Toni Polster complains

Fight for three goals: “Should make the ÖFB proud”

Ex-professional footballer Toni Polster and his lawyer Manfred Ainedter are confident in the Palace of Justice.

(Bild: Pratschner Sophie)

Soccer legend Toni Polster against the ÖFB: He wants three more goals and three more caps in the statistics, but the soccer association won't back down. So the dispute continues for a second day in the civil court in Vienna. This time with other former soccer greats as witnesses to help assess how official the matches were 40 years ago.

"It should make the Austrian Football Association proud if the record goalscorer has even more goals that he didn't get as a gift, but scored," says soccer legend Toni Polster in the Vienna Regional Court for Civil Matters, showing a lack of understanding for his counterpart - the Austrian Football Association. The 60-year-old wants the association to recognize three goals and three international matches that have not yet appeared in the statistics. He is now fighting for this in court for the second day. 

"I've been annoyed about it for decades"
The ÖFB's position: these were "unofficial matches". Specifically, the matches in question were Liechtenstein - Austria (0:6 on June 7, 1984 in Vaduz, one cushion goal), Tunisia - Austria (1:3 on February 7, 1987 in Tunis, two cushion goals) and Morocco - Austria (3:1 on February 2, 1988, no cushion goal).

Nowhere in the world have there been unofficial international matches. No Messi has had that and no Ronaldo.

Fußballlegende Toni Polster

"I was annoyed about it for decades," ex-football star Toni Polster explained to the civil judge. "The players were all upset because there was no difference between the unofficial games and the other games. We didn't understand the reasons. Nowhere in the world have there been unofficial international matches. No Messi has had that and no Ronaldo." At the three matches in the 1980s, the national anthems were played "as usual", the official kit was worn, spectators cheered - "They were completely normal international matches," recalls Polster.

FIFA records matches as unofficial
However, the Football Association relies on a letter from FIFA, which confirms that the matches and therefore also the goals in its database are counted as unofficial. "These statistics are irrelevant to these proceedings," argue Polster lawyers Manfred Ainedter and Alexander Hiersche. The decision on such recognition is a matter for the individual countries and therefore reserved for the ÖFB. This is because both Morocco and Tunisia include the match with Austria in their statistics; Liechtenstein did so until a correction was made in 2021.

Even without these goals, the ex-professional kicker is first on the list in Austria with 44 goals - eight goals behind him: Marko Arnautovic. Nevertheless: "It makes a difference to me as an advertising figure for market value," explains Toni Polster. With 47 goals, he can demand more money for advertising contracts.

"An international match is an international match"
For former national team players Andreas Ogris, Ernst Baumeister, Manfred Kern and Karl Brauneder, who testified as witnesses in the Vienna Palace of Justice, there was no difference between an official and an unofficial international match. "An international match is an international match," says Ogris. At the time, that wasn't important to him. "The important thing for me was that I was called up and then I played."

Former national team colleague Andreas Ogris supports Polster in the Vienna Palace of Justice.

(Bild: APA/www.picturedesk.com/EVA MANHART/picturedesk.com)

The ex-professionals Kern and Brauneder are even surprised that there were also unofficial matches, as they had only just found out. Baumeister reports that it had already been discussed within the team. According to his recollection, there had also been such unofficial international matches with Israel in the time before Polster. "But if you wanted to make a name for yourself as a young player, it made no difference," explains Kern.

The trial in the Palace of Justice will last until late afternoon. If no new motions are filed, a verdict will most likely be issued in writing.