Ferdinand Feldhofer (born 23 October 1979) is an Austrian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

coach and a former player. He is the current manager of

Grazer AK Grazer Athletiksport Klub (; abbreviated as GAK), better known simply as Grazer AK, is an Austrian sports club based in the city of Graz in the federal state of Styria. The football section was once among Austria's most popular clubs, enjoying s ...

in the Austrian Bundesliga.

Career

Club

Feldhofer started his career as a youth player with TuS Vorau and TSV Pöllau in

Styria Styria ( ; ; ; ) is an Austrian Federal states of Austria, state in the southeast of the country. With an area of approximately , Styria is Austria's second largest state, after Lower Austria. It is bordered to the south by Slovenia, and cloc ...

before joining

Sturm Graz Sportklub Sturm Graz is an Austrian professional association football club, based in Graz, playing in the Austrian Football Bundesliga. The club was founded in 1909. Its colours are black and white. In its history, Sturm Graz has won the Austr ...

with whom he won the double in 1999. He moved on a free to

Rapid Wien Sportklub Rapid (), commonly known as Rapid Wien or Rapid Vienna in English, is an Austrian professional football club playing in the country's capital city of Vienna. Rapid has won the most Austrian championship titles (32), including the f ...

in 2002, after refusing to extend his deal with Sturm and making the way to court because he was subsequently put back in Sturm's amateur side, Feldhofer ended up winning the case. He clinched another league title with Rapid in 2005 and then left to become skipper of

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 ...

. In summer 2008 he decided to return to Sturm, where he signed a 3-year contract.

National team

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 March 2002

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sport, sporting event whose prize money and impact on th ...

against

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

and went on to earn 13 caps scoring one goal in a friendly against

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago, officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean, comprising the main islands of Trinidad and Tobago, along with several List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, smaller i ...

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

. His last international was a March 2007 friendly match against

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

. He was not considered for Austria's

Euro 2008 The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2008 or simply Euro 2008, was the 13th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA (the Union of European ...

squad.

Managerial career

After acquiring his

UEFA A Licence The UEFA coaching licences are documents testifying credentials of manager (association football), managers/ coach (sport), coaches among members of UEFA. The governing body for association football, football in Europe mandates several licences, e ...

in June 2012, Feldhofer was a group manager at the "LAZ Weiz" in

Weiz Weiz () is a town in the eastern part of the Austrian state of Styria Styria ( ; ; ; ) is an Austrian Federal states of Austria, state in the southeast of the country. With an area of approximately , Styria is Austria's second largest state, ...

from 2013-2014. After that, from 2014 to 2015, he was working as an individual trainer for the

ÖFB The Austrian Football Association (; ÖFB) is the governing body of Association football, football in Austria. It organises the football league, Austrian Bundesliga, the Austrian Cup and the Austria national football team, as well as its Austria w ...

at the LAZ Styria. On the 10th of October, Feldhofer was revealed as manager of

Austrian Regionalliga The Austrian Regionalliga ( or plural , means Regional League) is the third-highest division in Austrian football, after the Austrian Bundesliga and the Second League. It is divided into 3 groups: East (), covering the states of Vienna, Lower A ...

club

SV Lafnitz Sportverein Lafnitz (commonly known as SV Licht-Loidl Lafnitz for sponsorship purposes) is an Football in Austria, Austrian association football club from Lafnitz. They currently play in the Austrian Regionalliga Central after their relegation fro ...

and two days later started his work there. He was able to win the

Austrian Regionalliga Central The Austrian Regional League Central (''Regionalliga Mitte'') is the third tier of Austrian football, established in the 1994–95 season. It serves as one of three regional leagues at this level in Austria and encompasses the states of Carinthia ...

with the club, getting promoted to the Austrian 2. Liga by doing so. In October 2019, Feldhofer acquired his

UEFA Pro Licence The UEFA coaching licences are documents testifying credentials of manager (association football), managers/ coach (sport), coaches among members of UEFA. The governing body for association football, football in Europe mandates several licences, e ...

, the highest of Coach licences which is required in order to coach professional teams. In December 2019, Feldhofer became 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 Wolfsberger AC, commonly referred to as Wolfsberg or simply WAC, is an Austrian association football club from Wolfsberg, Carinthia, who currently play in the Austrian Bundesliga. Between the 2007–08 and 2011–12 seasons, Wolfsberger AC enter ...

. Under him, the club was able to record what probably were the biggest achievements in the history of the club to date. At the end of the 2019/20 season, the Wolfsberger club stood at third place, which was the best season result in the history of the club, with this they were also able to immediately qualify for the

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

for the second time. In 2020/21, the club was able to pass the group stage of said competition for the first time in club history but their run was put to a halt after two ties against

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

. In the league however, the club was struggling to find continuous wins as they were, among other problems, missing a goalscorer of high caliber with Shon Weissman having departed to

Real Valladolid Real Valladolid Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., or simply Real Valladolid (), is a Spanish professional List of football clubs in Spain, football club based in Valladolid, Castile and León that will compete from the 2025–26 season in the . The club ...

