Dietmar ("Didi") Kühbauer (born 4 April 1971) is an Austrian professional

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and former

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who is currently the head coach of

Austrian Bundesliga The Bundesliga ( , "Federal League"), also known as Admiral Bundesliga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Austria and the highest level of the Austrian football league system. The competition decides the A ...

club Wolfsberger AC.

Club career

Born in Heiligenkreuz,

Burgenland Burgenland (; ; ; Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian: ''Burgnland''; Slovene language, Slovene: ''Gradiščanska''; ) is the easternmost and least populous Bundesland (Austria), state of Austria. It consists of two statutory city (Austria), statut ...

, Kühbauer began his professional career at Admira Wacker, making his

debut in 1987 at the age of 16. After five years, he moved to city rivals Rapid Wien, where he won both a league title and a domestic cup. He also played in the 1996 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup final against

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, which Rapid lost. "Don Didi" remains a fan favorite at Rapid, and in 1999, he was named to the club's Team of the Century. In 1997, Kühbauer moved to

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

side

Real Sociedad Real Sociedad de Fútbol, more commonly referred to as Real Sociedad ( ; ''Royal Society'') in English, and Erreala or Reala in Basque language, Basque, is a Spanish professional sports club in the city of San Sebastián, Donostia / San Sebastián, ...

. In 2000, he signed with German

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

club VfL Wolfsburg. Two years later, he returned to Austria to join his childhood club, SV Mattersburg, where he finished his playing career after the 2007–08 season.

International career

He made his debut for

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

in a May 1992 friendly match against

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

and was a participant at the

1998 FIFA World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 1 ...

. He earned 55 caps, scoring five goals. On 4 September 2005, he announced his retirement from international matches. His final international was a September 2005 World Cup qualification match against

Coaching career

On 18 November 2008, he signed a contract by Trenkwalder Admira II as head coach. In 2010, he became coach of the first squad and led the team to the promotion to the

Austrian Football Bundesliga The Bundesliga ( , "Federal League"), also known as Admiral Bundesliga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Austria and the highest level of the Austrian football league system. The competition decides the A ...

. From September 2013 to November 2015 he was the trainer of Wolfsberger AC. On 1 October 2018, Kühbauer was announced to become the new head coach of Rapid Wien, after only a half year at SKN St. Pölten. In May 2022, Kühbauer was appointed head coach of

LASK Linzer Athletik-Sport-Klub, commonly known as LASK (), or Linzer ASK, is an Austrian professional football club based in Upper-Austrian state capital Linz. It is the oldest football club in that region, and plays in the Austrian Football Bundes ...

, signing a contract until June 2024. He finished the 2021–22 season with the Schwarz-Weißen in eighth place. The 2022–23 season saw significant improvement, as Kühbauer led the team to a third-place finish, securing their return to European competition. However, he was replaced by Thomas Sageder at the end of the season, due to differences of opinion regarding squad planning for the next season. In May 2024, Kühbauers return as head coach of Wolfsberger AC was announced, with him taking over the position from Manfred Schmid ahead of the 2024–25 season. On 1 May 2025, Kühbauers made history by guiding Wolfsberger AC to their first Austrian Cup title in history, with a 1–0 victory against fellow

side TSV Hartberg.

Personal life

On 16 February 1997, Kühbauer's pregnant wife, Michaela, was driving to

Vienna International Airport Vienna Airport is an international airport serving Vienna, the capital of Austria. It is located in Schwechat, southeast of central Vienna and west of Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. Its official name according to the Austrian Aeronaut ...

to pick him up after Rapid's winter break in

Dubai Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...

. Tragedy struck when her car veered off the road near

Eisenstadt Eisenstadt (; ; ; or ; ) is the capital city of the Provinces of Austria, Austrian state of Burgenland. With a population of 15,074 (as of 2023), it is the smallest state capital and the 38th-largest city in Austria overall. It lies at the foot o ...

, and she was rushed to the hospital with three ribs puncturing her lung. She fell into a coma and died seven months later, on 13 September 1997. A disillusioned Kühbauer then left Austria to begin a new career abroad at

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Austria's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Kühbauer goal''

Managerial

Honours

Player

Rapid Wien *

: 1995–96 * Austrian Cup: 1994–95

Manager

Admira Wacker * 2. Liga: 2010–11 Wolfsberger AC * Austrian Cup: 2024–25

References

External links

Dietmar Kühbauer
at Rapid Archiv * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kuhbauer, Dietmar 1971 births Living people People from Jennersdorf District Men's association football midfielders Austrian men's footballers Austria men's international footballers 1998 FIFA World Cup players Admira Wacker players SK Rapid Wien players Real Sociedad footballers VfL Wolfsburg players SV Mattersburg players Austrian Football Bundesliga players La Liga players Bundesliga players Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Austrian football managers Admira Wacker managers Footballers from Burgenland Austrian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Wolfsberger AC managers SK Rapid Wien managers SKN St. Pölten managers LASK managers Austrian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Austrian expatriate men's footballers