Marked for Massimo Agostini
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match25 Jan 2027
Every point is an argument now for Mattersburg
Position 8 and 18 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
A fracture rules Safet Salimbasic out for 71 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mattersburg will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market25 Jan 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad18 Jan 2027
A fracture rules Safet Salimbasic out for 78 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mattersburg will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad18 Jan 2027
The medical room confirms 62 days on the sidelines for Romario Da Silva, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad18 Jan 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mattersburg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market18 Jan 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Mattersburg have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Mattersburg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Philipp Pomer 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 watch18 Jan 2027
“I watch every Mattersburg game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Grodig runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad11 Jan 2027
A fracture rules Safet Salimbasic out for 85 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mattersburg will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market11 Jan 2027
The offer from Austria Wien for Florian Schlager 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
David Grillitsch: 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.” Mattersburg have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Ziad El Sheiwi 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Martin Lienhart is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Market11 Jan 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
Uneasy
Squad28 Dec 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Massimo Agostini
15 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mattersburg lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match28 Dec 2026
Every point is an argument now for Mattersburg
Position 8 and 18 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 100 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Dec 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Massimo Agostini
22 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mattersburg lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 109 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad21 Dec 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 Mattersburg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
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Squad
Words at Mattersburg training over how hard people work
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Dec 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Massimo Agostini
29 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mattersburg lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match10 Dec 2026
0‑4. There is a level at which football is played every single week by clubs that have been doing it for fifty years, and an evening like this is what it feels like to arrive there without having done it.
Match10 Dec 2026
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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
A fracture rules Safet Salimbasic out for 117 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mattersburg will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market14 Dec 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Mattersburg may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Dec 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Massimo Agostini
36 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mattersburg lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market7 Dec 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Mattersburg may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad30 Nov 2026
Massimo Agostini damages knee ligaments — 44 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 44 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match26 Nov 2026
1‑1 against Olimpija Ljubljana, and a performance that will be described to people who were not there for the rest of the season. Ziad El Sheiwi was at the centre of the description.
Match26 Nov 2026
9 matches without a win for Mattersburg
The run now stands at 9, and the questions being asked around Mattersburg are no longer polite ones.
Match30 Nov 2026
18 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad30 Nov 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Ziad El Sheiwi 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Philipp Pomer 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 ratings30 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 terraces30 Nov 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Ziad El Sheiwi 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 50. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Massimo Agostini damages knee ligaments — 51 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 51 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match21 Nov 2026
8 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.
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 Mattersburg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Martin Rasner 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Salko Hamzić, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Nov 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Massimo Agostini
59 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mattersburg lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Frederico Namora: 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.” Mattersburg have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match14 Nov 2026
7 matches without a win for Mattersburg
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Mattersburg are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 27. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Martin Rasner 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Philipp Pomer 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 watch16 Nov 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 Mattersburg, and 0 appearances in 14 say he has earned the hearing.
Match14 Nov 2026
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Admira Wacker will be the happier side with the point.
Market16 Nov 2026
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Frederico Namora may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad9 Nov 2026
Massimo Agostini damages knee ligaments — 67 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 67 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match5 Nov 2026
0‑1 against Shakhtar. Continental football is unforgiving about the things a domestic league lets a side get away with, and this was a night spent finding out which of those the club still has.
Market9 Nov 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 Mattersburg, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match7 Nov 2026
6 matches without a win for Mattersburg
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Mattersburg are no longer polite ones.
Squad9 Nov 2026
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
No sign of nerves from Heinz Laimer at 20 — 7.78
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Heinz Laimer did not need any: 7.78, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad9 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 Mattersburg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Mattersburg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Philipp Pomer 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad2 Nov 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Massimo Agostini
75 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mattersburg lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match31 Oct 2026
Chastening afternoon for Mattersburg
A 0‑4 beating by Sturm Graz was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Match2 Nov 2026
Every point is an argument now for Mattersburg
Position 8 and 16 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.
Match31 Oct 2026
No end in sight to Mattersburg's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Mattersburg has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Oumar Diouf 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Mattersburg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Martin Rasner 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.
Match31 Oct 2026
The goals have deserted Mattersburg
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Mattersburg can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad2 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.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Nobody left the Mattersburg 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
Crisis
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 38. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Massimo Agostini damages knee ligaments — 83 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 83 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match22 Oct 2026
Mattersburg come up short in Europe
0‑2 away to the standard of Shakhtar. Nobody will pretend this was a scandal; the gap is real, it is measurable, and closing it is a project rather than a team talk.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad26 Oct 2026
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Mattersburg know it.
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 Mattersburg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Oct 2026
Massimo Agostini damages knee ligaments — 90 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 90 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market19 Oct 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 Mattersburg, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 28. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Salko Hamzić is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Safet Salimbasic: 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.” Mattersburg have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad19 Oct 2026
The medical room confirms 15 days on the sidelines for Julian Kalajdzic, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Oct 2026
Massimo Agostini damages knee ligaments — 97 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 97 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match10 Oct 2026
Grodig will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Mattersburg were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Market12 Oct 2026
Robert Bencun 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 Mattersburg can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
A brace, and Gernot Wober takes the afternoon — 8.10
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Gernot Wober provided it, and the 8.10 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.18 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad12 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 Mattersburg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Martin Rasner 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 terraces12 Oct 2026
At 22 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Salko Hamzić, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Oct 2026
Massimo Agostini damages knee ligaments — 104 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 104 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 11 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match3 Oct 2026
9 matches without a win for Mattersburg
The run now stands at 9, and the questions being asked around Mattersburg are no longer polite ones.
Match1 Oct 2026
0‑2 against KAA Gent. Continental football is unforgiving about the things a domestic league lets a side get away with, and this was a night spent finding out which of those the club still has.
Match3 Oct 2026
The goals have deserted Mattersburg
6 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Mattersburg can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Martin Rasner 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 Oct 2026
Philipp Pomer 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.
Match3 Oct 2026
Rapid Wien left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Market5 Oct 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 Sep 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Massimo Agostini
112 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mattersburg lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match26 Sep 2026
No end in sight to Mattersburg's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Mattersburg has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match26 Sep 2026
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.
Squad28 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 Mattersburg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Mattersburg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Philipp Pomer 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Sep 2026
Massimo Agostini damages knee ligaments — 120 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 120 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 30. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match19 Sep 2026
6 matches without a win for Mattersburg
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Mattersburg are no longer polite ones.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Florian Schlager 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Mattersburg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Frederico Namora 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
3 matches without a goal for Mattersburg
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Match19 Sep 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad21 Sep 2026
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Mattersburg pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 61. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Massimo Agostini damages knee ligaments — 127 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 127 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match12 Sep 2026
4 matches without a win for Mattersburg
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Mattersburg are no longer polite ones.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Oumar Diouf in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mattersburg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Mattersburg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Philipp Pomer 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 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad14 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Philipp Pomer
“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.
Market14 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.
Loan watch14 Sep 2026
“I watch every Mattersburg game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Red Bull Salzburg runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.