On July 29, the 34-year-old officially made it and explained his resignation from professional sports. Dominique Heinrich was and remains one of the most formative personalities in Austrian ice hockey. With Red Bull Salzburg, the defender became six times champion. In the national team, he ran up 129 times, scored 20 goals and 28 assists. The quarter -finals at the 2025 World Cup against Switzerland was its last official game as a professional and the crowning glory of an extraordinary career.
At least with regard to the national team you can say that you ended your career at the climax. Was that the perfect end?
Dominique Heinrich: “Yes, if you look back like this, you can say that. It would of course have been nice if the World Cup had gone further and the result could have been better, but if you looked at the big picture, with the appearance of the entire national team, the mood in the team, the games, of course, it was a nice farewell.”
How much has this topic dealt with you in the past few months and when was the decision for you?
Dominique Heinrich: “It was busy for a long time. Actually, from the time when my contract was dissolved in Vienna. The whole family was very busy from there. Everyone wanted me to continue playing and I could still have played at a good level. It was also clear that our center of life would have stayed in Vienna. If the family has become official, it was also very emotional.
What is the current emotional situation?
Dominique Heinrich: “Provided with heights and depths. Everything is there. Because it was a longer process, I got good with it. Now I’m looking forward to the front and I can work as an expert at the ORF. I am really looking forward to that and I am very grateful for this chance. You will see which projects are still coming.”
You will certainly be showered with messages. Which was the most touching or maybe most surprising?
Dominique Heinrich: “I have received an incredible amount of news. It would be unfair to take out a few. At the same time it was nice to hear from people to whom you have looked at, or from people with whom you have played for a long time and to whom an intimate friendship built up. You remember back all of these times and you are grateful for everything that happened.”
What was the best moment for you at club level and which with the national team?
Dominique Heinrich: “It is always difficult to pick out individual moments. The six championship titles with Salzburg alone are difficult to say which one was the most beautiful. If I had to choose one, it might be the last one because my children were already at an age that they can also remember later. In general, the time in Salzburg was incredibly beautiful. Our children were born there, we felt incredibly comfortable. It was the move into the quarterfinals and the quarter -finals.
In the ORF interview you meant that your wife was almost more difficult to accept that you no longer play now. Why?
Dominique Heinrich: “It is difficult to explain. It is probably also difficult for her because she knows and realizes how I enjoy doing it and I loved this sport every day. It probably hurts too. It is difficult for us to all, but life and journey continue. It is a change and very emotionally when something comes to an end. But we are also looking forward to what is coming now.”
Fortunately, you will remain loyal to ice hockey as an ORF expert. What are your plans for the future?
Dominique Heinrich: “In any case, I would like to start a marketing agency with a friend of myself, with Dominic Kollinger and start running. I have great goals and want to make a difference with it. Maybe I can also help the national team in terms of sponsorship. That would be very important to me. Otherwise I will see which projects come into question and also enjoy.”
Finally, the most important question: Why is and remains ice hockey the hottest sport in the world?
Dominique Heinrich: “Because there is just a lot. You start as a small child because you love the sport. Over the years he gives you so much back – friendships, memories and much more. It all goes away so quickly, but it stays for a lifetime. If I think back what I was able to experience and what people I got to know, only through this sport, then I am incredibly grateful that I can do it at the highest level.”
Ice hockey.at Image: GEPA PICTURES – Harald Steiner
