Manuel Brusco, star striker for FC Obermais. © Patrick Schwienbacher

The Obermais Miracle: "There is a football god"

FC Obermais has written one of the most beautiful fairytales in local amateur football: On Sunday, the Merano-based team spectacularly secured their survival in the Serie D relegation playoffs. We followed up with the FCO after their long night of celebrations.

19 May 2026

From: det

Even the day after, Michael Höller still couldn't quite grasp what had happened on Sunday at the Stadio Comunale in Vigasio. "It will certainly take a few more days for me to realize it. It was simply pure madness," said the sporting director on Monday – after a very short night, mind you. "We celebrated in Vigasio, then went to the Lahn River, where the party went on until the early hours of the morning."

Obermais will remain in Serie D – thanks to a match that will go down in history. In the decisive relegation playoff game, captain Edoardo Ghiotti and his teammates were trailing 1-2 until the third minute of stoppage time and were virtually relegated. Then Stefan Turini rescued his FCO, forcing extra time. There, the blue-and-whites desperately needed a win, otherwise relegation would have been sealed. When Alex Loncini unleashed a powerful shot from 18 meters in the 116th minute, making this fairytale come true, all hell broke loose – and the 400 traveling fans erupted in pure ecstasy.

Sarner, Bozner – they're all Obermais fans

“400 fans,” Höller, seemingly incredulous, repeated again and again, “400 fans followed us to this crucial match in Vigasio, 190 kilometers away. I spoke with a man from Bolzano and a man from Sarn in the stands: they don't actually have much to do with Obermais, but they came anyway because they enjoy it. The emotions simply swept everyone away,” Höller said.

The Obermais team celebrated staying in the league.

The individual episodes also fit perfectly into this Obermais fairytale. "Martin Ciaghi, who hasn't had an easy season this year, is substituted in and provides the assists for the two decisive goals. Stefan Turini, who was injured for a long time, saves us and forces extra time. And Alex Loncini, who only joined FCO during the course of the championship, scores the winning goal. Hats off to this team, they always believed in it! There really is a football god," said Höller.

"It has been shown that the chosen path is not entirely wrong." Michael Hoeller

Which is better – last year's Oberliga title or this fairytale escape from relegation? "A title is always a title, of course, but in terms of performance, the total effort, everything we put into the game this year, staying in the league has a very, very special value," said Höller.

The residents of Obermais are delighted to have stayed in the league.

Drawing a conclusion about the first Serie D season isn't exactly easy at this time. "We need to let this survival sink in. But yes, overall, I think we've seen this year that the path we've chosen isn't entirely wrong. From the start, we focused on young and hungry South Tyrolean players, bringing many of them in from lower leagues – that's unusual for this league. The lads have impressively repaid that trust. We'll try to continue down this path next season as well," said the former midfielder.

An average of 600 spectators

One thing pleased Höller especially: "The level of interest from the fans overwhelmed me. On average, we had 600 spectators at our home games, and at some matches even more than 1.000. Our supporters traveled to every away game and created a great atmosphere. The icing on the cake was that around 400 fans followed us to Vigasio."

Planning for next season has been difficult recently, as Obermais didn't know until Sunday whether they would be playing in the Oberliga or Serie D. "We hope that the core of the team stays together; the local players are our top priority," said Höller, who concluded with some good news: "One thing is already certain: Coach Flavio Toccoli will also be on the sidelines next season."