Marked for Đorđe Despotović
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad27 Sep 2027
19 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Austria Wien lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad27 Sep 2027
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.
Match25 Sep 2027
After 8 games, Austria Wien finally taste it again
The first defeat in 8 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Red Bull Salzburg; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Felix Fischer 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.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Esmir Bajraktarević 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.
Match25 Sep 2027
Red Bull Salzburg left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Looking ahead27 Sep 2027
The big one: Sturm Graz come into view
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. Austria Wien will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Đorđe Despotović, and the manager let it.
Loan watch27 Sep 2027
“I watch every Austria Wien game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Wolfsberger AC runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad2 Aug 2027
Sebastian Jacob damages knee ligaments — 82 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 82 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.
Match31 Jul 2027
3‑0, and Đorđe Despotović took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Austria Wien tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings2 Aug 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.71 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market2 Aug 2027
The offer from Ujpest for Christoph Laimer 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.
Squad2 Aug 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 Austria Wien this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
Austria Wien asked and Dinamo Zagreb said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The terraces2 Aug 2027
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tin Plavotić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad2 Aug 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Sebastian Jacob and Austria Wien agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market21 Jun 2027
RB Leipzig pay $13.7M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Match21 Jun 2027
Austria Wien are in among the leaders
Position 3 and 36 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
The terraces21 Jun 2027
Supporters turn on the $13.7M sale of Sanel Šaljić
He is going to RB Leipzig, the club has $13.7M 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.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Getafe have kept their man, and Austria Wien go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Đorđe Despotović and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Tin Plavotić 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 targets21 Jun 2027
A loan enquiry to Stripfing: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout21 Jun 2027
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Mikołaj Sawicki is on it.
Squad21 Jun 2027
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Austria Wien would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market1 Feb 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.
Match1 Feb 2027
36 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 1 signed and 1 gone
That is the business done at Austria Wien until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: PAOK keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Tin Plavotić 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Mikołaj Sawicki 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 targets1 Feb 2027
Austria Wien have made the call to Cagliari. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
A loan enquiry to Anderlecht: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad28 Dec 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.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Sanel Šaljić, 21, steals the show — 7.73
Marked 7.73 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Sanel Šaljić is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
The terraces28 Dec 2026
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Match26 Dec 2026
Sturm Graz made Austria Wien work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Sascha Horvath was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.43. 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 37 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Austria Wien is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Looking ahead28 Dec 2026
The neighbours are next for Austria Wien
Nothing about the week ahead is ordinary. Rapid Wien on Saturday, a town that has already started talking about it, and a dressing room that does not need telling what it means.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Lee Tae-Suk
“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
Triumph
Match7 Dec 2026
Austria Wien refuse to drop out of the race
Position 3, 31 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Manprit Sarkaria and Austria Wien agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Match5 Dec 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Kelvin Boateng. 1‑0 against Hartberg, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
A masterclass from Luka Ilić
Marked 8.22 — 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
The award is a small thing with a heavy meaning: for four weeks nobody in this division did his job better. Austria Wien have the trophy on a shelf and the player in the side.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Mikołaj Sawicki 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Sebastian Jacob is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Julian Lindner could afford to be generous.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Sanel Šaljić beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 14. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match21 Nov 2026
Nobody wants to play Austria Wien right now
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Sascha Horvath and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad23 Nov 2026
He is 21, he is averaging 7.01, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Match21 Nov 2026
Altach made Austria Wien work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tin Plavotić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Sascha Horvath was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.30. 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.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Lee Kang-Hee, and the manager let it.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match31 Oct 2026
Whatever happens, Austria Wien do not lose
7 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Match31 Oct 2026
Grazer AK made Austria Wien work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 11 actions, 7.13, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tin Plavotić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Sebastian Jacob
“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.
Market2 Nov 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Austria Wien, another week without a signature from Manfred Fischer.
Loan watch2 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 Austria Wien, and 0 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Marked 7.56 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Austria Wien had the best player on the pitch.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Sanel Šaljić
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Sanel Šaljić has come out of that comparison in the side, and Austria Wien have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Đorđe Despotović, 34, rolls back the years — 7.85
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.85 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Austria Wien may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match24 Oct 2026
Whatever happens, Austria Wien do not lose
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
The dugout26 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.
Market26 Oct 2026
Tin Plavotić is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Austria Wien has been clear about where Tin Plavotić stands, which is more than many ever get.
Match26 Oct 2026
Halfway: Austria Wien sit in position 5
19 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.
Match24 Oct 2026
Level with 92 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Austria Wien had all but put away. WSG Tirol will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
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 Austria Wien this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match24 Oct 2026
It needed Đorđe Despotović to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against WSG Tirol, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match28 Sep 2026
16 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
No sign of nerves from Mikołaj Sawicki at 20 — 8.14
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Mikołaj Sawicki did not need any: 8.14, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Match26 Sep 2026
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Austria Wien have 3 straight wins of it.
The terraces28 Sep 2026
He is 20 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Match26 Sep 2026
A 2‑0 win over Sturm Graz, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Austria Wien training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tin Plavotić 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 ratings28 Sep 2026
A performance of 8.01 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Looking ahead28 Sep 2026
Rapid Wien next, which means a week that starts on Monday. Everything else on this page will be forgotten by Saturday; this fixture will not be forgotten for a year.
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Sanel Šaljić, 20, steals the show — 7.90
Marked 7.90 at 20, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad21 Sep 2026
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
The dugout21 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Tin Plavotić 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Austria Wien are still strangers to each other
15 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.
Loan watch21 Sep 2026
“I did not go to Hartberg to sit and watch. I want to come back to Austria Wien and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Julian Lindner on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Sanel Šaljić is the weekend's best young player
At 20 he is being measured against the rest of the division's kids and coming out in front. The senior version of this award is where the club would like this to lead.