Introducing opponents: Austria

The capital-based Austria is one of top Austrian football clubs steeped in history. The club was founded in 1911, having won 24 domestic league titles. Among their trophies lifted are 27 Cups and 6 Super Cups.

The Violets finished second in the 2015/16 season in the Austrian Bundesliga, with holding the fourth position this season. Just as Shakhtar, in the autumn the team played in the UEFA Europa League group stage: the Viennese finished last in the group, competing with Roma, Italia; Astra, Romania; and Victoria, Czech Republic.

Austria’s head coach is 49-year-old German Thorsten Fink. He is well known for his performance for Bayern München, with the team having won four domestic league titles and the Champions League 2001. Interestingly, Thorsten started his coaching carreer at Austria (training the Red Bull youth team and working as Giovanni Trapattoni’s assistant coach in the first team), and later he took charge of Ingolstadt, Basel, Hamburg and APOEL.

Fink's spell in Vienna started in the season 2015/16. In his opening interview in the capacity of Austria’s head coach, the German expert pointed out that he preferred working with young players; however, the balance between young sndexperienced footballers was required. This approach remains unchanged to this day: his team’s average age is 24 years.

Offensively, the 23-year-old Nigerian Olarenwaju Kayode sets the pace for the Violets, with the tally of 14 goals scored throughout this season. In the midfield, the irreplaceable Tarkan Serbest is assisted by Ognjen Vukojević, with the latter being well known to Ukrainian football fans. 20-year-old Osman Hadžikić replaces in goal the team’s captain Robert Almer, who suffered an injury in autumn.

The friendly game Shakhtar vs Austria is to get underway at 17:30, Kyiv time. Follow the online broadcast on shakhtar.com. 

Photo courtesy of fk-austria.at