Austria have been on a steady rise in the last decade. After qualifying as hosts for their first European Championships in 2008, they reached the group stages in 2016 and the quarter-finals at Euro 2020, where they were eliminated by eventual champions Italy after extra time.
Under maverick manager Ralf Rangnick (remember him, Man Utd fans…) they have gone from strength to strength, and arrive in Germany under the radar, with a real chance of spoiling the narrative.
They beat the Euro 2024 hosts 2-0 in November when they were in the early days of Julian Nagelsmann’s tenure, and more recently made short work of everyone’s favourite dark horses Turkey, beating them 6-1 in March.
They will do well to get past powerhouses France and the Netherlands in Group C, but they did manage a draw against Didier Deschamps’ side in the Nations League in 2022 and only lost once in qualifying so you would be crazy to count them out immediately.
MANAGER: Ralf Rangnick
CAPTAIN: Real Madrid’s David Alaba will miss the tournament thanks to a late injury but is still travelling with the squad as a ‘non-playing captain’ according to the Austrian Football Federation.
STAR PLAYER: With the captain sidelined, Rangnick will look to Marcel Sabitzer to provide the threat in attack. The former Man Utd loanee had a solid season at Borussia Dortmund and is backed up by another Bundesliga talent in Freiburg striker Michael Gregoritsch.
HOW THEY GOT THERE: Rangnick’s side finished second in qualifying, winning six out of eight and losing only once to group winners Belgium.
HOW WILL THEY DO: It’s a tough group but they’re bang in form and while getting anything off France could be a tall order, the matches against Netherlands and Poland present opportunities to get enough points on the board to reach the knockouts.
BEST BET: It is a bold shout, but Austria to reach the quarter-finals. France and the Netherlands face off in game two which could put Austria in the driving seat against Poland before needing a result against the Dutch in the final match. With three third-place teams qualifying for the knockouts, it is not impossible.
AUSTRIA EURO 2024 FIXTURES
Group D
Monday, Jun 17: Austria v France, 8pm (Merkur Spiel Arena, Düsseldorf)
Friday, Jun 21: Poland v Austria, 5pm (Olympiastadion, Berlin)
Tuesday, Jun 25: Netherlands v Austria, 5pm (Olympiastadion, Berlin)
AUSTRIA Euro 2024 SQUAD
- GOALKEEPERS: Tobias Lawal, Patrick Pentz, Heinz Lindner, Niklas Hedl.
- DEFENDERS: Stefan Lainer, Stefan Posch, Max Wober, Philipp Lienhart, Kevin Danso, Phillipp Mwene, Flavius Daniliuc, Gernot Trauner, Leopold Querfeld.
- MIDFIELDERS: Marcel Sabitzer, Florian Grillitsch, Christoph Baumgartner, Konrad Laimer, Florian Kain, Nicolas Seiwald, Romano Schmid, Alexander Prass, Matthias Seidl, Thierno Ballo.
- FORWARDS: Mark Arnautovic, Michael Gregoritsch, Andreas Weimann, Patrick Wimmer, Marco Grull, Maximilian Entrup.
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