What is your share of this success?
Arno Del Curto: Maybe 1 or 2 percent. No idea, you’ll have to ask the players.
At Christmas you said ice hockey was history for you. Now this about-face with Austria. Are you happy to have been at the World Cup?
I’m 66 years old and don’t have that long to live. And I had a lot of fun and joy at the World Cup. Nobody can take that away from me. When I was 44 I might have thought about what I once said. But at 66 I don’t have to anymore. And yes, I’m glad I did.
For what reason?
Being with these guys, working with them and talking about how they pulled along – that was great. And to play at eye level against the big nations at the World Cup was really cool. It’s unbelievable what this team has achieved, something big has grown together. And that with 10 players who earn less than 30,000 euros a year!
What did you actually get for your commitment?
182 euros per day. But just the trip to the training camp in Linz, for example, cost me around 500 francs. In the end I probably didn’t earn a single franc. But I don’t care at all, I enjoyed doing it for these players. And that also gave me the freedom to withdraw at any time if I no longer wanted to.
When did you decide to travel to the World Cup?
The evening before departure. I told them to reserve a plane ticket for me. If I hadn’t come, I would have reimbursed the cost of it.
So what’s next for Arno Del Curto and ice hockey?
I actually want to have a barbecue on Friday evening, golf on Saturday and go to the pool on Sunday. But I won’t say anymore that I don’t do anything anymore. But I won’t take over a club anymore – no chance. But who knows, maybe I’ll help again.
So maybe there is a future with Austria?
That’s a long way away now. There have already been players who wanted me to shake hands with them to continue. But then I pulled them away and said, let’s have a few beers first.