In addition, Junior Adamu (Freiburg) returns to the ÖFB selection. The injured David Alaba, Michael Gregoritsch, Xaver Schlager, Gernot Trauner, Florian Kainz, Sasa Kalajdzic and Maximilian Entrup are missing.
Compared to the 26-man squad at the EURO, the new 24-man squad includes Stöger, Adamu and Jakupovic, as well as Samson Baidoo and the recovered Alexander Schlager (both from Salzburg). Nominated for the tournament in Germany, but not currently included, are Gregoritsch, Entrup, Kainz and Trauner, as well as Heinz Lindner, Flavius Daniliuc and Andreas Weimann. The latter two are on the call-up list.
The call-ups of Stöger and Adamu were expected. Stöger had already played a strong spring at Bochum, but was still not considered for the European Championship. For his new club Borussia Mönchengladbach, the Upper Austrian, who celebrated his 31st birthday on the day the squad was announced, managed an assist in the opening 2:3 loss against Leverkusen. Adamu had a disastrous 2023/24 season at Freiburg, but recently made a name for himself with a brace in the DFB Cup. The attacker played his sixth and so far last international match in the 2:0 win in the European Championship qualifiers on June 20, 2023 in Vienna against Sweden.
Rangnick’s Jakupovic nomination was more surprising. The 26-year-old striker grew up in the youth team of Austria Vienna, then had contracts with Middlesbrough, Empoli, Juventus and Sturm Graz, among others, and most recently proved his goal-scoring ability at NK Maribor. Of course, Jakupovic also benefited from the fact that the ÖFB team is not brilliantly staffed in attack anyway and that Gregoritsch, Kalajdzic and Entrup are also out.
The squad in detail
- Tor: Niklas Hedl (Rapid/1 international match), Patrick Pentz (Bröndby IF/10), Alexander Schlager (FC Red Bull Salzburg/15)
- Defense: Samson Baidoo (FC Red Bull Salzburg/1/0 goals), Kevin Danso (RC Lens/23/0), Philipp Lienhart (SC Freiburg/24/1), Phillipp Mwene (1. FSV Mainz 05/15/0), Stefan Posch (FC Bologna/36/1), Alexander Prass (TSG 1899 Hoffenheim/9/0), Leopold Querfeld (1. FC Union Berlin/3/0), Maximilian Wöber (Leeds United/28/0)
- Midfield: Christoph Baumgartner (RB Leipzig/42/16), Florian Grillitsch (TSG 1899 Hoffenheim/47/1), Marco Grüll (SV Werder Bremen/5/0), Konrad Laimer (FC Bayern Munich/40/4), Marcel Sabitzer (Borussia Dortmund/82/18), Romano Schmid (SV Werder Bremen/15/1), Matthias Seidl (SK Rapid/4/0), Nicolas Seiwald (RB Leipzig/28/0), Kevin Stöger (Borussia Mönchengladbach/0), Patrick Wimmer (VfL Wolfsburg/15/1)
- Attack: Junior Adamu (SC Freiburg/6/0), Marko Arnautovic (Inter Mailand/116/37), Arnel Jakupovic (NK Maribor/0)
- On call: Tobias Lawal (LASK/0), Nicolas Kristof (SV Elversberg/0) – Flavius Daniliuc (US Salernitana/3/0), Marco Friedl (SV Werder Bremen/5/0), Stefan Lainer (Borussia Mönchengladbach/39/2), Nikolas Veratschnig (1. FSV Mainz 05/0), Thierno Ballo (WAC/0), Muhammed Cham (Clermont Foot/3/0), Mathias Honsak (1. FC Heidenheim/0), Dejan Ljubicic (1. FC Köln/9/1), Nikolas Sattlberger (KRC Genk/0), Guido Burgstaller (SK Rapid/26/2), Benedikt Pichler (Holstein Kiel/0), Manprit Sarkaria (Sturm Graz/1/0), Andreas Weimann (Blackburn Rovers/25/2)
