The long road to the Seidl brothers' duel in the upper house

2023-11-25 09:00:00

The love of football runs in the family – and on the pitch. Brotherly duels are not new in the football business: And yet there is something special about tomorrow’s encounter in the Bundesliga between FC Blau-Weiß Linz at Rapid (5 p.m.). Both Blue and White footballer Simon Seidl and his brother Matthias, who is one year older, have made it from the lower house to the big Bundesliga stage – and are now meeting in a direct duel.

Compared to the first duel of the season, the chances are also very high that the two Salzburg players will face each other on the professional pitch for the first time. This is mainly due to 21-year-old Simon: He was still on the sidelines in the summer, but he rejected a loan to another club: “It was a difficult phase, but that’s what happens in football, when in one Squad 25 people want to play. I wanted to fight my way through the blue-white team and put my foot down.”

His coach Gerald Scheiblehner also noticed this: “Simon has put certain things aside and also understood that you have to listen to the coach every now and then. He is a young player and has worked on himself – then you will get your chance again with me . He’s doing really well at the moment.”

So good that he was recently called up to the Austrian U21 team. “It was fun. Being part of the win against France was something very special,” says the offensive player. His brother Matthias also has a sensation at international level: the 22-year-old was on the pitch for the A team’s prestigious win against Germany. “An experience I won’t forget for a long time.”

Above all, the path to becoming a national team player is special for both of them: a little over two years ago, both were still in the amateur ranks at the Salzburg club Kuchl. The older brother has always been a role model for Simon: “I’ve copied a lot of things from him .”

The father as a pioneer

The love of round leather was instilled in both of them from an early age: father Christian is not only the sports director at the Salzburg league club, but was also a youth coach. “We really have to be grateful that he dragged us onto the soccer field,” says Matthias with a smile.

In the summer, his younger brother was on his own for the first time: “We lived in an apartment together until he moved to Rapid in the summer. It took some getting used to at the beginning because I’ve never been alone before. But I can manage the household without him Quite good.” Tomorrow the brotherly friendship will be put on hold for 90 minutes. Because even though both Seidls have already played against each other in the youth ranks and in the Blau-Weiß cup duel against Kuchl in the summer of 2021, they have never faced each other in professional football. “This is something really special. Nobody wants to lose against their brother,” says Matthias before the duel with his former club.