Dietmar Pfeifer (Photo: FCS)
After a mixed first half of the season, many FC Südtirol fans are asking themselves the anxious question: Can the white-reds still be saved? Why FCS General Director Dietmar Pfeifer is anything but worried.
TAGESZEITUNG Online: Mr. Pfeifer, can FC Südtirol still be saved?
Dietmar Pfeifer: Naturally. Each of us is aware that we have to fight to stay in the league every year. You just have to look at the table: it’s impressive how many teams have to fight to stay in the league. It’s completely normal that we are among these teams that have to fight Sunday after Sunday.
So don’t panic on the Titanic?
No. By now we are used to fighting and dealing with this situation. We have to keep calm and make the right decisions. The team has to stay compact and give full throttle until the end.
Fabrizio Castori (Photo: Bordoni)
Coach Fabrizio Castori is not up for discussion?
As with all of our previous head coaches, we are also analyzing the work of our current coach. As long as we are convinced of his work, we will stick with him.
What is the mood like in the group?
The mood is actually good, it would of course be better if we had a few more points. But the championship is still long, we’ve played 18 of 38 games, so we’re not even halfway there yet.
The FCS’s record so far has been pretty mixed…
The first third of the championship was quite good, in the second third of the championship we struggled with a lot of injuries, so we reacted and made some changes in training. There were a few too many individual mistakes in the final third and we have to correct these mistakes.
So you see the glass half full…
Look: On January 5th, 2026 we have played 18 games and the saving bank is only one point away. On January 5th last year we played 20 games and were five points away from safety and in the end managed to stay in the league. That’s why it’s now about scoring as well as possible every weekend and strengthening the team in points.
This brings us to the topic of the transfer market: With Simone Verdi and Marco Frigerio, the FCS has signed two new players. What do you expect from these two professionals?
Paolo Bravo with Simone Verdi (Photo: FCS)
There are two players who can help us. Simone Verdi is a quality player…
…but no longer the youngest…
He’s not overly old, he was born in 1992, we have older players than Verdi in the squad. But he is a former international player, he has over 240 appearances in Serie A…
But the fact is that Como is giving up Verdi because he hasn’t played much recently.
That’s true, but Como is now one of the six or seven top clubs in Italy because they have achieved outstanding quality. Precisely because the quality at Como is now so high, Verdi was no longer able to play in the first half of the season. But his curriculum alone proves that he can play football. He still lacks match practice, but that’s precisely why we tried to get him early and brought him in before Christmas so that he can be brought up to his peak performance as quickly as possible.
Your first impressions of Simone Verdi?
Marco Frigerio (Photo: FCS)
He’s technically excellent, he hasn’t played the full 90 minutes yet, but he can also help us if he can only play 20 or 30 minutes initially. So if the coach can change at such a high level, it will help us a lot. I think that Verdi will be ready to play from the start in two or three weeks.
Und Marco Frigerio?
Frigerio is a physically strong player who loves running. He comes to us fully motivated. He already played with Lecco in Serie B two years ago. His coach at Lecco, Federico Valente, also spoke nothing but good things about him.
FC Südtirol welcomes Spezia on Saturday…
Yes, Spezia and Sampdoria have upgraded enormously and are throwing money around on the transfer market…
Spezia brought in Leonardo Sernicola, Sampdoria brought in Salvatore Esposito, the brother of Inter star Pio Esposito…
True, but that is irrelevant to us. We can’t keep up with such million-dollar transfers. But we are going into this game full of enthusiasm and want to start the year 2026 well.
The FCS transfer market is not over yet?
No. If we can get players who we are convinced are better than current players, then we will take them. Two or three players could still come, some will leave us.
So there can be no question of the fear of relegation being avoided in the FCS?
Absolutely not! We as FC Südtirol are going into the championship with the certainty that we have to fight until the last game. The difficulty of playing in Serie B can also be represented numerically: There are currently only four teams that have been playing consistently in Serie B for four years: Modena, Palermo, Bari and FC Südtirol. If anyone thinks that there is some unwritten, eternal right to Series B, they are on the wrong track. In Serie B there is a big exchange every year: three teams are promoted and four teams are relegated. Every season is therefore a new and a huge challenge. We are now used to dealing with this pressure.
Every year it’s time to fight for the FCS…
Yes, for us it means fighting anew every year and fighting against relegation with all our might. This constant struggle is what makes football so attractive.
If the FCS fails to reverse the trend in the first games in January, the coaching question would arise at some point…
Foto: FCS
We evaluate daily work. We’ll see if the team follows suit. And then you have to look at what alternatives there are. I believe that pure activism does not always lead to the goal.
But is the club looking at the coaching market?
Of course, we know all the trainers that are on the market inside out. But no one can give us a guarantee that we will save ourselves safely. There is no such thing as a coach with the guaranteed golden touch.
The team is behind coach Castori?
In any case.
Interview: Artur Oberhofer
Photo(s): © 123RF.com and/or/with © Archive Die Neue Südtiroler Tageszeitung GmbH (unless there is a reference)
