Marked for Raphael Baumgartner
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match17 May 2027
12 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market17 May 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 The request is on a desk at Mattersburg, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad17 May 2027
Michael Keane 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.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at Mattersburg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Benjamin Göschl 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 watch17 May 2027
“I did not go to Admira Wacker to sit and watch. I want to come back to Mattersburg and fight for my place.” 5 appearances in 40 matches say the rest.
Squad17 May 2027
Julian Onisiwo 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match19 Apr 2027
Mattersburg are in real trouble now
Position 8, 12 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.
Market19 Apr 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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
The medical room confirms 27 days on the sidelines for Benjamin Göschl, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match22 Mar 2027
Every point is an argument now for Mattersburg
Position 8 and 12 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.
Market22 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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Khalis Merah 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match22 Feb 2027
Every point is an argument now for Mattersburg
Position 8 and 12 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.
Market22 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Julian Onisiwo 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match25 Jan 2027
12 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Mattersburg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marcel Hinteregger 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Peter Tschernegg 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Too much change too quickly at Mattersburg
9 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Loan watch25 Jan 2027
“I watch every Mattersburg game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Admira Wacker runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match28 Dec 2026
Mattersburg are in real trouble now
Position 8, 12 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.
Market28 Dec 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Heinz Lindner 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match28 Nov 2026
Mattersburg do the business in Europe
1‑0. Continental football is where a club finds out what it actually is, and Mattersburg came through the finding-out well against Ilves.
Match30 Nov 2026
Mattersburg are in real trouble now
Position 8, 12 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.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 28. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Dominik Wimmer: 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.
Market30 Nov 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Sebastian Bauer 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
Words at Mattersburg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Julian Onisiwo 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Christoph Junuzovic and Mattersburg agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Loan watch30 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 5 appearances in 16 say he has earned the hearing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match2 Nov 2026
Mattersburg are in real trouble now
Position 8, 10 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.
Market2 Nov 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.
Match31 Oct 2026
8 matches without a win for Mattersburg
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Mattersburg are no longer polite ones.
Match31 Oct 2026
6 matches without a goal for Mattersburg
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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
David Ulmer: 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Mattersburg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sebastian Bauer 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
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad2 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sebastian Bauer, and the manager let it.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. 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
Squad12 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Martin Fraisl out for 125 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Admira Wacker will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 37. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Admira Wacker may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match10 Oct 2026
4 matches without a win for Admira Wacker
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Admira Wacker are no longer polite ones.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Mirko Kos 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Jonathan Scherzer 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match19 Sep 2026
Mattersburg do the business in Europe
2‑1. Continental football is where a club finds out what it actually is, and Mattersburg came through the finding-out well against Ilves.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Aleksey Alenin, 34, rolls back the years — 7.95
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.95 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Julian Onisiwo 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. Sebastian Bauer 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
1‑2 to Altach, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Martin Ulmer was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.32. 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.
Squad21 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.
Loan watch21 Sep 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 2 appearances in 6 say he has earned the hearing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
No sign of nerves from Mateja Bubanj at 21 — 7.70
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Mateja Bubanj did not need any: 7.70, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Mirko Kos 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.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match15 Aug 2026
Mateja Bubanj scored, and precious little else went right: 2‑3 to Altach, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Martin Fraisl, and the manager let it.
Market17 Aug 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Too much change too quickly at Admira Wacker
24 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Squad17 Aug 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
Dino Arslanagić is 33 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.