Herwig Drechsel (born 4 September 1973) is an

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

n retired professional

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

player who played as a midfielder and current manager. In his career he made over 350 Bundesliga appearances and was called up several times for the national team, but never played for them. In 2012, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of

SV Ried SV Ried is an Austrian association football club from Ried im Innkreis, Upper Austria. The team plays its home matches at Josko Arena, a stadium with a capacity of 7,680. After being relegated from Bundesliga in the 2016–17 season, SV Ried ...

, he was named "Player of the Century".

Career

Drechsel was active from 1995 to 2010 with a short break (1998/99 season at Grazer AK) for

and was always a top player as a midfielder and one of the top goal scorers as well as team captain from time to time. Drechsel, whose style of play was compared to that of a "classic ten", was also known for his free kicks, distance shots and his overview of the game. However, he did not make his debut in the Austrian Football Bundesliga for Ried, but for

FC Linz FC Linz was an Austrian football club, based in Linz, Upper Austria. History SK VÖEST Linz It was founded on 30 June 1946 as ''SV Eisen und Stahl 1946 Linz'', a factory squad of the public ''VÖEST'' steel company (present-day Voestalpine). In ...

. In May 2010, SV Ried announced that Herwig Drechsel's expiring contract would not be extended. In June 2010 he signed a new contract with the

Austrian Football Second League The Austrian Football Second League (german: 2. Liga) is the second-highest professional division in Austrian football. It was formerly called the First League (''Erste Liga''), from 2002 to 2018. The division currently contains 16 teams, and t ...

club SV Grödig, but after only one year in Grödig he ended his successful professional career in May 2011 at the age of 37 and switched to the upper Austrian league promoters SV Wallern.

Later and coaching career

During his time at SV Wallern, from 2013 to 2015, Drechsel also functioned as the clubs sporting director.Neue Aufgabe für Ried-Legende
laola1.at, 13 December 2017 In the summer 2015, he was appointed head coach of

's U16 team. He left the position after two years. After a six-month break, Drechsel was appointed head coach of SV HAKA Traun in the Upper Austrian District League East on 13 December 2017. He resigned on 29 August 2018. On 17 October 2018, he was then appointed head coach of SU Vortuna Bad Leonfelden. He left the position at the end of the season. In the summer 2019, Drechsel returned to

where he became the new head coach of the clubs reserve team, also known as Jungen Wikinger Ried. He resigned at the end of the season due to personal reasons.Emotionaler Abschied – Trainer Christian Heinle verlässt SV Grieskirchen Richtung Regionalliga
ligaportal.at, 12 June 2020

Personal life

Drechsel is married and has two sons (Stephan and Tobias). His son Stephan also plays football.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Drechsel, Herwig 1973 births Living people Austrian footballers Austrian football managers Association football midfielders Austrian Football Bundesliga players Grazer AK players SV Ried players SV Wallern players SV Grödig players FC Linz players