“Krone” reporter Robert Fröwein walks through the city and talks to people in Vienna about their experiences, their thoughts, their worries, their fears. Everyday stories straight from the heart of Vienna.
From today’s perspective you may not believe it, but in a few days the European Football Championship will start in Germany. As with the last European edition in 2021, our Austrian national team will also play an important role this time. Thanks to team boss Ralf Rangnick, even major countries are showing respect for the team, even if the status of the secret favorite that is often brought into play seems a bit exaggerated. The ‘Europhoria’ that football-mad countries usually thrive on has not yet fully arrived in this country. Even big football fans in my circle of friends cannot tell me off the top of their heads where and in what context they will watch the matches during public viewing or what mathematical models can be used to promote a team.
“When you drive through the streets here, you have the feeling that Austria is not even there,” a taxi driver in Vienna recently told me. I replied that the tournament would not take place in Austria and that it was therefore not possible to be confronted with it weeks in advance. This only forced a weary smile from the native Turk. “The flags would already be flying in Turkey and there would be heated discussions. In the bars and on the streets. Even without a major event, football is the dominant topic in the country.” You can also see that in Vienna the bad ideas of the two big clubs are being analyzed.
While Graz is this year’s champions of the Bundesliga and the second division and the entire city was in an uproar of joy for a week, Vienna is in a major drought. SK Rapid Wien limped to fourth place with an acceptable finish and thus advanced to the European Cup. After a horror spring, Vienna, Austria even managed to finish eighth out of the twelve teams in the rankings – thanks to the league’s generous play-off system. None of these are worthy results for teams from a metropolis of two million inhabitants, which is also clear to the fans in my circle of friends. “We have been languishing somewhere in the middle for years,” says a Rapid fan who has followed his team for decades, irritated. “The clubs from smaller cities in the states are overtaking us in sporting and financial terms and nothing seems to be getting any better.”
Whether it is worthy or unworthy remains to be seen – the modest achievements of the two Viennese football flagships do not invite you to look forward to the next competition with enthusiasm. “For me, the euphoria for the European Championship only really starts when I am on the plane to Düsseldorf for the opening match against France,” says a good friend and sympathizer of Austria-Vienna. “It only really breaks when it finally happens. If the two Viennese clubs do not show their best side this season and if the national team misses top players such as David Alaba or Xaver Schlager due to injuries – Austria will also be at the start of the tournament on June 14 at the latest, in a collective frenzy of sporting joy. And who knows, it might even become a sensation…
Source: Krone
I am George Kunkel, an author working for Today Times Live. I specialize in opinion pieces and cover stories that are both informative and thought-provoking – helping to shape public discourse on key issues. My work is regularly featured across the network’s many platforms, including print media and social media.
