Violets lose to LASK and finish in fourth place

Austria lost 0–3 to LASK in front of their home crowd in the final match of the season, finishing the 2025/2026 campaign in a respectable fourth place. Mbuyamba opened the scoring for the Linz side before half-time following a scramble in the box; after the break, Adeniran converted a penalty that was questionable to say the least, effectively sealing the result. Bogarde put the icing on the cake. The Linz side were crowned Austrian Bundesliga champions for the first time since 1965.

For the season finale at the long-since sold-out Generali Arena, the Violets welcomed title contenders LASK on Sunday, who were looking to snatch the championship trophy from Sturm Graz in a head-to-head battle. For their part, Austria were battling it out with Red Bull Salzburg and their arch-rivals from Hütteldorf for places 3–5. A showdown? Yes, please. Before kick-off, Young Violets captain Philipp Hosiner, Konstantin Aleksa and Ifeanyi Ndukwe were given a send-off, as were Ziad El Sheiwi, Marko Raguž and Hakim Guenouche.

Mbuyamba puts LASK ahead

The 15,600 spectators witnessed a lively and entertaining start from both teams: Following a cross from Fischer, Tae-seok Lee laid the ball back to Ranftl in the penalty area, but the ball was snatched away from him (5'). At the other end, Şahin-Radlinger deflected a dangerous shot from Danek for a corner (8'), whilst Kalajdzić missed Jørgensen’s dangerous pass by a matter of centimetres (13'). After just under half an hour, the Violet supporters were already on the verge of celebrating a goal, but LASK goalkeeper Jungwirth fished a superb shot from Jojo Eggestein out of the top corner (26'). The Violets remained menacing: Fischer’s attempted header went wide (34’). After 38 minutes, the away section went wild: following a scramble in the penalty area, Mbuyamba struck the ball and slotted it into the far corner to give Linz the lead.

Adeniran and Bogarde fire LASK to the title

For the Violets, a real thriller seemed to be unfolding. With Hartberg leading 2-0 in Salzburg and the goalless half-time draw between Sturm and Rapid, an equaliser would have meant a third-place finish. These hopes were soon dashed. Following a terrible misplaced pass from Eggestein, Kalajdzić was picked out and was about to take off when Şahin-Radlinger made contact with him. As the VAR did not intervene, Adeniran made it 0-2 from the penalty spot (49'). After that, not much happened for a while. The Linz side managed their comfortable lead skilfully, whilst Austria lacked any attacking bite. With a quarter of an hour to go, Kalajdzić strolled unchallenged through the violet penalty area, and Bogarde sealed the deal by making it 0–3 (75').

As Salzburg won at home against Hartberg and Sturm beat Rapid, Austria finish the 2025/2026 season in a respectable fourth place in the table, which means Q2 of the UEFA Conference League. LASK can celebrate the league title for the first time since 1965.

Austria Wien – LASK 0–3 (0–1)

Austria: Şahin-Radlinger; Handl, Plavotić, Wiesinger; Ranftl, Maybach (76. Boateng), Barry (85. Kang Hee Lee), Fischer (69. Marković), Lee Tae-Seok (85. Schablas), Saljić (69. Wustinger), Eggestein

LASK: Jungwirth; Jörgensen, Mbuymba, Alemao, Andrade, Bello; Danek (82. Kačavenda), Bogarde, Horvath (82. Lang); Kalajdzić (76. Coulibaly), Adeniran

Goals: Mbuyamba (38'), Adeniran (49'/pen.), Bogarde (75')

Yellow cards: Barry, Handl, Bello

Generali Arena, referee Gishamer, attendance: 15,600