"Every international match is something special"

Austria Wien kick off the 2026/27 season with the first leg of their Q2 tie away against FK Liepāja. Kick-off is on Thursday at 17:00 CEST at the Sloka Stadium in Jūrmala, near the Latvian capital, Riga. Manager Stephan Helm gives his preview of the first European Cup match and shares his assessment of the current Austria squad.

Whilst the first leg of the second qualifying round marks Austria Wien's first competitive match of the 2026/27 season, their opponents FK Liepāja are in the thick of their domestic league campaign and currently sit fifth in the Latvian league (see ‘Our Opponents’ Profile’). “Every international match is something special, so we’re really looking forward to getting the European Cup campaign underway. We’re up against a well-organised side in Liepāja, who have physically strong counter-attacking strikers up front. It will therefore be important for us to see our attacks through to the end and to be well-organised in defence. I’m convinced that we’ll be able to play our style of football in Latvia and put in a positive performance,” says manager Stephan Helm.

Marvin Martins, who played for Austria from 2021 to 2025, has been under contract with FK Liepāja since February 2026 and is a regular starter, but will miss the first leg through suspension.

Squad update

Philipp Wiesinger, Johannes Handl and Kelvin Boateng are currently carrying knocks and have therefore not travelled to Latvia – though all three are expected to return to the squad within the next one to two weeks. Taesok Lee, who played for South Korea at the World Cup and consequently took his holiday later than usual, returned to full team training on Monday and will be in the squad on Thursday. Also on board for the first European Cup away match are the three new signings Julian Hettwer, Ibrahim Buhari and Jonas Feddersen, as well as returnee Moritz Wels and several young home-grown players such as Valentin Toifl, Daniel Nnodim and Hasan Deshishku, who have been promoted from the Young Violets to the first-team squad.

“Preparing young players for the next step”

“Everyone in the squad is important to us and must be aware of their responsibilities – including the players coming in from outside the club and the youngsters coming through from the Young Violets. The fans will get to know one or two new, young faces again this season,” emphasises Stephan Helm.

During pre-season, the coaching team worked with the squad on specific aspects of their game. At the same time, the focus was also on integrating the new signings and guiding the young home-grown players towards the next step in their development:

“We have worked specifically to bring the young players who have now come through from the Young Violets a step closer, so that they can soon help us on the pitch to achieve our goals. At the same time, we expect players such as Šaljić, Marković, Maybach and Schablas, who have already taken their first steps, to take on more and more responsibility. Alongside this, the strong leadership core centred on players such as Şahin-Radlinger, Dragović, Ranftl, Fischer and Eggestein provides us with a great deal of stability,” explains the Austria coach.