In just a few days’ time, FC Salzburg will make their bow at the FIFA Club World Cup 2025™, with 32 teams from all confederations coming together in the USA in a quest to be crowned the best club team in the world. Salzburg have ended the last two seasons empty-handed after claiming ten league titles on the bounce, but the global stage represents a rare opportunity for the Austrian club to compete against teams from outside of Europe and that’s a challenge they are relishing.
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Speaking with FIFA, head coach Thomas Letsch touched on what the tournament means, the challenges of preparing for opponents from three different continents, and the importance of the event for the development of his young team.
He also explained why Salzburg will stand by their philosophy despite being outsiders, and how he views the role of football in the USA one year before the country hosts the FIFA World Cup 26™.
Thomas Letsch: It is such a special opportunity for us, an Austrian club, to be able to compete against the best teams in the world – playing teams from other continents. That is why we can’t wait to get going.
It is always great when fans come together from all over the world. When I think back to the World Cup in Germany in 2006… it was fantastic to see so many cultures all together. People who are out to have fun, who want to celebrate together, watch good football and simply enjoy themselves, especially in these strange times.
It is always special when you go up against the very best. We have had the pleasure of playing Real in the Champions League, and I don’t think we did too badly, even though the result perhaps didn’t reflect that. So, this is such a great opportunity for us to show just how far we have progressed.
It is important for us to stay true to our principles. We will certainly be seen as outsiders, but we want a clear footballing philosophy to underpin our performances. We are aiming to be bold, and while we don’t want to make major changes, there will be some minor adjustments for each opponent. Changing completely to adopt a passive approach is out of the question for us. On the contrary, we want our performance to reflect what Salzburg stands for.
We will distribute those tasks within the club, as we have the resources to put together enough material on those teams. That is no problem nowadays, with all the media we have at our disposal. But of course, there are some teams that we have never crossed paths with before, such as Pachuca from Mexico or Al Hilal from Saudi Arabia.
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Football in the United States is not standing still. MLS has continued to develop and it is an exciting league to watch. I like MLS and you can see that football is growing in stature. That’s a good thing and it is brilliant for an event like this to be taking place before the World Cup. It’s the perfect location: there are plenty of worse things to do than go to the United States and travel around the east of the country – like we will.
To travel from the east to other US states, which means staying involved for as long as possible. We already spoke about our philosophy… we want to perform as well as we possibly can, and we want to show that we deserve to be there, even though we come from a small country. We aim to stay humble, but we want to compete with belief in our own abilities. And who knows? The group phase is great, but it would be even nicer if we managed to get at least one round further.
It is hugely important. As a club, our focus is on training young players and giving them a chance at an early stage. We have to ensure that young players choose to come to Salzburg to take the next step and progress. Playing is the only way for them to develop, and this platform will be a fantastic experience for them. But we must not make the mistake of just throwing young players into the fray and saying: “The Club World Cup is the first step.” You’ve got to be careful about that, but I am looking forward to it. Overall, we have a very young team. Seeing a group of young players on the pitch is part of our DNA, and we want to show that.
Of course I follow American sports. The first name that comes to mind when I think about basketball is Michael Jordan, who was exceptionally talented. And Kobe Bryant too. That is what I associate with basketball, which I have always enjoyed watching. If we’re talking about ice hockey, my thoughts turn to Wayne Gretzky. As we have an academy in Salzburg where ice hockey and football work together, following ice hockey comes naturally. And I enjoy recalling those famous American football duels between Dan Marino and Troy Aikman. You can tell that I belong to an older generation, but I still find American sports fascinating – although I don’t take much of an interest in baseball.
