Marked for Andreas Prass
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market11 Jan 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Stripfing, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
The clubs have shaken hands with Austria Lustenau; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Richard Olise arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Richard Olise has, at Stripfing, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Austria Wien is saying, and nobody at Stripfing is enjoying the guessing.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Furkan Demir is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Andreas Prass and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Jan 2027
At 26 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Match9 Jan 2027
The goals have deserted Stripfing
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Stripfing can tell you which week it ends in.
Match9 Jan 2027
St. Pölten left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match4 Jan 2027
Stripfing sink to position 15
18 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market4 Jan 2027
Andreas Posch hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Stripfing can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
The deal with Rapid Wien is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
$140.0K on the table at Altach. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Stripfing
Andreas Prass 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Andreas Böhm is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad4 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Stripfing
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marko Dragovic was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Loan watch4 Jan 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Stripfing, and 6 appearances in 18 say he has earned the hearing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 Dec 2026
Andreas Posch and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Andreas Prass 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.
Match26 Dec 2026
Kapfenberg left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad28 Dec 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Dejan Wimmer and Stripfing agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Martin Lindner
“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.
Market28 Dec 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Michael Wimmer signs something — a contract at Stripfing or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Squad28 Dec 2026
The shirt belongs to Noah Andreas now
At 24 he has made the position his own, and the man he took it from has to find something to say about it. Stripfing have a decision that made itself.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match19 Dec 2026
6 matches without a win, and then this, against Schwarz-Weiß Bregenz. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Squad21 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Stripfing
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andreas Prass was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces21 Dec 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Maximiliano Alanís has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Luka Caculović
“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.
Loan watch21 Dec 2026
“I watch every Stripfing game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at KR runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
A mark of 7.74, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Wolfgang Junuzovic 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.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Markus Trimmel on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Dec 2026
Nowhere to hide for Stripfing
0‑3 against Austria Salzburg, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Match12 Dec 2026
6 matches without a win for Stripfing
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Stripfing are no longer polite ones.
Match12 Dec 2026
6 matches without a goal for Stripfing
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 6 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Andreas Prass and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Marko Dragovic 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.
Loan watch14 Dec 2026
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Stripfing, and 5 appearances in 15 say he has earned the hearing.
Boardroom14 Dec 2026
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Markus Trimmel after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Noah Salau 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match7 Dec 2026
Stripfing are in real trouble now
Position 15, 14 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Market7 Dec 2026
Andreas Posch hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Stripfing can pretend not to have heard.
Match5 Dec 2026
5 matches without a win for Stripfing
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Stripfing are no longer polite ones.
Match5 Dec 2026
5 matches without a goal for Stripfing
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 5 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Marko Dragovic and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Andreas Prass 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.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Michael Wimmer, and the manager let it.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Martin Lindner and Stripfing agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match28 Nov 2026
No end in sight to Stripfing's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Stripfing has to find a result from somewhere.
Match28 Nov 2026
Stripfing cannot find the net
4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Andreas Prass 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.
Match28 Nov 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Marko Dragovic, and the manager let it.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Noah Andreas 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.
Match30 Nov 2026
Stripfing at the halfway mark
Half the programme played, position 13, 13 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
Squad30 Nov 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Martin Lindner commits to Stripfing for another 1 years.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
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 Stripfing this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad23 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Stripfing
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marko Dragovic was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match21 Nov 2026
The goals have deserted Stripfing
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Stripfing can tell you which week it ends in.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Heinz Junuzovic, and the manager let it.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Match21 Nov 2026
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. FC Liefering came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
Market23 Nov 2026
The name of Andreas Prass keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Stripfing say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Stripfing
Marko Dragovic 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Andreas Prass 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“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.
Market16 Nov 2026
“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.
Market16 Nov 2026
It is the least glamorous business a club does and the reason seasons do not collapse in February. Noah Andreas is here for the weeks when three men are injured and somebody still has to play.
