Ingolstadt rises thanks coach Ralph Hasenhüttl on – SPIEGEL ONLINE

He felt ten years older, Ralph Hasenhüttl had said a few weeks ago. 1: 0 won his team back then in Heidenheim, it was close, and could well do without Hasenhüttl to such thrills games and stress. But on this Sunday evening saw the coach of FC Ingolstadt not a year older than the 47 that he is in fact, on the contrary: Hasenhüttl beamed like a little boy, when he in the stands of the Ingolstadt stadium the championship trophy of the second division in the air pushed. 1 (1: 1)

In the penultimate season game of the FCI 2 had against RB Leipzig won and was thus finally ascended to the Bundesliga. Eleven years after the creation of the football club and not even two years after Hasenhüttl coach had become at Bayern.

And seven days later than originally planned. “The last week was really a nightmare. We wanted to make it clear at last. That was really brutal,” Hasenhüttl said. Last weekend, he and his team had actually already set to rise, Hasenhüttl had to play at VfL Bochum even packed a change of clothes to be able to move to the obligatory beer showers can. But then lost Ingolstadt, and Hasenhüttl had to do what he does not like: wait.

It was worth it, for the first time Ingolstadt will play perfectly in the coming season. “I am very proud and just want to say thank you,” said the coach. Here thanks mainly due to him. The Austrians made it within a short time to form a relegation-threatened team a Bundesliga newcomers. Since the eighth matchday this season Ingolstadt no longer gave the standings, clubs with great traditions (like Nuremberg or Kaiserslautern) or ambitions (as RB Leipzig) had no chance.

Here Ingolstadt had been anything but the top team of the second division in recent years, it languished mostly in the lower middle. As Hasenhüttl 2013 successor to Marco was short in October, the team was in last place. At the end of the season was tenth, a few months later and almost exactly a year after the arrival of new coach, the team completed the 18th away game in a row without a defeat. This had until then managed no other second division.

coincidence? Luck? Hardly. Because Hasenhüttl even earlier professional at 1. FC Köln and Greuther Fürth, is a proven rescuers and climbers. Unterhaching he led in 2008 from the Regional League in the third, 2011, he took over the then third division relegation VfR Aalen. Aalen stopped the class and a year later went on to the second division. Because of internal tensions between the coach and the club management Hasenhüttl asked for the termination of his contract, which would actually have been valid until the end of 2014.

“work against the ball”

So he was free when asking him for help Ingolstadt. Sports director Thomas Linke had closely watched what rabbits Hüttls teams apart: They rarely play above or below their possibilities. But the football, they do best – even if this does not necessarily correspond to the current ideal of beauty. “The work against the ball is always at the center of our actions. That’s the key to our success”, Hasenhüttl said after the record-breaking series in the autumn.

Like his previous teams can Hasenhüttl also Ingolstadt not control the game by a lot of possession, but relies on a long and high balls and a stable defensive – usually with a 4-4-2 or 4-5-1 – from the opponent is to be brought into trouble with quick raids. Hasen Hüttls pragmatic conception of football reminiscent of the Peter Stöger, the Coach of the 1. FC Köln. The Stoeger, also an Austrian, has brought his squad through the ascent season is not always pretty, but very effective.

Hasenhüttl and FC Ingolstadt likely do exactly courage. To survive the difficult first year in the Bundesliga, they must not be a game-making team, but also hide their own weaknesses with playful clever counterattack football. A concept that could work together with the 20 million spiked to 40 to 45 million total budget (according to “Augsburger Allgemeine”). And has set up the already other clubs on the scene: The VfB Stuttgart to have been interested in Hasenhüttl as coach from the summer, have Ingolstadt but blocked.

Hasenhüttl likely to have been the right: “. If I successfully keep working as a coach, the Bundesliga does not run away to me The best time is when you want to enjoy a sporty way there creates”, he said – before this season.