Austria’s 2024/25 Title Race: Sturm Graz vs Red Bull Salzburg, Christian Ilzer vs Pep Lijnders Tactical Analysis

The new Austrian Bundesliga season is upon us, with Red Bull Salzburg getting life under ex-Liverpool assistant coach Pep Lijnders off to a positive start in game one of the new league campaign by earning three points, albeit a hard-fought three points, against newly-promoted Grazer AK — local rivals of last season’s league title winners, SK Sturm Graz.

At the time of writing, Salzburg and Grazer are the only two sides of the Austrian Bundesliga’s 12 to officially get the new campaign started, with defending champions Sturm Graz not set to kick off 2024/25 until Sunday, when they travel to Allianz Stadion to face Rapid Wien.

The new Austrian top-flight campaign is set to play host to an intriguing battle at the top of the table.

On one side, we find SK Sturm Graz, who had finished second in the league for two years in a row under Christian Ilzer until the 46-year-old coach finally brought the title to Die Schwoazn this past season — delivering Sturm Graz a first championship since 2010/11.

Now, Ilzer faces the fresh challenge of spearheading the hunted, as opposed to the hunters, as he prepares his Schwoazn side to try and defend their Bundesliga crown.

On the other side, we find a Red Bull Salzburg side coming into the new season not as the defending champions for the first time since 2013/14 — a campaign which kickstarted a 10-year title streak.

Under Jürgen Klopp protégé Pep Lijnders, they’re coming into 2024/25 to make up for last season’s domestic disappointment, kick Sturm Graz off the league’s summit and re-establish themselves as Austria’s team to beat.

This tactical analysis piece provides some analysis of both sides’ tactics in and out of possession, sharing some insight into what can be expected from them in this 2024/25 campaign, which has the potential to see an intriguing title race.

Transfer Window Overview

Firstly, for a little bit of context, let’s take a moment to discuss how these two teams approached the 2024 summer transfer window.

Salzburg and Sturm Graz experienced very different transfer windows this summer, with the former being the most profitable side in Austria’s top-flight (+€28.2m) when it comes to transfer fees at the time of writing and the latter being the biggest spenders in that category (-€3.64m).

Salzburg have parted ways with some notable members of their 2023/24 squad, including Strahinja Pavlović, who’s joined AC Milan, Luka Sučić, who’s joined Real Sociedad, and Sékou Koïta, who’s joined CSKA Moscow.

As of yet, the only players they’ve signed are Janis Blaswich — a goalkeeper signed on loan from RB Leipzig — and Takumu Kawamura — a midfielder signed for an undisclosed fee from J1 League side Sanfrecce Hiroshima.

This is hardly an investment in the playing squad, which provides the resemblance of a side gearing up to avenge a title loss last term, but considering the potentially major addition of Lijnders in the dugout and the elite youth system at his disposal — a result of years of hard work and, indeed, investment — transfer fees are not the only things that should be considered when it comes to assessing Salzburg’s readiness for the 2024/25 season and the challenges it brings.

Several players have been promoted within the squad from lesser roles last season to more significant ones this term and some players have been promoted from youth ranks to the senior squad, adding fresh blood for Lijnders to get his hands on and work with.

Salzburg still boast by far the most valuable squad in the Austrian Bundesliga, per Transfermarkt, and the biggest wage bill in Austria’s top flight, per Capology.

Hence, they are very much a force to be reckoned with by any measure.

On the other hand, Sturm Graz have ensured they didn’t become a lot weaker this season by bringing in a couple of key loanees from last term — Mika Biereth from Arsenal and Dimitri Lavalée from KV Mechelen — back to the club on permanent deals.

They also replaced departing left-back David Schnegg, who’s gone to MLS side DC United, with Emir Karić, who joined on a free after previously playing for Darmstadt in the German Bundesliga last term.

On top of that, they’ve invested heavily in top youth prospects, with Emanuel Aiwu (23 years old) joining from Cremonese for €1.6m, Arjan Malić (18 years old) joining from SV Ried for €650K, Daniil Khudyakov (20 years old) joining from Lokomotiv Moscow for €340K, Tochi Chukwuani (21 years old) joining from Lyngby BK for €200K, Martin Kern (18 years old) joining from Puskás AFC for an undisclosed sum and Lovro Zvonarek (19 years old) joining on a season-long loan from FC Bayern.

If there was any concern of complacency creeping into Ilzer’s squad, this vast injection of promising youth talent should address it.

A plethora of hungry youngsters are now going to be in the squad and chomping at the bit to create their own bit of history at Merkur Arena.

Sturm Graz Out-Of-Possession

Moving on to the Sturm Graz tactical analysis, we’ll start by discussing both sides’ respective approaches in defensive phases.

Firstly, let’s look at the defending champions, Sturm Graz.

Last season, Sturm Graz had the fourth-lowest PPDA (8.58) in Austria’s top flight.

They tend to press fairly aggressively with quite a high line, yet still, there are teams in Austria’s top flight, including Salzburg, who had the lowest PPDA in the league last term (7.24) with an even more aggressive press.