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“I need players with the maximum will and the maximum ambition.” The almost inflationary use of the superlative was one of the hallmarks of Otto Baric, who lived up to the ball as a coach in Austria for some 30 years and thus became a cult figure. As it became known last night, the Croatian died on Saturday at the age of 87 in Zagreb as a result of a corona infection. Also in Upper Austria, where Baric dealt with LASK and Vorwärts Steyr, there is great concern.
Baric, who was born as a guest worker at the Eisenkappel in Carinthia but grew up in Zagreb, was denied great success as an active person. As a coach, he should more than make up for it. The Croatian appeared in Austria for the first time in 1970 and soon became champion with Wacker Innsbruck. That was the start of a highly prestigious career in the national Bundesliga, which was interrupted by guest appearances in Croatia, Germany and Turkey and the last highlights were the grandiose European Cup successes with Austria Salzburg.
Salzburgs will not forget the advance to the 1994 UEFA Cup final against Inter Milan, which ended on the road against Eintracht Frankfurt (including the ‘spitting affair’) and the European Cup series ” black “from Karlsruhe of Austrian clubs against DFB clubs (after 17 unsuccessful attempts), performances in the 1994/95 Champions League, in which two draws were snatched from the later triumphant Ajax Amsterdam and in which AC Milan prevented reaching the quarterfinals until the last game of the group stage.
With Rapid Baric he had already reached the final of the European Cup of cup champions in Rotterdam against Everton (1: 3) in 1985. His business card of success in Austria includes Wacker Innsbruck (1971, 1972), Rapid (1983, 1987, 1988) and Salzburg (1994, 1995) seven championship titles, as well as two doubles and four cups (all with Rapid). At LASK, however, Baric was out of luck. In 1974, President Rudolf Trauner fired him, and in January 1999 he pulled the rope himself after the arrest of the club’s boss, Wolfgang Rieger.
In 1999, the ÖFB team also relied on the qualities of the baricos, but was not successful. After 22 matches and lost World Cup qualification, he made room for Hans Krankl and took over, for the last time in Austria, in the spring of 2002 again from Salzburg Austria.
Things were better in his home country, which he coached to the 2004 European Championship, but was eliminated in the group stage. Baric had his last engagement as a coach in 2006 and 2007 with the Albanian national team.
That was Otto Baric
Otto Baric was born on June 19, 1933 in Eisenkappel, when he was four years old, his parents returned to Zagreb, where he grew up and played football for Dinamo and Lokomotiva Zagreb. He began his coaching career in the 1960s with lower-class clubs in Germany. In 1970 he took over FC Wacker Innsbruck, with whom he won his first of seven championship titles in Austria a year later. This was followed by engagements at LASK (1972-1974, 1998-1999), Sturm Graz, Rapid Vienna, VfB Stuttgart, Vorwärts Steyr (1989-1991), Austria Salzburg. As a team leader, Baric worked in Austria (1999-2001), Croatia and Albania.
