Austrian FA respond to claims of meeting with Man Utd manager Rangnick

Martin Macdonald

• 6 Apr 2022 11:53 BST
• 3 min read

The Austrian Football Association has confirmed that no meeting has taken place with Manchester United manager Ralf Rangnick over a head coach role with the Austria national side.

Austria are looking for a new head coach after previous boss Franco Foda resigned ahead of an international friendly against Scotland last week.

The nation has failed to qualify for the 2022 World Cup and Foda told reporters:

“I’ve been thinking a lot over the past few days. I finally made my decision yesterday evening.

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“It was still rumored that I might have had the option of extending my contract. But that didn’t matter to me anymore, because I took responsibility for [the failure].

“It was a great honor for me to coach and work with this team. It was four and a half great years.

“My successor can look forward to a team with impeccable character that is good and has a lot of potential for development.”

Did Rangnick meet with the Austrian FA?

Reports emerged that the head of the Austrian FA, Peter Schottel, flew to Manchester on Friday to discuss appointing Rangnick as the nation's new head coach.

However, via its official Twitter page, the FA has denied this. Tweeting:

"Clarification: There was no meeting between ÖFB sports director Peter Schöttel and Ralf Rangnick, coach of @ManUtd."

Will Rangnick continue at Man Utd next season?

Following the disappointing tenure of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Rangnick was appointed Man Utd manager on a temporary basis until the end of the season.

Following the conclusion of the current campaign, he will undertaker an advisory role behind the scenes at Old Trafford, focusing on recruitment and youth development.

The Daily Mail have reported this week that Rangnick's new role will involve him working just six days a month.

In terms of a manager search, the front-runner currently is Ajax boss Erik ten Hag, who has already interviewed for the job and spoke about it publicly.

Mauricio Pochettino was previously the favourite, but his stock has fallen slightly due to Paris Saint-Germain's Champions League failure at the last-16 stage against Real Madrid.

Other names in the frame are Carlo Ancelotti, Brendan Rodgers and Zinedine Zidane.