“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Kapfenberg have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Albin Berisha was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Kapfenberg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bleron Krasniqi is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Half the programme played, position 11, 18 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Two goals and a mark of 9.25 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Albin Berisha scored in the 89th minute, Amstetten had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Kapfenberg took the lot.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Paul Komposch was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Albin Berisha. 2‑1 against Amstetten, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Robin Littig has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Peter Arnautovic could afford to be generous.
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Albin Berisha has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
Albin Berisha and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Kapfenberg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Paul Komposch is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Marco Kadlec’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Kapfenberg needing him to play as if none of it matters.
8 appearances at Sevlievo and the goals have stopped going in. Kapfenberg lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Richard Strebinger has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Kapfenberg, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Albin Berisha and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Nobody at Kapfenberg will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Kapfenberg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lorenzo Coco is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
9 matches without defeat, and then Austria Klagenfurt. Nobody at the ground pretended it would go on forever; nobody expected it to stop here either.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Kapfenberg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Paul Komposch is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Peter Arnautovic to a room that had heard them before.
In brief
BoardroomWages eat 93% of everything Kapfenberg earn
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Kapfenberg have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Kapfenberg can tell you which week it ends in.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kapfenberg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Paul Komposch falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Something was said to Samba Konaté and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Peter Arnautovic after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Kapfenberg can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad19 Oct 2026
David Korherr falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
11 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Peter Arnautovic after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
At 20 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Robin Littig and Kapfenberg agree another 4 years.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Kapfenberg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Paul Komposch is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Paul Komposch’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Kapfenberg needing him to play as if none of it matters.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and David Korherr has written the date down.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Marco Kadlec signs something — a contract at Kapfenberg or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Albin Berisha was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Paul Komposch falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Everybody at Kapfenberg saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 36 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Peter Arnautovic was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Kapfenberg dressing room was either.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Nobody at Kapfenberg will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 17 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kapfenberg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Kapfenberg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Korherr is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Albin Berisha has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
A brace, and Albin Berisha takes the afternoon — 9.24
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Albin Berisha provided it, and the 9.24 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 15 actions, 7.92, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Kapfenberg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Paul Komposch is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Albin Berisha. 3‑1 against Young Violets, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kapfenberg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
10 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Peter Arnautovic on a 3‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kapfenberg can pretend not to have heard.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Kapfenberg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Paul Komposch is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Pardubice have kept their man, and Kapfenberg go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Peter Arnautovic after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Kapfenberg close the window on a squad of their own making
17 in and 2 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
The offer from Vihren for Nikola Sarcević was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $70.0K — a club that wants Armin Haider enough to be asked twice.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Marco Kadlec reports back to Kapfenberg with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Albin Berisha was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad7 Sep 2026
David Korherr falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
A 2‑0 win over Schwarz-Weiß Bregenz, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
There is exactly one of these per career and it does not usually go like this. 1 on the scoresheet, 7.70 beside the name, and a crowd that had never seen him before chanting it by the end.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Kapfenberg, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Paul Komposch was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. LASK have kept their man, and Kapfenberg go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Stripfing have kept their man, and Kapfenberg go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The offer from FAC Wien for Vinko Čolić was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Paul Komposch was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Stripfing left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad24 Aug 2026
11 new faces, and Kapfenberg are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Peter Arnautovic after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Kapfenberg offered $2.6M; LASK said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $2.7M — a club that wants Petter Nosa Dahl enough to be asked twice.
Albin Berisha and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The offer went to Austria Salzburg this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
Kapfenberg spend $330.0K on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $330.0K for Nikola Sarcević, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Paul Komposch has just signed for Kapfenberg, and for once the answer mattered.
Kapfenberg have gone to LASK with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
$2.4M on the table at Rapid Wien. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The deal with Red Bull Salzburg is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $2.7M — a club that wants Andrés Andrade enough to be asked twice.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Eintracht Braunschweig is saying, and nobody at Kapfenberg is enjoying the guessing.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Paul Komposch falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Add another name to the list: Austria Salzburg have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Lamine Touré. The answer from Kapfenberg has not changed — yet.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Thomas Lazaro is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Alexander Briedl has just signed for Kapfenberg, and for once the answer mattered.
Kapfenberg have gone to Rapid Wien with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Kapfenberg have gone to Red Bull Salzburg with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Albin Berisha was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.