After enduring an abysmal second half of the previous campaign and not strengthening over the summer, Hartberg were widely seen as one of the main candidates to go down.
The board opted to stick with Markus Schopp despite the decline in form and time proved that was the right decision, as his side stayed true to his counter-attacking principles and went on to surpass all expectations and finish the regular season inside the top half.
With automatic survival achieved, Hartberg were widely expected to lose their focus in the Championship Group, having already met their goal for the season.
However, they kept defying expectations and went on to produce a number of superb away displays, with all of their away games in the Championship Group, bar the one at Salzburg, seeing them claim wins.
This was enough for them to finish fifth and set up a play-off clash versus Austria, which they won 3:2 on aggregate, having won away and drawn at home. This means that the small club, who spent the majority of their history below the third tier, will be playing in Europe next season.
All in all, obviously a wildly successful season for Hartberg. They had no right to finish as high as they did, given the quality of their side, and time will tell for how long they can keep this up.
