Marked for Michael Baumgartner
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad6 Mar 2028
145 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.
Squad6 Mar 2028
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.
Squad6 Mar 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Michael Baumgartner and Mattersburg agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad29 Nov 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 17 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match24 Nov 2027
The small margins put Mattersburg out
Out, 0‑3 to Red Bull Salzburg, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Match27 Nov 2027
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Michael Baumgartner will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Mattersburg escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
The terraces29 Nov 2027
It finished 0-3. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
Player ratings29 Nov 2027
Successful dribbles: 27. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad29 Nov 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.
Player ratings29 Nov 2027
Aaron Dhondt scored one and made one — 7.81
Two of the goals had his name somewhere on them, which is the afternoon a manager wants from anybody asked to both create and finish. 7.81, and 2 involvements.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Words at Mattersburg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marcos Ferreira 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
Steady
Squad1 Nov 2027
A fracture rules Dominik Laimer out for 46 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.
Player ratings1 Nov 2027
Successful dribbles: 30. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad1 Nov 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.
Match30 Oct 2027
It finished 3‑1, and it was Peter Hinteregger’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Mattersburg.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Words at Mattersburg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marcos Ferreira 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 ratings1 Nov 2027
A performance of 8.54 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad1 Nov 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Patrick Wimmer, and the manager let it.
Player ratings1 Nov 2027
The substitution nobody applauded turned out to be the whole story. Mattersburg were going nowhere until he came on.
Market1 Nov 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Mattersburg know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Aug 2027
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.
Squad16 Aug 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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Ignazio Mazza 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 Aug 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Raf van de Riet and Mattersburg agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Player ratings16 Aug 2027
Markus Alaba was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.68. 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.
Match14 Aug 2027
A 1‑0 win over Grodig, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings16 Aug 2027
Defensive actions: 15, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Player ratings16 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 9. 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
Steady
Market14 Jun 2027
The offer from Austria Wien for Michael Baumgartner 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.
Market14 Jun 2027
The fee is $360.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Grodig drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Squad14 Jun 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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Martin Prass and Mattersburg agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Jürgen Bergmann 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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
When it matters, Uwe Beck plays
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market1 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 Mattersburg can pretend not to have heard.
Squad1 Mar 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market8 Feb 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 Mattersburg can pretend not to have heard.
Market8 Feb 2027
The offer from SV Ried for Martin Prass 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
“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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ahmet Muhamedbegović and Mattersburg agree another 3 years.
Market8 Feb 2027
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Mattersburg will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Mattersburg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jürgen Bergmann 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
Steady
Market25 Jan 2027
The offer from Latina for Michael Baumgartner 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.
Market25 Jan 2027
Heinz Lindner 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Uwe Beck has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Mattersburg 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The terraces9 Nov 2026
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 7 of the 25 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Tobias Engel 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Markus Alaba, and the manager let it.
Match7 Nov 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Jürgen Bergmann 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Dominik Laimer, 35, rolls back the years — 7.97
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.97 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Market26 Oct 2026
Kevin Onisiwo 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.
Match24 Oct 2026
A 3‑1 win over SV Ried, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The terraces26 Oct 2026
The crowd has taken to Marc Keller
At 21 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 ratings26 Oct 2026
Marked 8.78 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Marked 8.11. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Mattersburg.
Squad26 Oct 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Jürgen Bergmann 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 ratings26 Oct 2026
Nobody could get near Uwe Beck
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market7 Sep 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
The terraces7 Sep 2026
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 6 of the 25 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
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 Mattersburg can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match5 Sep 2026
1‑2 to Wolfsberger AC, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Uwe Beck was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.29. 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.
Squad7 Sep 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Mattersburg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jürgen Bergmann 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Marc Keller named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Marc Keller is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match8 Aug 2026
4‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Market10 Aug 2026
Ciro Natale has left for Stade Rennais in a $11.5M deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Markus Alaba and Mattersburg agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad10 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 Mattersburg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A muscle injury sidelines Philipp Alaba for 16 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Mattersburg will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Market10 Aug 2026
The name of Peter Hinteregger has come up in conversations Mattersburg were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Ninety minutes of Uwe Beck at his very best
Marked 9.46. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Mattersburg.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Mattersburg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Uwe Beck 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 ratings10 Aug 2026
A performance of 8.58 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.