. These smaller problems were however put in the background after it became public that Feldhofer had seemingly repeatedly been having fights with club skipper

Michael Liendl Michael Liendl (born 25 October 1985) is a retired Austrian professional association football player who was the central midfielder for WAC. Club career Liendl started his career playing for FC Nenzing and FC Thüringen. Later on, he played fo ...

putting him on the bench a few times before finally leaving him, together with two other leading players

Michael Novak Michael John Novak Jr. (September 9, 1933 – February 17, 2017) was an American Catholic philosopher, journalist, novelist, and diplomat. The author of more than forty books on the philosophy and theology of culture, Novak is most widely known ...

and

Christopher Wernitznig Christopher Wernitznig (born 24 February 1990) is an Austrian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Austria Klagenfurt in the Austrian Bundesliga The Bundesliga ( , "Federal League"), also known as Admiral Bundesliga for spo ...

, out of the match-day squad before their cup-clash against

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 ...

, the game ended in a 0-1 loss after added time and Feldhofer decided to step down from his role as club-coach the following day, leaving the club at fifth in the table. Since 28 November 2021, Feldhofer managed Austrian club

SK Rapid Wien Sportklub Rapid (), commonly known as Rapid Wien or Rapid Vienna in English language, English, is an Football in Austria, Austrian professional football club playing in the country's capital city of Vienna. Rapid has won the most Austrian cham ...

. Feldhofer was fired by Rapid on 16 October 2022. On 16 June 2024, he was appointed as the manager of Georgian club

Dinamo Tbilisi Dinamo Tbilisi is a sports club from Tbilisi, Georgia (country), Georgia. It was founded in 1925. Among its highest honors, is the European trophy earned by its Association football, football team which won the Cup Winners' Cup in 1981, beating ...

signing a year and a half contract. On 10 December 2024, Dinamo Tbilisi announced the departure of Feldhofer as Head Coach by mutual agreement. On the same day, Feldhofer was announced as the new head coach of

Cercle Brugge Cercle Brugge Koninklijke Sportvereniging () is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges. They compete in the Belgian Pro League, the top flight of Belgian football. Their matricule number is 12. The club plays home games at the 29 ...

on a six months contract, with an option for 2025-26 season. On 17 March 2025, Feldhofer was sacked by Cercle Brugge after failing to guide the club away from the relegation play-offs. On 24 March 2025, Feldhofer was announced as the new head coach of

Managerial statistics

Honours

As player

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 ...

: 1997-98, 1998–99, 2010-11 (Sturm Graz) and 2004–05 (Rapid Vienna) *

Austrian Cup The Austrian Cup (), known as UNIQA ÖFB Cup for sponsorship purposes, is an annual football competition held by the Austrian Football Association, the ÖFB. During the 2008–09 season, Austria Wien won the tournament for a record 27th time. Wo ...

: 1998–99, 2009–10 (Sturm Graz)

As coach

: 2017-18 (SV Lafnitz)

References

# http://www.laola1.at/de/fussball/bundesliga/news/feldhofer-beendet-seine-karriere/page/58650-32-48---7.html # https://web.archive.org/web/20161012100515/http://www.collegeweiz-stfv.at/trainer/ferdinand-feldhofer/ # http://sportnet.at/home/fussball/international/4840537/Fussball-Live_ExSturmKicker-Ferdinand-Feldhofer-hat-neuen-Job # https://www.laola1.at/de/red/fussball/2--liga/news/2--liga--lafnitz-trainer-feldhofer-erhaelt-uefa-pro-lizenz/ # https://www.rzpelletswac.at/2019/12/23/feldhofer-neuer-cheftrainer/ # https://www.laola1.at/de/red/fussball/oefb-cup/news/wac-boss-riegler-zur-causa-feldhofer-liendl---eine-ungute-sache-/ # https://www.rzpelletswac.at/2021/03/04/feldhofer-tritt-zurueck/ #https://www.laola1.at/de/red/fussball/bundesliga/news/feldhofer-neuer-rapid-coach/

External links

*
Player stats
at Rapid Archiv {{DEFAULTSORT:Feldhofer, Ferdinand 1979 births Living people People from Hartberg District Men's association football defenders Austrian men's footballers Austria men's international footballers SK Sturm Graz players SK Rapid Wien players FC Wacker Innsbruck (2002) players Austrian Football Bundesliga players Footballers from Styria Austrian football managers Wolfsberger AC managers SK Rapid Wien managers FC Dinamo Tbilisi managers Cercle Brugge K.S.V. managers Austrian Football Bundesliga managers Erovnuli Liga managers Austrian expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Georgia (country) Austrian expatriate sportspeople in Georgia (country) Expatriate football managers in Belgium Austrian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium