December 13 – Belgian club Cercle Brugge have named Ferdinand Feldhofer (pictured) as the successor to Miron Muslic. It’s the third time in a row that the club have put their fate in the hands of an Austrian manager.
Brugge are fighting relegation in the Belgian league and following the exit of Muslic the club have chosen to trust the 45-year-old Feldhofer to rescue them from the drop. After 17 match days, Cercle are lingering in 17th position with 16 points, six more than bottom-of-the-table Beerschot.
“With the choice of Ferdinand Feldhofer, Cercle wants to continue building on the foundations that have been laid in recent seasons,” said the club.
“The coach’s vision fits in perfectly. Ferdinand stands for an intensive playing style with high pressing, in which the necessary attention is also paid to neat football in possession. All this goes hand in hand with incorporating the necessary young talents into his playing system.”
Feldhofer follows fellow Austrians Dominik Talahmmer and Muslic. The latter led Cercle to an unprecedented fourth place in the league table and European club competition qualification, making him popular among the fans.
“During our discussions it immediately became clear that we have the same ideas about football and the style of play,” said Feldhofer. “I can fully identify with Cercle’s philosophy and am completely convinced of the quality present in the group of players.”
“I can’t wait to get to know every player and every staff member. Intense communication with the players and with my staff will be important in the coming days, because we have a lot of matches coming our way.”
On Thursday, Feldhofer debuted with a convincing 4-1 victory against Olimpia Ljubljana of Slovenia in the Conference League.
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