Marked for Adama Dramé
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market10 May 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Wolfsberger AC is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad10 May 2027
Kevin Andrade and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at Wolfsberger AC training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cote is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Loan watch10 May 2027
“I watch every Wolfsberger AC game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at FH runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout10 May 2027
Cote 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 Wolfsberger AC, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout10 May 2027
Markus Pink gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Markus Pink is on it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout5 Apr 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Wolfsberger AC may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Giacomo Vrioni was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad5 Apr 2027
The step up is real for Adama Dramé
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad5 Apr 2027
The decline has begun for Cote
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 38 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Wolfsberger AC is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Nicolas Wimmer falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
Markus Pink 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.
Market5 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.
Loan watch5 Apr 2027
The goals keep arriving from Erik Kojzek’s exile
7 goals in 20 games at Partizan — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Wolfsberger AC updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market15 Feb 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Fabian Wohlmuth will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Wolfsberger AC the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
Ryan Ogam: 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.” Wolfsberger AC have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Giacomo Vrioni and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at Wolfsberger AC training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cote is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Transfer targets15 Feb 2027
Wolfsberger AC asked and Red Bull Salzburg said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Emin Kujović's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
Markus Pink has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Wolfsberger AC will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Squad15 Feb 2027
A season on the outside for Donis Avdijaj
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Wolfsberger AC has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Cheick Mamadou Diabaté has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match21 Nov 2026
Whatever happens, Wolfsberger AC do not lose
8 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad23 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Wolfsberger AC this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Rene Renner falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Match21 Nov 2026
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Wolfsberger AC. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Match21 Nov 2026
Grodig made Wolfsberger AC work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Donis Avdijaj was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.35. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Looking ahead23 Nov 2026
The fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
No place for Lovre Rogić on the big day
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Wolfsberger AC pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match12 Oct 2026
Wolfsberger AC refuse to drop out of the race
Position 3, 14 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
The step up is real for Adama Dramé
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Donis Avdijaj and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Boris Matić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Wolfsberger AC can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Tochukwu Michael, and the manager let it.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Lovre Rogić 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.
Looking ahead12 Oct 2026
Admira Wacker next, and one man in the Wolfsberger AC dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market14 Sep 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Wolfsberger AC can pretend not to have heard.
Match14 Sep 2026
Position 3 and 11 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 26. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad14 Sep 2026
The step up is real for Adama Dramé
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
Wolfsberger AC ran out of time with Altach. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Wolfsberger AC training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicolas Wimmer is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Match12 Sep 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad14 Sep 2026
8 new faces, and Wolfsberger AC are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.