Football Season Guide

Austria Vienna are coming off a rather decent season as they managed to finish the Bundesliga in 2nd place while also having a decent European run. They made the group stage of the Europa League and nearly qualified for the knock-out phase of the competition. Thorsten Fink is in charge of one of the youngest squads in the league, with the average age of the line-ups he fielded last season being less than 24 years and, with this in mind, Austria should be expected to keep improving. Having said that, there is a big question mark over whether they can realistically push for the title. Despite finishing as runners-up to Salzburg there was an 18 point gap between the sides at the end of the season which certainly suggests that there is quite a big bridge to gap. The only important player to have left so far is Lukas Rotpuller who has not extended his contract but the Violets have replaced him with proven quality as they have signed veteran defender Heiko Westermann from Dutch giants Ajax. Moreover, they have brought in one of the league's standout performers from last season in Christoph Monschein whilst Kevin Friesenbichler has had his loan from Benfica turned into a permanent move. There is a big question mark, however, over whether key men such as Raphael Holzhauser and Olarenwaju Kayode will stay, with both players reportedly not being short of offers from abroad. Even if players depart, there is no doubt that Austria Vienna are a well-run club and that they look well-equipped to deal with the challenges of the season ahead.