Velden

Marcel Kuster took charge of a fifth-division side from a town on the Wörthersee and, over three seasons, ran it through every division Carinthia had to offer. In 2022/23 ATUS Velden went through the Unterliga West unbeaten, 23 wins and 5 draws, and stepped up to the Kärntner Liga for the first time in the club's history. The following season they won that league too, 22 points clear of second place, and moved into the Regionalliga — again, a first. A club founded in 1946 had spent most of that history playing in front of a thousand people at the Waldarena Velden; within two years it had climbed three divisions.

The 2024/25 campaign held the Regionalliga place and added something no Velden side had done before: a run in the ÖFB-Cup. The first round drew Bundesliga club Grazer AK, and Velden came away with a 2:2 draw before losing on penalties. Tom Žurga finished that league season as the club's top scorer with four goals, part of the group that carried the title. The cup run continued into 2025/26 with a first-round win over SC Neusiedl am See, before TSV Hartberg ended it in the second round.

Before any of that, there was Jannik Robatsch, who came through the Velden academy across two spells between 2009 and 2020. He moved on to SK Austria Klagenfurt in the Austrian Bundesliga, picked up call-ups to Austria's U21 side, and in 2025 signed for FC St. Pauli in Germany.