Austria at UEFA Euro 2016 | Squad and Stats.

The second ever European championship for Austria.

UEFA Euro 2016 will be the second European championship for Austria. The first time, the Austrians took part in such competition was in 2008, when they were co-hosts, alongside with Switzerland. But, the Euro 2008 was a complete failure for the Austrian team, which couldn’t manage to go through the quarterfinals.

On the other hand, Austria have reached the semi-finals of the World Cup twice (1934 and 1954). Their biggest success at international level is becoming 3rd in the world in 1954. The Austrians recorded two victories in the group stage of the competition – 1-0 vs. Scotland and 5-0 vs. Czechoslovakia. Then, in the quarter-finals Austria had one of their most memorable matches in their football history against the host nation Switzerland. The Swiss players took the lead by 3-0 with Ballaman’s and Hugi’s goals, but from 25th to 32nd minute Austria completely turned things around to 4-3. The final score was 7-5 in Austra’s favour. However, the Austrians lost to West Germany in the semi-final match and eventually beat Uruguay to win the 3rd place in the World Cup 1954.

Austria had an incredible qualifying campaign. They won 9 of their 10 matches and recorded a draw (1-1) against Sweden. The Austrians scored 22 goals and only conceded 5! 2014 and 2015 have been the most successful years for Austria these days. The Austrians recorded impressive victories against Russia (twice), Sweden (4-1), Montenegro (twice), Moldova (twice), etc. So, Austria finally have the needed quality in their squad. They are not only good in defence, but also have goal-scoring machines like Mark Janko and Marko Arnautovic.

The Squad:

• Goalkeepers: Robert Almer, Ramazan Ozcan, Heinz Linder.
• Defenders: Aleksandar Dragovic, Kevin Wimmer, Martin Hinteregger, Sebastian Prodl, Florian Klein, Gyorgy Garics, Christian Fuchs, Markus Suttner.
• Midfielders: Stefan Ilsanker, Julian Baumgartlinger, David Alaba, Zlatko Junuzovic, Martin Harnik, Jakob Jantscher, Alessandro Schopf.
• Forwards: Marko Arnautovic, Marcel Sabitzer, Rubin Okotie, Lukas Hinterseer, Marc Janko.

Austria matches at the Euro 2016:

• 14/06/16 | Austria vs. Hungary | Stade Matmut-Atlantique (Bordeaux)
• 18/06/16 | Portugal vs. Austria | Parc des Princes (Paris)
• 22/06/16 | Iceland vs. Austria | Stade de France (Paris)

Marc Janko and Marko Arnautovic will be Austria’s leaders in the attack. Janko was Austria’s top goal-scorer in the qualifying campaign with 7 goals. David Alaba of Bayern Munich will be the main player in midfield. The most experienced player in Marcel Koller’s squad is Christian Fuchs. The defender has scored 1 goal in 75 appearances for Austria. Fuchs took part in Austria’s 0-1 defeat to Germany at the Euro 2008. Garics is also one of the most experienced players in Austria’s squad. The defender of Darstadt also played at the Euro 2008.

The team has potential to grow further. It’s important to know about my future well before the European Championship so this won’t be an issue during our preparation. In the past 4 and a half years we’ve built a homogeneous team, which isn’t at the peak of its success yet.Marcel Koller