Head coach Pepijn Lijnders has confirmed that Janis Blaswich is taking the captain's armband for our Red Bulls. The 33-year-old goalkeeper is one part of a leadership group of five including Amar Dedic, Alexander Schlager, Nicolas Capaldo and Bryan Okoh. Our coach says on the decision:
You really search for someone who can lead by example. You need a guy who feels the responsibility to watch out for a lot of players, and luckily we have a team full of leaders, and a team full of good guys who want to take the club forward.
From the first moment on, Janis Blaswich has made the impression that he can deal with this responsibility, not only during the good times, but also when times might get a bit tough.
I want a group to own the pitch as well as the locker room, and that is why we created a leadership group together with Amar Dedic and Alex Schlager, who will be the vice-captains. That is already a strong group, and we have added Nico Capaldo and Bryan Okoh to form a five-strong leadership group of this club.
We want to create a culture of excellence and of winning at this club, and this can only be owned by the team itself.
The first test for Blaswich & Co. will be FC Dornbirn 1913 in the UNIQA ÖFB Cup first round on Friday at 18:00 CEST. Then follows the Bundesliga opener against QAK and a UEFA Champions League qualifier against FC Twente (to the ticket info!) as the fixtures come thick and fast!
Our boys prepared for the new season at our Saalfelden training camp - and our camera was there to record it all! In this All Access episode, you can see exclusive insights from the camp and find out why coach Pep Lijnders describes the atmosphere among our boys as unique.
