Bavarian club FC Ingolstadt are a young club starting to build a name for themselves, especially with their achievements so far this season. After being founded in 2004 they are currently in their eleven season and fifth 2.Bundesliga campaign in a row. During those seasons they've shown steady progress finishing 14th, 12th, 13th and then last season they achieved their highest ever finish when they came in 10th place.
Ingolstadt are currently sat at the top of the 2.Bundesliga and have their sights set on top tier football. They've surprised plenty of fans and not many would've predicted their start to the season. There are a few fresh faces in the side this season and none have been as impressive as Austrian Lukas Hinterseer.
The 23-year-old striker has settled brilliantly to life in Germany and currently sits at the top of the club's goal scoring chart with seven goals in eighteen appearances. Impressive considering Ingolstadt's top scorer last season was Philipp Hofmann with eight goals in thirty-one appearances.
With Hinterseer's family history it's a surprise that the striker decided to pursue a career in football. His family are keen skiers, his grandfather Ernst and his uncle Hansi Hinterseer represented Austria in Alpine Skiing and were quite successful. “Everyone has an uncle. Mine just happens to be famous, although he is celebrated for a completely different reason. But yes, we’re both in the papers so I have no problem being asked about him.”
Despite taking up skiing Lukas was passionate about football, “As a young child I still wanted a ball, and at home I broke a lot of lights,” after his mother sent him to a local football club his skiing days were over, "Once in, I didn’t want to leave.”
Hinterseer made his debut for Austria against USA back in 2013 and since then he's made three substitute appearances, while being a regular on the bench. His latest appearance came in a Euros 2016 Qualifying match against Montenegro where he played for twenty-seven minutes. His family are very proud of him representing Austria and are keen followers of his football career, “I’ve always had great support. My grandfather loved it, for example, and wanted to be at every game. I think he almost preferred it because skiing is perhaps more dangerous. Plus football is easier to look.”
The young striker is enjoying his time at Ingolstadt and he would like to play in the German top flight wearing their colours, “There’s nothing better than competing in the top flight in the home of the world champions, and I’d like to do it with Ingolstadt.”
Finally his Ingolstadt coach Ralph Hasenhuttl, has praised him in German newspaper Suddeutschen Zeitung, “Lukas is hungry to learn and has a lot of potential. He’s made great strides with us and is a long way from finishing his development. If he continues to work hard, he’ll have a lot to look forward to.” The future certainly looks bright for this Austrian talent and for his club, Ingolstadt.
Quotes and credit to FIFA.com