Markus Stocker has his eye on staying in the league again with Schluderns. © M. Dorn

From the promotion to the relegation battle: The Schluderns mission

Things can happen that quickly in football. Last year, SV Schluderns managed to reach the goal of the national league. Almost a year later, the Vinschgers are fighting against falling into the 2nd amateur league. Today they are the focus of our weekly section on the 1st Amateur League.

March 28, 2024

By: christian.morandell

Last season Schluderns barely made it to the state league. It was only in a playoff between the second-placed teams that they lost 1-2 in extra time. There were no big changes among the players, but there were on the sidelines. After 6 years, Harald Regensburger came as a trainer for Rainer “Zenga” Dengg. After 7 games without a win and only one point, the club management reacted and brought Dengg back to his old place of work.

Rainer Dengg tells us how the 50-year-old wants to save Schluderns from relegation, what screws he has already turned and what consequences relegation would have for Schluderns football SportNews-Conversation.


4 rounds have been played in the second half of the season. Schluderns got 7 points. Satisfied with this yield?

“You can definitely be satisfied. We know that we desperately need every point in the fight against relegation. We started the second half of the season with 7 points, despite a demanding game calendar. That gives us hope for the future.”


Oberau was beaten last weekend. Was this victory the final turning point?

“We know we have to catch up on points. We can only achieve this if we beat one or two of the “big ones” from our league. We achieved such a victory against Oberau. We were already leading 3-0. After that, Oberau came back to 2:3 and it became close. In the end we were able to celebrate the important threesome.”

Lars Burger (right): Offensive missile from Schluderns. © S. Mitterer

What would have happened if we had to accept the 3:3?

“I think that would have been really bad for morale. So we know that we can beat the top teams in the league. If we had played 3-3, we would have gotten a point, but losing a 3-0 lead wouldn't have been good for the team."


They took over their old team before matchday 9. How did you find the team?

“The team was just dejected and totally unsettled. My coaching team and I started there. We had to rebuild the team so that it believes in its strengths and implements them on the field. We also had to suffer setbacks after that because we lost a few games. But you could see that the players completely collapsed as soon as they conceded a goal. It was important to get this fact out of our minds.”


How does it feel when, after leaving the club, you see your former team not getting out of the starting blocks at the start of the season?

"Terrible! That hurt a lot. I also saw some games. It was almost unbelievable that there was no win in the first 7 games. After every game I thought to myself, this is just a phase, Schluderns will definitely win next time, because the players can't have forgotten how to play football over the summer months. Maybe after the good last season, the new season was approached too loosely. A bad start to the season is always bad. It’s not easy to recover from that.”

“If Schluderns gets relegated, then the world certainly won’t collapse.” Coach Rainer Dengg

When you took over your former troupe again, what screws did you turn?

“My coaching staff and I just tried to lift the team up and instill confidence in them. That was also difficult in the remaining games in the first half of the season. However, we started preparing for the second half of the season early and used team building in particular. The training was not only focused on athletics, technique and tactics, but we also did a lot. There were hikes on alpine pastures, smaller competitions, a kind of 10-fight and other activities that were primarily aimed at making us a self-confident and close-knit group again. But we also had to make sure that the players didn’t lose their interest in playing football through excessive training or activities.”


Do you think that was successful?

“I think we are on the right track. There were 20 players in the locker room at the last training session. Everyone has the ambition to be set up at the weekend. The training sessions are correspondingly intensive. Every player wants to show off. The players are all back with their heads.”

Schluderns wants to avoid relegation by all means possible. © M. Dorn

What happens if, despite all these measures, Schludern ends up having to go to the 2nd amateur league?

“If Schluderns gets relegated, then the world will certainly not collapse. It's more about how you get off. That means if we give everything from game to game and it's not enough, then we weren't any better. But if we are not prepared to give everything in the fight against relegation from the start, then we have no chance anyway. We know that to get out of there we have to work harder than the others. If we get relegated, it also means that we didn’t work hard enough.”


What is the plan for the rest of the second half of the season?

“We just have to score points. At the weekend we play away against Haslach. We can also live with a point from this game. Things are different at home games. The necessary meters simply have to come from there. We will also strive for this goal in the next home game against Tscherms Marling.”