Herbert Prohaska

Herbert Prohaska
Personal information
Date of birth8 August 1955
Place of birthVienna, Austria
Height1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Playing positionMidfielder
Youth career
Vorwärts XI
1970–1972Ostbahn XI
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps†(Gls)†
1972–1980Austria Vienna259(62)
1980–1982Internazionale56(8)
1982–1983Roma26(3)
1983–1989Austria Vienna194(35)
Total535(108)
National team
1974–1989Austria83(10)
Teams managed
1990–1992Austria Vienna
1993–1999Austria
1999–2000Austria Vienna
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
† Appearances (Goals).

Herbert Prohaska (born 8 August 1955 in Vienna, Austria) is a retired Austrian football player. He ranks among Austria's greatest football players of all time. Prohaska is currently working as a football pundit for the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation (ORF). His nickname "Schneckerl", Viennese dialect for curly hair, derives from his curly haircut in his younger years. A talented, combative midfielder, Prohaska played as a deep-lying playmaker, known for his precision passing.

Club career

Prohaska started his professional career in 1972 at the football club Austria Vienna. By 1980 he had helped his club to win four Austrian league titles and three Austrian Cup wins. In 1980 he joined Inter Milan, and won the Italian Cup in his second season with the nerazzurri. In 1982 he moved to AS Roma, where he won the Italian championship in his first year. He returned to Austria Vienna in 1983 to finish his playing career.

International career

Prohaska made his debut for Austria in a November 1974 friendly match against Turkey and was a participant at the 1978 and 1982 FIFA World Cups.[1] He earned 83 caps, scoring 10 goals.[2] His final international was a June 1989 World Cup qualification match against Iceland, but he retired before the 1990 World Cup.

Management career

In 1989 Prohaska retired from playing. Shortly after his retirement he worked as a coach at Austria Vienna where he won two Austrian League titles and two Austrian Cups.

In 1993 he became manager of Austria's national soccer team, qualifying as group winners for the 1998 World Cup in France. In 1999 he resigned after a disastrous 9–0 defeat to Spain. From 1999 to 2000 he returned to managing Austria Vienna.

Awards

In November 2003, Prohaska was selected as the Golden Player of Austria by the Austrian Football Association as their most outstanding player of the past 50 years.[3] In August 2004, he was voted the Austrian Footballer of the Century as the Austrian Football Association celebrated its 100th anniversary.[4]

Prohaska working for the ORF in 2013

Media work

Working as a pundit for the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation ORF, Prohaska suggested at the 2006 World Cup that referee Graham Poll's famous yellow card blunder[5] was a result of heavy alcohol consumption before the match.

Honours

As a player

As a manager

References

  1. ↑ FIFA Player Statistics – Herbert Prohaska FIFA.com
  2. ↑ Appearances for Austrian National Team RSSSF
  3. ↑ Golden Players take centre stage UEFA.com, 29 November 2003
  4. ↑ Prohaska honoured in Austria UEFA.com, 18 August 2004
  5. ↑ Ref Poll sent home from World Cup BBC Sport, 28 June 2006

External links