The ASV Prad players are fighting to stay in the 1st amateur league. © Sarah Mitterer

ASV Prad: A ski trainer on a mission to stay in the league

Every week, SportNews covers a team from the 1st amateur league in more detail. This time it is the turn of Prad, which has had a turbulent season so far. At the beginning of the second half of the season, Hans Daniel Fahrner, a long-time ski coach, took over the coaching position.

11 May 2023

By: christian.morandell

In recent years, ASV Prad has only gone up. With coach Karl Paulmichl they managed to move through from the 3rd to the 1st amateur league. Now the success of the Vinschgers is stagnating. With 3 rounds remaining, ASV Prad is in 12th place, just 3 points ahead of a relegation zone.

After the start of the second half of the season, successful coach Paulmichl separated. Hans Daniel Fahrner, who was active in the ski circus for a long time in his life, took over his position: first as an athlete, then as a trainer. He spent more than 20 years in the World Cup. Now he has returned to his “old love” of football and is coaching ASV Prad. What difficulties he encountered when he took office, what role the fans play in Prad and how bad relegation would be for Prad.


SportNews: You were hired on the sidelines instead of Karl Paulmichl between the 1st and 2nd matchdays of the second half of the season. How did you experience this jump into the deep end?

Hans Daniel Fahrner: “I took office before the game against Ulten. The first training session took place on Friday. The first game of the second half of the season against Plaus, a direct opponent in the fight against relegation, was lost 1-1. The club wanted to make a statement. I have to take this opportunity to mention that I really appreciate Karl Paulmichl as a coach. It's not for nothing that he and the team were promoted from the 1rd to the 2st amateur league. But suddenly it stopped working.”


What could be the reasons?

“If things only go up for a long time, then at some point you have to accept that things won’t go on like this forever. There were a few harsh and bitter defeats. You probably first had to learn to deal with this new experience. My job was to understand as quickly as possible what I could demand from the team and what from each individual player. Some players are fighting tooth and nail against relegation, for others it's not the end of the world. I had to reunite the group first.”

“The old players are fighting tooth and nail against relegation, the young ones a little less so.” Hans Daniel Fahrner

So there are two groups on the team?

"You could say that. The old players are fighting tooth and nail against relegation, the young ones a little less so. For them it's not the end of the world if you get relegated. They believe that when you go down, you just get back up. This attitude can also be seen in the greatly fluctuating performance.”

Hans Daniel Fahrner (2nd from left) has been coaching ASV Prad since the second half of the season. © ASV Prad/Social Media

How bad would relegation be for the older and more experienced players?

"Very bad. I have the feeling that if this group were relegated, their footballing world would collapse. For the younger ones, relegation wouldn't be a problem. This is also noticeable in the team's performance. They are very unstable. Good games like against Nals, then again performances that weren't ready for the first league. The boys also let their heads down too quickly, have difficulty overcoming poor performances and attacking again.”


With the Gander duo, the attack left the club step by step...

“That's true and has clearly weakened the quality, especially in attack. Both are excellent footballers and they cannot be replaced so quickly. Jonas joined Latsch before the start of the season in the regional league. Martin, on the other hand, moved to Ritzing in Burgenland in the 12th league during the preliminary round after 6 games and 4 goals.”

The Prader fans (in the background) are usually a pound. © ASV Prad/Social Media

The fans in Prad have been spoiled by the successes in recent years. Many reacted with incomprehension and impatience, right?

"Yes, that's right. Once you had to try to reunite the team and get them on track. On the other hand, there are also a number of loyal but also very critical fans. You also had to make them understand that things can’t always go up and that you have to have a little patience every now and then.”


The game against champions and promoted team Riffian Kuens is on the program on Saturday. What do you expect?

“We will do everything we can to get at least one point. Riffian Kuens is strong and the best team in this league. Nevertheless, there are always surprises, also because almost everyone can beat everyone. If Riffian has a bad day and we have a great day, then we can do a lot too. We have already proven that against supposedly better teams. Basically, we now have to think from game to game and tackle the next game depending on the result from the weekend.”