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| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | (1979-10-23)23 October 1979 (age 45) | ||
| Place of birth | Vorau,Austria | ||
| Height | 1.84 m (6 ft 0 in) | ||
| Position(s) | Defender | ||
| Youth career | |||
| TuS Vorau | |||
| TSV Pöllau | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1998–2002 | Sturm Graz | 32 | (1) |
| 2002–2005 | Rapid Wien | 80 | (5) |
| 2005–2008 | Wacker Innsbruck | 77 | (4) |
| 2008–2013 | Sturm Graz | 88 | (2) |
| International career | |||
| 2002–2007 | Austria | 13 | (1) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 2015–2019 | SV Lafnitz | ||
| 2019–2021 | Wolfsberger AC | ||
| 2021–2022 | SK Rapid Wien | ||
| 2024 | Dinamo Tbilisi | ||
| 2024–2025 | Cercle Brugge | ||
| 2025– | Grazer AK | ||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Ferdinand Feldhofer (born 23 October 1979) is an Austrianfootball coach and a former player. He is the current manager ofGrazer AK in the Austrian Bundesliga.[1]
Feldhofer started his career as a youth player with TuS Vorau and TSV Pöllau inStyria before joiningSturm Graz with whom he won the double in 1999. He moved on a free toRapid Wien 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 becomeskipper ofWacker Innsbruck. In summer 2008 he decided to return to Sturm, where he signed a 3-year contract.
He made his debut forAustria in a March 2002friendly match againstSlovakia and went on to earn 13 caps scoring one goal in afriendly againstTrinidad and Tobago inVienna. His last international was a March 2007 friendly match againstGhana. He was not considered for Austria'sEuro 2008 squad.
After acquiring hisUEFA A Licence in June 2012, Feldhofer was a group manager at the "LAZ Weiz" inWeiz from 2013-2014. After that, from 2014 to 2015, he was working as an individual trainer for theÖFB at the LAZ Styria. On the 10th of October, Feldhofer was revealed as manager ofAustrian Regionalliga clubSV Lafnitz and two days later started his work there. He was able to win theAustrian Regionalliga Central with the club, getting promoted to the Austrian2. Liga by doing so. In October 2019, Feldhofer acquired hisUEFA Pro Licence, the highest of Coach licences which is required in order to coach professional teams.
In December 2019, Feldhofer became coach ofAustrian Bundesliga clubWolfsberger AC. 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 theEuropa League 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 againstTottenham Hotspur. In the league however, the club was struggling to find continuous wins as they were, among other problems, missing a goalscorer of high caliber withShon Weissman having departed toReal Valladolid. These smaller problems were however put in the background after it became public that Feldhofer had seemingly repeatedly been having fights with club skipperMichael Liendl putting him on the bench a few times before finally leaving him, together with two other leading playersMichael Novak andChristopher Wernitznig, out of the match-day squad before their cup-clash againstLASK, 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 clubSK Rapid Wien. Feldhofer was fired by Rapid on 16 October 2022.[2]
On 16 June 2024, he was appointed as the manager of Georgian clubDinamo Tbilisi signing a year and a half contract.[3] On 10 December 2024, Dinamo Tbilisi announced the departure of Feldhofer as Head Coach by mutual agreement.[4]
On the same day, Feldhofer was announced as the new head coach ofCercle Brugge on a six months contract, with an option for 2025-26 season.[5]
| Team | Nation | From | To | Record | Ref | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | Win % | |||||
| SV Lafnitz |  | 10 October 2015 | 23 December 2019 | 132 | 66 | 34 | 32 | 050.00 | [6] |
| Wolfsberger AC | | 23 December 2019 | 4 March 2021 | 46 | 20 | 10 | 16 | 043.48 | [7] |
| Rapid Wien | | 29 November 2021 | 16 October 2022 | 42 | 17 | 11 | 14 | 040.48 | [8] |
| Dinamo Tbilisi |  | 16 June 2024 | 10 December 2024 | 25 | 8 | 6 | 11 | 032.00 | [9] |
| Cercle Brugge |  | 10 December 2024 | present | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 040.00 | [10] |
| Total | 234 | 107 | 57 | 70 | 045.73 | — | |||