Stefan Mair before his playoff debut in the Bundesliga

“Now it starts!” – from Wednesday that will be the motto for Stefan Mair, the Bolzano coach of Bundesliga club Schwenningen. In the playoffs he wants to go as far as possible with the club from Baden-Württemberg and maybe he will even be able to win the title in Germany.

After two semi-finals and a final in Italy, he is now in the knockout round in Germany for the first time. The pressure is also enormous in his new sporting home. “The team is in a good mood, I’m excited myself. We prepared very well for the final phase of the championship,” says Mair. And still looks forward to the upcoming match against Heilbronn with a little unease. “They have a very strong team that has been put together to win. The team has developed a lot in the last few weeks. We had a very difficult time in the regular season (three defeats in four direct duels, editor's note). We will have to create a lot of pressure and erase the defeats from the regular season from our minds.”

In Italy, Asiago is the favorite For Stefan Mair, the course of the playoffs in the Italian Serie A is a huge surprise. The mere fact that no South Tyrolean team is in the final. “I would never have expected that, especially from Ritten and Pustertal, who put together a team to win the title. For me, Asiago is the favorite because the first block is extremely strong. But Valpellice should not be underestimated. Rob Sirianni, but also some of his teammates, are in a very good mood.”

The crisis of the South Tyrolean clubs Most recently, in the 2006/2007 season with the pairing of Cortina and Milan, no South Tyrolean club was in the final for the Italian championship title. Mair believes he knows why, for the first time in six years, the final is taking place without South Tyrolean participation. “I think clubs are failing to involve ex-players or other experts who could help run a club and build contacts in Europe. In order to move well in the transfer market, you have to know agents, coaches and players. Seminars are the ideal place to learn new things and also be seen. It is not enough to spend money and do research all day on elitenprospects.com (a well-known portal with a very large database of all international leagues, editor's note). But I think that installing a general manager in Italy cannot solve all the clubs’ problems anyway,” concluded Mair.

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Stefan Mair before his playoff debut in the Bundesliga

The Bolzano coach starts the playoff with Schwenningen in the German Bundesliga on Wednesday. There he faces Heilbronn, an extremely unpleasant opponent. “We are extremely motivated. In Italy, Asiago is my favorite to win the league title, but watch out for Rob Sirianni.”

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