Austria managed to avoid a dreaded play-off match to book their spot in Euro 2024, but still failed to top their group. A costly 3-2 defeat at home to winners Belgium dashed their hopes of that accolade, but they can take heart from their performances.
Under the stewardship of ex-Manchester United manager Ralf Rangnick, expectations are high for the summer. This will be the fourth time Austria have participated in a European championship overall, and their third successive appearance at the Euro finals.
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Austria – Key stats
Such has been their progress as a unit this century, ‘Das Team' managed to advance out of the group stages for the first time back at Euro 2020, but were knocked out by eventual winners Italy in extra time. So, with a star-studded squad and Rangnick's experience, at least emulating that run will be seen as a positive.
First professional fixture: 1902
Nickname: Das Team
Current FIFA ranking: 25
Highest FIFA ranking: 10
Best Euro performance: Round of 16 (2020)
Player to watch: Marcel Sabitzer
Full Austria Euro 2024 squad
Rangnick has been handed a huge blow, with his captain and Real Madrid star David Alaba unable to recover from a knee injury, which he sustained at the back end of last year. The Austrian's impact will be missed on the pitch but intends to travel and be an ‘off-field captain' which should help them.
Das Team still have a load of quality players though, including one-time Premier League stars Marko Arnautovic and Marcel Sabitzer.
Goalkeeper
- Niklas Hedl (Rapid Vienna)
- Tobias Lawal (Linz)
- Heinz Linder (Union Saint-Gilloise)
- Patrick Pentz (Brondby)
Defence
- Flavius Daniliuc (Red Bull Salzburg)
- Kevin Danso (Lens)
- Stefan Lainer (Borussia Monchengladbach)
- Philipp Lienhart (Freiburg)
- Philipp Mwene (Mainz)
- Stefan Posch (Bologne)
- Leopold Querfeld (Rapid Vienna)
- Gernot Trauner (Feyenoord)
- Maximilian Wober (Borussia Monchengladbach
Midfield
- Thierno Ballo (Wolfsburg)
- Christoph Baumgartner (RB Leipzig)
- Florian Grillitsch (Hoffenheim)
- Marco Grull (Rapid Vienna)
- Florian Kainz (Cologne)
- Konrad Laimer (Bayern Munich)
- Alexander Prass (Sturm Graz)
- Marcel Sabitzer (Borussia Dortmund)
- Romano Schmid (Werder Bremen)
- Matthias Seidl (Rapid Vienna)
- Nicolas Seiwald (RB Leipzig)
- Patrick Wimmer (Wolfsburg)
Attack
- Marko Arnautovic (Inter Milan)
- Maximilian Entrup (Hartberg)
- Michael Gregoritsch (Freiburg)
- Andreas Weimann (West Bromwich Albion)
Surprise inclusions in the Austria Euro 2024 squad
Andreas Weimann (West Bromwich Albion)
Andreas Weimann has been a mainstay in English football during the majority of his career, especially in the Championship, where he's racked up 338 appearances. However, he only featured for 17 minutes in the last seven games of West Brom's latest season and isn't a Rangnick favour either.
Weimann has been handed 29 minutes over the last 11 games for his country, and failed to make the squad for eight of those fixtures. So, the fact he's been called up at the ripe age of 32 is certainly a shock.
Matthias Seidl (Rapid Vienna)
A regular for Rapid Vienna in their attacking lineup, but you wouldn't recognise that from Matthias Seidl's five goals this term. He was only handed his debut for the national side last December, but that was only three minutes long.
Seidl looks like a left-wing shout for this squad and could well be one of the players cut off for the 26-man squad, given that he's got just 18 minutes under his belt for Austria and has been on the bench for the last two fixtures.
In-form players for Austria
Marcel Sabitzer
It's been a sort of renaissance from Marcel Sabitzer this season, having been discarded by Bayern Munich and now also Man United, who didn't want to make his loan permanent. However, the Austrian attacker has found a home at Borussia Dortmund, helping his side reach their first Champions League final in 11 years.
Sabitzer is inside the top 50 for Austrian players with the most caps as well as 30 goal involvements during his time playing for Das Team, so he is going into the tournament in good form.
Marko Arnautovic
Austria's second-top goalscorer of all time is never far away from the action. Rangnick will be hoping he can spearhead his country into the knockout stages for just the second time, and with two in his last two starts for Das Team, it could become a reality.
Scotland predicted Euro 2024 XI
Austria vs France
(4-2-3-1) Pentz, Mwene, Wober, Danso, Posch, Seiwald, Baumgartner, Schmid, Sabitzer, Laimer, Arnautovic
This is arguably Austria's strongest lineup without David Alaba in their side, and they will need it against a France side favoured to go the whole way. Das Team will be looking to keep it tight at the back and rely on Arnautovic holding the ball up, so that he could make some magic out of the very little service he's expected to get.
Austria vs Poland
(4-2-3-1) Pentz, Mwene, Wober, Danso, Posch, Seiwald, Grillitsch, Schmid, Sabitzer, Laimer, Arnautovic
This will be a must-win game for Austria, given that their next match is against the Netherlands, but Poland will view it the exact same. So we believe Rangnick will be eyeing up this match as an opportunity to overload the wide areas, duly utilising Konrad Laimer's technical ability to create space in the middle.
Austria vs Netherlands
(4-2-3-1) Pentz, Mwene, Wober, Daniliuc, Posch, Seiwald, Baumgartner, Weimann, Sabitzer, Laimer, Entrup
We can certainly see this game meaning more for the Dutch side instead of Austria, because they could very likely be dumped out at this stage if all the games follow the projected odds. So, Rangnick could make some slight tweaks to give players a chance to experience the Euros with not much on the line.
