austria, and brought back success to Rapid. With him as coach, Rapid won the Austrian Championship of 2004/2005, nine years after the last triumph, and accordingly qualified for the UEFA Champions League group stage where Rapid faced the teams of Bayern München, Juventus and Club Brugge.

He coached the Austrian national team during the UEFA Euro 2008 played in Austria and Switzerland, obtaining only 1 point out of 9. Austria lost 1-0 against Croatia and Germany, and rescued a late draw, a 1-1 against Poland with a goal of Ivica Vastić on minute 93. Austria stayed in the 3rd position in the Group B, staying out of the competition in their own country.During the match, Hickersberger and Joachim Löw were sent off in the match between Austria and Germany after claiming some errors made by Manuel Enrique Mejuto González. On June 23, 2008 he quit the Austrian national team post.

Honours

As a player

*Austrian Football Bundesliga (3):
** 1969, 1970, 1982
*Austrian Cup (3):
** 1969, 1971, 1979

As a manager

*Austrian Cup (1):
** 1994
*Bahraini Premier League (1):
** 1996
*Qatari League (1):
** 2002
*Austrian Football Bundesliga (1):
** 2005

External links

* [http://www.austria-archiv.at/spieler.php?Spieler_ID=228 Player profile and stats] - Austria Archive
* [http://rapidarchiv.at/spieler/hickersberger_josef.html Player profile and stats] - Rapid Archive
* [http://www.national-football-teams.com/v2/player.php?id=22802 Career stats] - National Football Teams
* [http://www.euro2008.uefa.com/tournament/teams/team=8/profile=1/index.html Profile] - EURO2008
* [http://www.fussballportal.de/index.php Bundesliga stats] - Fussballportal

References