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05. 03. 10. - 12:00

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05. 03. 10. - 12:00

From Champions League glory to coaching the homeless

Most professional footballers tend to take the same path in life: they start playing at a top level after being praised for having outstanding talent as a teenager, then join a club in the second or third league at a later career stage before retiring to an amateur club which can afford their services.

At first glance, the life of Gilbert Prilasnig does not seem to differ too much from this pattern. But look at it again and his is a story of not only success but of terrible letdown too, of not only Champions League stardom but of English courses in Cambridge and homeless football fanatics across the world.

Prilasnig was an essential part of the Sturm Graz team which successfully competed in the UEFA Champions League in three successive seasons from 1998. The Carinthian played for the Austrian Bundesliga club for ten years. Looking back on these long gone highlights, he stressed the impact manager Ivica Osim had made.

Speaking to News on Austria, Prilasnig said: "Osim was an impressive personality. We the players looked up to him. I stayed in touch with him and I know many of my former teammates did so too."

Asked for Osim’s secret to success, Prilasnig stressed the way the former coach of the national team of Yugoslavia dealt with those he worked with.

"He treated us like responsible humans – something that is not a matter of course in football. I experienced how managers can stop you enjoying playing football by the way they treat you," he explained.

Prilasnig also referred to those in charge at FC Kärnten, the club he played for in the 2003/2004 season.

"I was totally let down by club bosses when I had to undergo a cruciate ligament surgery. I worried I might never be able to play football again and had no support from the club," the father-of-one said.

Prilasnig failed for months to find a new club after his doomed spell at FC Kärnten.

"Not being with a club for a certain period is the worst thing that can happen to a player. I began to question the way things go in this business and the work of managers and agents," he said.

The defender revealed he started to look for a new club on his own initiative.

He said: "An old friend of mine who lives in Cambridge where he works as a physiotherapist put me in touch with [the club] Ipswich Town. But eventually I did not join them."

Prilasnig said his friend – a Dutchman – one day mentioned Cambridge United, the town’s local club.

"I lived at his place for a while back then, and he said one of the clubs in the town was not that bad. He knew the manager and I eventually signed a contract with the club," he said.

Prilasnig – who now captains Austrian third league side SV Horn – said he did not benefit from the half year he played in England’s Third Division as far as the football side of it goes. But having always been interested in languages, he took the opportunity to improve his English. "Speaking with residents, I realised the level of English you learn at school might not always be enough," he said, laughing. He added: "So I decided to do the Certificate of Proficiency in English at the town’s Anglia Polytechnic University."

Prilasnig said he enjoyed living in the town with its multicultural student population. But he revealed he did not feel totally accepted by all his teammates immediately.

"They might have been a bit sceptical about why I wanted to join their club of all the clubs in the world – me, the former national team and Champions League player. It was an unusual decision when you think about it. But I had to make this step to get back on track and I don’t regret it. I feared my career would be over if I didn’t find a club soon," he explained.

Prilasnig – who names AC Milan legend Marco van Basten as his childhood hero – was still playing for Cambridge United when he received a rather unusual offer.

The 37-year-old said: "A businessman from Graz who invented the Homeless World Cup in cooperation with [street newspaper] The Big Issue called me to ask whether I could imagine becoming coach of the Austrian team."

Prilasnig said yes – and is still in charge as manager of the team. He already looks forward to this year’s Homeless World Cup.

"It will take place in Rio de Janeiro. I’m sure it will be something special. The 2008 event was so far the best tournament. It took place in Melbourne and was just perfectly organised," he said about the initiative established in 2003 when the city of Graz was the European Capital of Culture.

Speaking about what he focused on when working with the players, Prilasnig said: "I certainly ask for a certain amount of discipline as the lack of it might be one of the reasons why they ended up in this situation.

"Creating some kind of team spirit is important too, of course. That’s not an easy thing to do since time to prepare for the tournament is relatively short. But the fact they know who I am and of the experience I gained when playing on top level helps.

"I also try to help them recreate their self esteem. And polls among people participating in the event since it was set up have revealed that around seven in ten say their personal situation has improved after playing at the Homeless World Cup. Many say their motivation to get things sorted has risen," he said, adding that a film portraying three Austrian Homeless World Cup players is set for a summer 2010 release.

Asked how he argues being confronted with the common accusation that all footballers are rather naïve characters, he said: "These prejudices will always exist. But the truth is that everyone who manages to make a living from playing football needs a certain amount of intelligence.

"It’s a huge market and great talent is just not enough. You don’t need to be educated to make it but you need to be intelligent, I’d say," he claimed.

Speaking about his plans for the future, Prilasnig said he was confident he will manage to create a second foothold apart from the option of working as a football coach by studying Psycholinguistics.

"I’ve been working on my diploma thesis for a while now and I’m optimistic it will be finished this year," Prilasnig – who has always been regarded as belonging to the rare species of intellectual footballers – said.

He added: "I haven’t made a decision yet about when to retire playing. I really do still enjoy it."

Prilasnig’s homepage says being a farmer is his dream job. Asked whether he could imagine becoming one after calling it a day as a player, he revealed: "Not really. The truth is I just claimed that so young people reading this think about what opinion they might have of farmers.

"I found myself using the [German term for farmer] word ‘Bauer’ as a swearword myself and decided to claim I want to become a farmer to improve the profession’s image. I did so years ago when I was playing for Sturm Graz. A friend of mine who created my homepage put that online without checking with me about it. It hasn’t been changed ever since," he said, laughing.

Asked to reveal one career highlight he still thinks of today, Prilasnig said: "There are many nice memories, of course. But asked to name just one, it must be the breathtaking atmosphere playing away against Glasgow Rangers in the Champions League. Now I know what it means when 51,000 sing together. The atmosphere playing against Manchester United at Old Trafford was a silent mass compared to that!"

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