From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad4 Oct 2027
Nils Schouterden : that is not what I was promised“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Rapid Wien have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market4 Oct 2027
Petter Nosa Dahl wants to know where this is going“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Rapid Wien hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad4 Oct 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Paco Alcácer and Rapid Wien agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad4 Oct 2027
The manager makes an example of Paco Alcácer
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Match2 Oct 2027
Three points for Rapid Wien , 2-0 the final word against Grodig in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad4 Oct 2027
“I will know when it is time. I am not there yet.” Paco Alcácer is 34, with 19 appearances behind him, and Rapid Wien will have to plan for whichever answer comes.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market21 Jun 2027
Grodig come back empty-handedThe bid was some way short and Rapid Wien did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market21 Jun 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market21 Jun 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Rapid Wien have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad21 Jun 2027
52 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad21 Jun 2027
The manager makes an example of Ange Ahoussou
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad21 Jun 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Nicolas Bajlicz commits to Rapid Wien for another 4 years.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Boardroom31 May 2027
Qualification is done, and next season the floodlights come on for something bigger. A stage for the players, oxygen for the accounts and a passport for everybody else.
Squad31 May 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Martin Ndzie commits to Rapid Wien for another 5 years.
Squad31 May 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad31 May 2027
Laurenz Orgler asks for a word with the manager“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market31 May 2027
The name of Ange Ahoussou keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Rapid Wien say nothing, which says plenty.
Market31 May 2027
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Nils Schouterden may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market10 May 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad10 May 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Tomás Silva commits to Rapid Wien for another 3 years.
Squad10 May 2027
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market3 May 2027
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Squad3 May 2027
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad3 May 2027
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Loan watch3 May 2027
12 appearances away from home and 6 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
Loan watch3 May 2027
28 starts and an average of 6.58. He went there to play and he is playing, which is the only thing a loan was ever for.
Market3 May 2027
The name of Ange Ahoussou keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Rapid Wien say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market26 Apr 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Rapid Wien know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Loan watch26 Apr 2027
11 appearances away from home and 4 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Nils Schouterden asks for a word with the manager“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market12 Apr 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Rapid Wien can pretend not to have heard.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Martin Ndzie knocks on the manager's door“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Rapid Wien , and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market12 Apr 2027
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad5 Apr 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad5 Apr 2027
The manager makes an example of Michaël Frey
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad5 Apr 2027
The captaincy has been taken off Xaver Schlager . Rapid Wien will call it a decision about the team; a dressing room reads it as a verdict on a man.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad15 Mar 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market15 Mar 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Rapid Wien can pretend not to have heard.
Squad15 Mar 2027
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Claudy M'Buyi Claudy M'Buyi says Rapid Wien went back on their word
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match24 Feb 2027
A 2-0 win over Austria Wien , a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Market1 Mar 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match24 Feb 2027
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Michaël Frey gets it from the manager“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Market1 Mar 2027
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The terraces1 Mar 2027
Everybody has an opinion about Niklas Hedl
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
Market1 Mar 2027
The name of Bendegúz Bolla keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Rapid Wien say nothing, which says plenty.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Jannes Horn asks for a word with the manager“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Squad1 Mar 2027
“Ask me in the summer. I will know before anybody else does.” He is 38 with 0 appearances behind him, and Rapid Wien have to plan for both answers.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match7 Sep 2026
5 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market7 Sep 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market7 Sep 2026
The deal that would have taken Ercan Kara to Sturm Graz has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Rapid Wien with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Match5 Sep 2026
Altach made Rapid Wien work for it, but the scoreboard read 1-0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Nenad Cvetković
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Wages eat 110% of everything Rapid Wien earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Rapid Wien will explain it as a decision about the team, and it may well be one. A dressing room has never once read it that way.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The first one is the one every signing is asked about until it arrives. It has arrived, and he can stop being asked.
Market7 Sep 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Rapid Wien know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.