Excitement and successes
ÖFB balance sheet 2024? “If we keep playing like this…”
Rarely in its history has Austria's national soccer team delivered an international year with such great triumphs and bitter setbacks. 2024 brought exhilarating victories such as over Poland and the Netherlands at the EURO, but also emotional low points such as the European Championship round of 16 exit against Turkey or missing out on winning the Nations League group with a 1:1 draw against Slovenia. All of this was accompanied by internal turmoil within the ÖFB, which also affected the players and team manager.
Ralf Rangnick and his players took a clear stance in the dispute over the imminent dismissal of ÖFB managing director Bernhard Neuhold and spoke out in favor of the Lower Austrian staying on. This was a direct confrontation with ÖFB President Klaus Mitterdorfer, who wants to push through his personnel package at an extraordinary presidium meeting on Friday. The relationship between the head of the association on the one hand and Rangnick and his players on the other is likely to be difficult to repair, as recent statements suggest.
The openly displayed self-confidence in this matter has also been earned by the people involved in the A-Team through their successes this year. With eight victories in one calendar year, Rangnick's team broke the association record set in 1982. Even in the test matches before the European Championship, there were victories over Slovakia, Turkey and Serbia as well as a draw against Switzerland. At the finals in Germany, the ÖFB team sparked a level of euphoria that had probably not been felt in this country for decades, and not without good reason.
European Championship fairytale ended brutally
In the nominally strongest European Championship group with France, the Netherlands and Poland, the Austrians took first place, and the tournament tree on which they subsequently landed was enough to make you dream. They were only able to meet the supposedly strongest teams in the final, and the big sensation seemed within their grasp. But then came the self-destruction - against, of all teams, the Turks, who were not blessed with too much class and who they had beaten 6:1 at the Happel Stadium just a few months earlier. In the end, they were knocked out in the round of 16 of the European Championship, just like in 2021, except that under Franco Foda they only lost to the eventual European champions Italy after extra time.
When the Nations League got off to a bad start in September with a 1:1 in Slovenia and a 1:2 in Norway, there was the threat of a relapse into familiar mediocrity. However, the team picked itself up again and recorded three convincing victories. In the sold-out Happel Stadium on Sunday, everything was set for the Nations League group win, but despite clear superiority it was only enough for a 1:1 against Slovenia, and the Norwegians, who were dispatched 5:1 in October, had their noses in front.
The play-off for a return to the top Nations League division continues in March - in any case with Rangnick on the bench again, even if Neuhold does have to leave the ÖFB. The German emphasized that his bond with the team, coaching staff and the whole of Austria is too close to leave.
First World Cup in the new millennium?
How long Rangnick's tenure really lasts depends on another factor, namely the possibility of taking part in the 2026 World Cup. Qualifying for the finals in the USA, Canada and Mexico will take place next year, and the chances of the ÖFB team being back on the big stage for the first time since 1998 seem great. However, Rangnick said last week that if they do not succeed, he will no longer be team boss the day after they fail.
"If we continue to play like this, I am very confident that we will qualify for the World Cup, especially as our long-term injured players (David Alaba, Xaver Schlager, Sasa Kalajdzic) will be available again next year," said the team boss optimistically.
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