Oliver Rohrer: He's now off to Germany. © AlPa Photography

Cult club St. Pauli calls: Obermais hero starts new career

FC Obermais' phenomenal survival in Serie D has delighted all of South Tyrolean football. However, one of the FCO heroes is now embarking on a new and unusual path in northern Germany.

28 May 2026

From: det

Oliver Rohrer's football career reads like a fairytale. Not so long ago, the defender was playing for his hometown club FC Tirol in the Austrian First Amateur League, then he took the leap to St. Pauls in the Oberliga (fifth tier), where he impressed – and finally landed at FC Obermais in Serie D (fourth tier). In the semi-professional fourth division, the 27-year-old made 15 appearances and scored one goal in the past remarkable season.

“When I was still playing in Tyrol, I never dreamed I’d make it to Serie D,” said Rohrer. Something else he probably wouldn’t have imagined during his time in Tyrol: In just a few weeks, the Burggrafen native will leave his South Tyrolean homeland behind and move to Hamburg to work as a coach in the youth academy of traditional club St. Pauli.

Oliver Rohrer made 15 Serie D appearances. © Patrick Schwienbacher

“Football has always been the most important thing to me,” explains Rohrer, who has been coaching SPG Riffian Schenna Tirol for over a decade. Last season, he not only played for FC Obermais but also coached the U12 and U15 teams of his hometown club – and additionally served as youth coordinator. Rohrer has always been passionate about coaching. “My long-term goal has therefore always been to be a full-time youth football coach. And now this opportunity has arisen in Hamburg,” says Rohrer.

Two youth teams and even some players themselves

In about three weeks, the 27-year-old will relocate to the port city in northern Germany. At the traditional club St. Pauli, which was recently relegated from the Bundesliga, Rohrer will then coach the nine- to eleven-year-olds. At the same time, he will take over the U17 team of Buchholzer FC, one of St. Pauli's partner clubs, which follows the same training concept as the professional club.

"They have a coaching staff of three people there alone, and they're already using video analysis," says Rohrer. And on top of all that, the Tyrolean native also laces up his own football boots for TSV Elstorf – who are on the verge of promotion to the sixth division.

Oliver Rohrer also played for South Tyrol's Europeada team. © Preben Christensen

Until last January, Rohrer and his brother Armin ran a fruit and grocery store in Tyrol, which they have since sold. While Armin, who coached FC Tirol in the First Amateur League this season, is now moving to the youth academy of FC Südtirol as a coach, Oliver is headed to Germany. But how did this all come about?

"My goal is to make the leap into the professional youth sector." Oliver Rohrer

“During a training course in Wolfsburg last October, I made contact with the head of youth development at St. Pauli. It was a good fit, so I applied there. In the spring, I had to go through an application process, which included submitting videos of my training sessions with the youth teams. St. Pauli thought that was a good idea, and so we reached an agreement,” said Rohrer, who has signed a two-year contract and will move into his new apartment in Hamburg at the end of June.

“I’m incredibly excited,” says Rohrer, adding: “I’m going all in for football one more time. I now have the chance to prove myself. My goal is to make the leap into professional youth football.” The Oliver Rohrer fairytale – it’s about to get another adventurous chapter.