Market16 Nov 2026
The name of Philipp Sabitzer keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Stripfing say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Stripfing, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Noah Salau still has not settled
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Stripfing would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Transfer targets9 Nov 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Stripfing
Andreas Prass 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.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The terraces9 Nov 2026
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Defensive actions: 18. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad9 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Stripfing
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Markus Posch was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Emiel Koops and Stripfing agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Market9 Nov 2026
Emiel Koops is 20, and Stripfing have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Marked 7.25 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Stripfing had the best player on the pitch.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match24 Oct 2026
10 matches without a win, and then this, against Amstetten. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
The terraces26 Oct 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Maximiliano Alanís has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Match24 Oct 2026
A 1‑0 win over Amstetten, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad26 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Stripfing
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andreas Prass was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
7.56, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Stripfing had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Squad26 Oct 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 Stripfing this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Stripfing are still strangers to each other
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Markus Trimmel, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match17 Oct 2026
The wait goes on for Stripfing
10 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Match17 Oct 2026
Nowhere to hide for Stripfing
0‑3 against Admira Wacker, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Match19 Oct 2026
Every point is an argument now for Stripfing
Position 14 and 7 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Squad19 Oct 2026
At 18 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Andreas Prass and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad19 Oct 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Marco Ilsanker commits to Stripfing for another 4 years.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“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.
Boardroom19 Oct 2026
Nobody left the Stripfing dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Oct 2026
At 19 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
Salvatore Bertoni has improved at 26, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Stripfing
Andreas Prass 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
Julius Kade 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.
Looking ahead12 Oct 2026
A test against the best for Stripfing
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Admira Wacker.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match3 Oct 2026
9 matches without a win for Stripfing
The run now stands at 9, and the questions being asked around Stripfing are no longer polite ones.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Stripfing may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match3 Oct 2026
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Michael Wimmer and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Andreas Prass 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 Oct 2026
“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 Oct 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Martin Lindner and Stripfing agree another 1 years.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Markus Trimmel to a room that had heard them before.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match26 Sep 2026
8 matches without a win for Stripfing
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Stripfing are no longer polite ones.
Match26 Sep 2026
Stripfing cannot find the net
7 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Philipp Sabitzer and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“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.
Match26 Sep 2026
Hertha Wels left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Andreas Prass 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 dugout28 Sep 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad28 Sep 2026
5 new faces, and Stripfing 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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 11. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Sep 2026
The wait goes on for Stripfing
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
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 Stripfing can pretend not to have heard.
Match12 Sep 2026
Stripfing cannot find the net
5 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Westerlo have kept their man, and Stripfing go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match12 Sep 2026
St. Pölten left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad14 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Stripfing
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Julius Kade was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Andreas Prass
“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.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 12. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 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 Stripfing can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Stripfing close the window on a squad of their own making
5 in and 7 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Werder Bremen keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Stripfing asked and Racing said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Andreas Prass 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.
Squad7 Sep 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 Stripfing this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Andreas Prass slips down the pecking order
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Andreas Prass is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Market7 Sep 2026
“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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match26 Aug 2026
Stripfing bow out of the cup
First Vienna go through and Stripfing go home, 0‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Market31 Aug 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Stripfing, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match29 Aug 2026
The wait goes on for Stripfing
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Match29 Aug 2026
4 matches without a goal for Stripfing
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad31 Aug 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 Stripfing this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Marko Dragovic 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.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Stripfing asked and Sportivo Italiano said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market31 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Marco Ilsanker again, and this time the name on the line is Wolfsberger AC. Stripfing are listening politely and promising nothing.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
A loan move for Salim Musah is in the works
Stripfing have made the call to Werder Bremen. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market24 Aug 2026
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Stripfing people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market24 Aug 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Stripfing, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Anderlecht wanted more than $1.1M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Stripfing
Marko Dragovic 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Stripfing training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andreas Prass 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.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Nyíregyháza have kept their man, and Stripfing go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match22 Aug 2026
0‑1 to Kapfenberg, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
“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
Steady
Market17 Aug 2026
$28.3M is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.
Market17 Aug 2026
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. PAOK moved on, Florian Dragovic reports back to Stripfing, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 27. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
Supporters turn on the $28.3M sale of Guido Lindner
He is going to Zenit, the club has $28.3M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A move Julius Kade would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Julius Kade is living that version at Stripfing, and it tends to show in the first month.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
$1.0M on the table at Anderlecht. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Market17 Aug 2026
Stripfing say no — this time
The offer from SV Ried for Marco Ilsanker was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Stripfing
Andreas Prass 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.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
No deal for Romeo Vučić at that price
Stripfing offered $78.0K; Austria Wien said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Market3 Aug 2026
Hannover 96 come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Stripfing did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Match1 Aug 2026
There were 86 minutes on the clock and Young Violets had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Stripfing did not stop to explain themselves.
Market3 Aug 2026
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Stripfing heard it as anything else.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Stripfing have gone to LASK with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Guido Lindner and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Andreas Prass 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.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Match1 Aug 2026
It finished 1‑0, and it was Florian Dragovic’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Stripfing.