Captain Markus Suttner will end his active football career at the end of the season. As a long-time Veilchen and home grown player he has made great contributions to the club. Markus Suttner celebrated one championship title and one cup victory with Austria, played 310 competitive matches for the team and played in the UEFA Champions League and Europa League for Violett. In 2015 he made the jump to the German Bundesliga and then to the Premier League. In 2020 he returned to his Austria to help his heart club in a difficult time.

Markus Suttner: "My active career will come to an end in the summer. After careful consideration with my family, I have come to the decision to hang up my shoes. Before I explain my motives, I want to thank a few people, first my family, here especially my wife Andrea, who has accompanied me on the journey for 17 years and has always supported me, lifted me up and cheered me on. THANK YOU for your understanding all this time. I also want to thank my son Theo, who always motivated me to do well, so that he was proud of me, even though he didn't really care and was just happy when daddy was home for a change and not always on the road. I also want to thank my family, who brought me to football in the first place, and my parents-in-law for their support now, but especially abroad. I would also like to thank my advisors, my current advisor Thomas Böhm, who took me on in a difficult sporting situation at the time and with whom I was able to spend a few wonderful years together and make some great memories. But I also want to thank my former advisor Markus Klimesch, without whom I would not have gone abroad, let alone to England. I also want to thank all the coaches, teammates and staff who put up with me and always supported me. I can also be unpleasant in difficult times, so thank you! I also don't want to forget the clubs themselves: Austria, Ingolstadt, Brighton and Düsseldorf. It was an honor to have been a player at all these clubs, I was able to experience unforgettable times at all of them. The decision to quit has been made since last summer and I already told the club in the fall. Since my first professional game in the second division in 2005 against Gratkorn, 17 years have passed and I am happy to have been able to do this unique job over such a long period of time. I'll soon be 35 and come out of my career injury-free, which is worth a lot to me. I also don't want to stand in the way of our young guns. I still feel physically fit, but the anticipation of the new phase of my life is too great."

Coach Manfred Schmid: "I would like to thank Markus for the always respectful, professional and loyal cooperation. I take my hat off to his career. His attitude to the sport has made him a leader at each of his stations and he has always been able to demonstrate his qualities. Above all, however, he has grown on me as a person, as we have already experienced a lot together. In the summer, we came full circle, so to speak, as we found each other again professionally and he was and still is my captain and thus an important contact person for me. I would like to wish him all the best for his professional future. Knowing him, it will be a successful one.