Northern Ireland v Austria

FACTFILE AUSTRIA Words Liam Blackburn

INTERNATIONAL

» Austria are on a run of three successive wins against Northern Ireland, having won a World Cup 2006 qualifier in Belfast before emerging victorious in both of the Nations League games during the first edition of the UEFA competition. » In Group B3 in the inaugural edition of the Nations League, Austria, who were one of the four Pot 1 teams, finished second behind Bosnia and Herzegovina, having failed to beat the group winners either home or away. » They have lost just one of their previous five games away from home – a defeat to Latvia in November 2019 – winning in Norway, Slovenia and North Macedonia and drawing against Poland. » Franco Foda's team have already qualified for Euro 2020 after finishing as runners-up behind Poland in a group that also featured North Macedonia, Slovenia, Israel and Latvia. » That will be their third appearance at a European Championship finals – though they have never won a game in that tournament. They have fared better at World Cups, however, reaching seven finals and making the last four twice – in 1934 and 1954. » The 1930s was a glorious period for the Austrians as Hugo Meisl's 'Wunderteam' scored 101 goals in 31 games across three years, reaching the last four of the 1934 World Cup when they were beaten by hosts and eventual champions Italy. » Europe's best nations were put to the sword by Austria during that time as Germany were beaten 6-0, Switzerland were hammered 8-1 and Scotland were thrashed 5-0. » Austria's star man back then was forward Matthias Sindelar, nicknamed 'The Paper Man' due to his slight frame. Sindelar was voted the country's sportsman of the century for the 20th century having scored 27 times in 44 international appearances. » They won a silver medal at the 1936 Olympics in Germany too, but would not be back at another World Cup until 1954 because of World War II. » Following their separation from Germany after World War II, Austria won a third-place play-off at the 1954 World Cup when they beat defending champions Uruguay, having lost their last four clash 6-1 to West Germany.

» During that World Cup campaign they scored 17 goals in five games, including seven in a 7-5 victory over Switzerland. Austria fought back from 3-0 down inside 19 minutes by scoring five times in nine minutes. Theodor Wagner scored a hat-trick for the victorious Austrians that day. » Austria's 1950s team included 51-cap defender Ernst Happel, who is renowned as one of the best managers of all time. Happel won league titles and domestic cups in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Austria and led both Feyenoord and Hamburg to European Cup triumphs. » The Netherlands reached the 1978 World Cup final under Happel, whose achievements are recognised in Austria by the national stadium in Vienna that is named after him. » Austria were back at the World Cup in 1958 but failed to win any of their three group games and it would be two decades before they returned to the tournament. » They reached the second round in both the 1978 and 1982 World Cups. At the latter tournament West Germany and Austria knew a 1-0 win for the former would see both teams advance at the expense of Algeria. That subsequent result led to FIFA ensuring all future final group games would kick off at the same time to avoid a repeat of such outcomes. » Austria were involved at both the 1990 and 1998 World Cups, though they won just one game across the two tournaments. » They have been unable to replicate their World Cup success at the Euros, however, as they suffered group stage exits in 2008 – when they were co-hosts with Switzerland – and in 2016 when they finished bottom of a group that included Hungary, Iceland and Portugal. » Former Bayern Munich and Werder Bremen midfielder Andi Herzog is Austria's most capped player having appeared in 103 internationals between 1988 and 2003. Herzog was in charge of Israel when they were beaten 3-0 by Northern Ireland in September 2018. » Anton 'Toni' Polster is the country's all-time leading scorer with 44 goals in 95 matches. One of those came against Northern Ireland in Austria's 2-1 loss in Vienna in 1994.

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