Walter "Schoko" Schachner is a football manager and former player, who played as a forward for the Austrian national side. As he always brought chocolate to the games when he was a boy, he got the nickname schoko. He was one of the most successful Austrian players in Italian football, as he played for 4 clubs over 7 years.
Playing career
Club career
Much-travelled Schachner started his professional career at local outfit Alpine Donawitz at 18 in the 1975/1976 season, earning a place in the national team after only one and a half season. He was duly picked up by Vienna giants Austria Wien but moved abroad to play in Italy for seven years, from 1981 to 1988, in A.C. Cesena, Torino F.C. and Avellino. with Avellino in 1986–87 season In 1981 when Cesena was promoted to Serie A, the ultras changed their title to Weisschwarz Brigaden to honor the Austrian forward. He returned to Austria in 1988, moving from one club to another and mostly in the second division before finally hanging up his boots at 41 years of age at Eintracht Wels.
International career
He made his debut for Austria in a December 1976 World Cup qualification match against Malta and was a participant at the 1978 and 1982 FIFA World Cups. He earned 64 caps, scoring 23 goals. His final international game was an August 1994 friendly match against Russia which was his farewell match since he was replaced by Harald Cerny early in the game and he had played his previous international over 4 years earlier. On 21 June 1978 at the World Cup held in Argentina he was among starting 11 of the Austrian team that beat the reigning champions, West Germany 3-2 and eliminated them from the competition, a historic match named “The Miracle of Cordoba”. Conversely, he was also a member of the Austrian team that lost 1–0 to West Germany in 1982 in the "Disgrace of Gijón" but distinguished himself by making an effort to actually play a normal game.
Managerial career
He started his career as a coach in the season 1999/2000 in FC Zeltweg and led them to promotion from 4th to 3rd division. In seasons 2000/2001 and 2001/2002 he coached FC Kärnten in the Austrian Football First League. Under his leadership the team got promoted to the Austrian Bundesliga and won the National Cup in the first year and the National Supercup in the second. In the season 2002/2003 Schachner trained Austria Wien in Austrian Bundesliga until he was replaced by Christoph Daum in early October despite an excellent start of the season. At the time of his dismissal the team lead the championship with seven points ahead of second place and just defeated Ukrainian Champions Shakhtar Donetsk 5:2 in the UEFA Cup. A few days after his dismissal he was hired by Grazer AK, which held the penultimate place in the Austrian Bundesliga. The team finished the season in second place behind Austria Vienna. In the season 2003/2004 Schachner led Grazer AK to win their first and so far the only national champions title. In the same season they also won the Austrian Cup. In season 2004/2005 the Grazer AK were runners-up in the Bundesliga and faced Liverpool of Rafael Benitez, the future winners of the title, in the third qualification round of Champions League, managing to win the return leg at Anfield 1:0, after the home defeat of 0:2. In January 2006 he was sacked by the club, officially to reduce costs, in real because he was in talks with several other clubs. He moved to TSV 1860 München who were in the 2nd Bundesliga at the time and avoided relegation only in the penultimate round. The club was going through difficult period in those years and faced economic problems. On 9 March 2007, he and TSV 1860 München agreed to terminate his contract at the end of the 2006–2007 season on 30 June. His successor was Marco Kurz. Schachner signed a new contract at SK Austria Kärnten in April 2007. He did not achieve the desired results with the newly formed team and was fired by the management in December of that year. In August 2008, Schachner replaced the coach of VfB Admira Wacker Mödling, Heinz Peischl, who was fired for acquiring only 1 point in 5 games which left the team on the bottom of the ranking. With Schachner the team finished the season in the third place. Moreover, after 13 years Admira Wacker reached the National Cup final where they were defeated by Austria Wien 1:3. He remained as a coach in VfB Admira Wacker Mödling for the season 2009/10 before being replaced by their youth team coach on 26 April 2010, leaving the team in third place with 4 points behind the leader, struggling for promotion 6 rounds before the end of the season.
