Günter Kronsteiner (born 14 September 1953) is an Austrian former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who was most recently

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

of the

Fort Lauderdale Strikers Fort Lauderdale Strikers may refer to: *Fort Lauderdale Strikers (1977–1983), member of North American Soccer League from 1977 to 1983 *Fort Lauderdale Strikers (1988–1994) The Fort Lauderdale Strikers were an American soccer team establishe ...

in the American

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League (NASL) was the top-level major professional soccer league in the United States and Canada that operated from 1968 to 1984. It is considered the first soccer league to be successful on a national scale in the ...

, currently manager of Slovak 1. FC Tatran Prešov

Playing career

During his playing career, Kronsteiner played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

with

DSV Leoben DSV Leoben is an Football in Austria, Austrian association football club based in Leoben. It was founded in 1928. The club currently play in Austrian Regionalliga Central, Regionalliga Central, one of the third tiers of Austrian Football. They ...

Wacker Innsbruck FC Wacker Innsbruck was an Austrian association football club from Innsbruck, Tyrol. History The ''Fußball-Club Wacker'' ("Valiant") ''Innsbruck'' was established in 1915 by Jakob Hanspeter, Benedikt Hosp, Josef Leitner, Josef Albrecht and o ...

, Red Bull Salzburg,

LASK Linz 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 ...

, and Rapid Lienz. While with Wacker, he won two

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 ...

titles and participated in the

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

Post playing career

After his playing days were over, Kronsteiner spent the majority of his time as a director of sports for Casino Salzburg, and

FK Austria Vienna Fußballklub Austria Wien AG (), known in English as Austria Vienna, and Austria Wien in German-speaking countries, is an Austrian professional association football club from the capital city of Vienna. It has won the most trophies of any Austr ...

, where he had worked with and hired reputable names such as

Hans Backe Hans Roland "Hasse" Backe (; born 14 February 1952) is a Swedish football manager and former player who most recently led Finland's national team. Prior to this he managed the New York Red Bulls. He has coached clubs in Sweden, Norway, Greece ...

and

Joachim Löw Joachim "Jogi" Löw (; born 3 February 1960) is a German football coach and former player. He was the manager of the Germany national team from 2006 until 2021. During his tenure as manager, he led Germany to victory at the 2014 FIFA World Cup i ...

Fort Lauderdale Strikers

On 17 July 2013, it was announced that Kronsteiner had signed as the head coach of the Fort Lauderdale Strikers of the

. Despite leading the Strikers to a surprise

Soccer Bowl The Soccer Bowl was the annual championship game of the North American Soccer League (NASL), which ran from 1968 to 1984. The two top teams from the playoffs faced off in the final to determine the winner of the NASL Trophy. From the league's ...

appearance, the new team ownership announced Kronsteiner would not be returning for 2015. Kronsteiner rejoined the Strikers as head coach on 30 June 2015. This came after head coach Marcelo Neveleff resigned after nine Spring Season games. The Fort Lauderdale Strikers didn't want Gunter back the following season. A controversial and prideful figure, the organization and Gunter ended their relationship. Gunter Kronsteiner is now in Slovakia.

Statistics

Coach

''Since 27 July 2013''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kronsteiner, Gunter 1953 births Living people Austrian men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Austrian Football Bundesliga players Austrian football managers DSV Leoben managers North American Soccer League (2011–2017) coaches Fort Lauderdale Strikers coaches 20th-century Austrian sportsmen