Football Season Guide

Mattersburg are coming from a decent season which saw them comfortably avoid relegation and even look like potential European candidates until late in the campaign. The Burgerlanders have spent the majority of the 21st century in the top flight and may have looked close to being relegated by Gerald Baumgartner took over in early 2017, but absolutely never looked like going down under their current boss. They traditionally try to play open football, a tradition that Baumgartner stayed true to so far in his reign, but there is a big question mark over whether they will still have the personnel to play attacking football after losing three key players in Smail Prevljak, Masaya Okugawa and Markus Pink, with the former two returning to parent club Salzburg following the ends of their loan spells and the latter moving to Sturm Graz. Of course, the Burgerlanders have tried to replace the departed players, but have had to make hopeful punts in a hope that some of the new players will step up. Former Austria man Marko Kvasina and Andreas Kuen will be hoping to resurrect their careers after only showing flashes of potential so far, while journeyman striker Jefta and ex-Qarabag man Ramil Sheydaev are unknowns at this level. While certainly a well-run club with a quality manager, Mattersburg certainly look considerably weaker than they were last season and it remains to be seen if some of their players will step up to fill the void left by the departed.