From the poker star to the trainer
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In the second attempt, coach Maximilian Senft with the SV Ried on course Bundesliga promotion is. After the 2-0 win against competitor Admira Wacker on the 27th matchday, the Upper Austrian lies two rounds with two points ahead of the second league. After the upheaval as a result of the relegation, Ried still had ten points behind the promoted Graz AK last season, but ended up in second place. The fact that Senft was able to establish the team again immediately at the top arouses desires.
From the 2nd Bundesliga, according to transfer market information, SpVgg Greuther Fürth and Prussia Münster have an eye on the 35-year-old. The two clubs separated from their coaches Jan Siewert and Sascha Hildmann in the fight for relegation. In summer, large upheavals are likely to wait for Fürth and Münster – something that Senft has mastered with Ried. Almost 15 players have celebrated their professional debut since then.
“If you experience a change, it is initially about establishing a certain game concept,” the emerging trainer recently described in an interview with “90 minutes“The basic basis.” If the game concept and squad planning go hand in hand, this important foundation is available. Then the conviction comes into play. You have to stand in the way, even if it is difficult. We did not start in autumn 2023 and there were already critical voices.
The backing received Senft in Ried and it seems to be paid out. “From a coaching point of view, the longer you can maintain relationships with players and supervisors. I am a personal type, try to communicate a lot in four -eye conversations. This is my philosophy: the longer I can work with someone, the more trust forms. And that is how to master difficult times together, not to cut down cloths and thus build substance in the relationship.”
Completed Senft from the poker star to the Ried trainer
If it is about comparisons, the name of Brighton coach Fabian Hürzeler often falls. Senft is also considered the best trained young trainer who also did not have a big professional career. He never got beyond the 6th division. Senft initially made headlines as a poker player, at the 2014 World Cup he became eleventh. Only then did it really start in football. Senft climbed up from the video analyst to the assistant in the chopping order, worked alongside top coaches such as Thomas Letsch or Gerhard Struber, who later moved to Germany.
Senft moved back to Austria in the summer of 2020 on Struber’s side at FC Barnsley, where he hired SC Pinkafeld with fourth division team. A year later he took over the FC Südburgenland in the Women’s Bundesligawith which he descended. In the 2022/23 season he moved to SV Ried, where he first took over the amateurs and in March as the successor to Christian Heinle to the professionals. However, Senft could no longer prevent the descent from the Bundesliga. After 76 games there is a point cut of 1.78.
“Senft basically sticks to a very offensive 3-4-3, in which the defenders really attack. His team is incredibly strong in standards, but the shortcoming has always been that you could not adjust to top games. The weaker teams were shot down, but the important games for ascent or non-descent were lost. She struck on the penultimate matchday and is now on the Bundesliga course, ”says Dorian Schuster, Area Manager Austria at the transfer market.
It should also depend on whether Senft extends his contract or received a chance such as Fürth and Münster. Ried is financially very good compared to the youngest promoters. The table seventh black and white Bregenz is waiting on Friday (8:30 p.m.). “I stay with my opinion that the championship will decide on the last match day,” said Senft in an interview with “League“.” In this pointed final phase, a special task is to deal with the pressure. We (…) were there in the direct duel. I am full of confidence in our team that we are ready for the season finish. “