Rangnick shapes Austria's Liga squad with Euro‑ready youngsters
While Austria prepares for its Nations League (Liga) opener against Israel, coach Ralf Rangnick has already set his sights on the upcoming Euro, unveiling a 28‑man squad for the first phase of the competition today as announced by the federation.
New faces added to Austria's Nations League squad
Austria will host Israel and Kosovo before travelling to Northern Ireland (Irlanda), where they will meet the hosts and later host Kosovo again.
Four newcomers join the squad: 18‑year‑old Vasilije Markovic of FK Austria Vienna (Viena), defender Lukas Jungwirth from LASK Linz, goalkeeper Christian Zawieschitzky of RB Salzburg (Salzburgo) and striker Felix Bacher, who plays for Lyon.
Rangnick explained that only players in full fitness were selected, a clear criterion that also guided his analysis of the World Cup squad. He noted four debutants have never featured for the national side, while eight former World Cup participants were omitted.
The goalkeeping department includes Lukas Jungwirth, Alexander Schlager, Florian Wiegele and Christian Zawieschitzky.
Defenders named are David Affengruber, Felix Bacher, Kevin Danso, Marco Friedl, Philipp Lienhart, Philipp Mwene, Stefan Posch, Alexander Prass, Nikolas Veratschnig and Maximilian Wöber.
Midfield options include Carney Chukwuemeka, Konrad Laimer, Christoph Lang, Vasilije Markovic, Xaver Schlager, Romano Schmid, Nicolas Seiwald, Paul Wanner and Patrick Wimmer, while the attack features Junior Adamu, Michael Gregoritsch, Marco Grüll and Sasa Kalajdzic.