Andreas Ivanschitz - His life
The Official Biography of the Austrian Football Team Captain.

10/1983 – 10/1989

Andreas Ivanschitz was born on October 15 1983 in Eisenstadt, Burgenland. Both his mother, Helga, as well as his father, Ewald, work as teachers. His mother works as a secondary school teacher in Schattendorf, and his father as a music teacher at the Haydn Conservatory in Eisenstadt. During his childhood and youth he played in the brass band of his small home village Baumgarten. He also enjoyed several years of piano and oboe lessons. Both his older brothers, Martin, who is already a qualified doctor, and Clemens, who has finished studying music, are talented at playing several instruments.

The lives of the three Ivanschitz brothers do however begin above all with “the piece of leather” or “the football” as the English would say. At the age of 4 Andy already liked to kick a ball around his local Karli Meadow, only a stones throw away from his parents house. It was a meeting point for the Baumgarten children where they could train and nurture their talents. Scarcely a day went by without them playing with a ball, be it of plastic or leather. So it was only logical that the parents (who were also both avid football fans) signed the youngest one up with ASK Baumgarten, the village football team.

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10/1989 – 02/1998

As a 6-year-old Andreas Ivanschitz followed the calling of the village club ASK Baumgarten. From this moment onwards “little Andy” was irrevocably and eternally infected by the football virus. Up until the age of 14 Andy had many beautiful and carefree years at the club, which trained together with the support of the neighbouring club Schattendorf.
Ivanschitz and his team-mates made it to the U-14 Burgenland finals, losing 2-4 against a team from Lafnitztal. By the end of his early carrier with ASK Baumgarten, Ivanschitz had already made his way through all the local district and county sides. “I learnt a lot from very good coaches and at the same time never lost the joy of playing football, that’s what my local club gave me which I am still very grateful for today”, said Ivanschitz years later, as he left behind his first step on the football league ladder.

The end of the 90s was an especially important time period for the left footer. As a 13-year-old he was already allowed to train under Hans Schroll, with the team which had fought its way up three Austrian divisions. Although he still hadn’t played for the adult team, he was still a regular choice in the U-16 team. He learnt a lot very quickly, playing not only against physically stronger but also more experienced players. “This experience had a long lasting effect on me and strengthened my continued development.”

His impressive achievements for his club soon caught the attention of football scouts from the biggest and most successful club's in Austria. Johann Wlasits would soon recommend the natural talent of Ivanschitz to junior coach Manfred Uhlig at Rapid Vienna. He organized a trial at the club which the young Andy had always crossed his fingers for. For the Austrian title holders Ivanschitz played with none other than Sergei Schawlo, the one time Rapid and Russian player, who is known for his expertise and is currently the manager of Spartak Moscow. Schawlo quickly identified the talent and potential of the 14-year-old and directed the Burgenländer to the Austrian capital city, Vienna.

So Ivanschitz junior’s music carrier ended, and although his father was a little disappointed, he was happy for his son and supported him wherever he could. A completely new life began. With the move to Rapid meant a change in school. Ivanschitz moved from Mattersberg Grammar School to a partner school from his new club, The ORG in Maroltingergasse in the 16th district of Vienna. There he lived at the boarding school for four years before graduating with very good A-level results.

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02/1998 – 05/2000

Andreas Ivanschitz’s professional football career began in February 1998 in the U-16 team coached by Sergej Schawlo. With players who later on became renowned, such as Stefan Kulovits and Ilco Naumoski, (who played professionally for Austria and Macedonia respectively), Ivanschitz and Co. were BNZ Champions in 1999, WFV Champions, and Austrian Cup Winners Champions.

From July 1999, Ivanschitz, who had already been playing in the U-18 team, now followed his role-model and coach Sergei Schawlo into the next age group. The next rise followed two months later. Ivanschitz turned his back on the amateur team and missed by a whisker, under coach Fritz Riedmüller, promotion from the Vienna City League to the Regional League. Still he could take the pain, he had played under the watchful eye of the that time Sport Director Ernst Dokupil and his successful trainer Heribert Weber. The latter of whom helped the fresh faced 16-year-old make his obligatory début game in the professional league on 26 October 1999. Rapid took part in the Austrian Football League Cup against county leaguers ATSV Ranshofen and Ivanschitz made his appearance as a substitute in the 63rd minute for Jens Dowe when the score was 1-1. It was a somewhat disappointing début. Even Ivanschitz couldn’t prevent the embarrassment for Rapid, who after a goalless extra time, lost 4-1 on penalties to an amateur side from the Upper Austrian town of Innviertel.

At least from now on Andreas Ivanschitz was in the Vienna team squad and trained with world stars such as Dejan Savicevic. A few years later Gastin Taument said, “the only other 16-year-old I have seen, besides Ivanschitz, who was so technically advanced at this age, was Clarence Seedorf” and team-mates such as Rene Wagner (Czech Republic), Kryzsztof Ratajczyk (Poland), Farhad Majidi (Iran), Peter Schottel, Michael Hatz, Arnold Wetl or Andreas Heraf (all Austrian), furthered the development of the Burgenländer considerably. On 20 May 2000 it was eventually time for Ivanschitz to celebrate his début in the Austrian League. The goal scoring king Rene Wagner was substituted for Ivanschitz in the last minute of a championship game against Salzburg. This was to be the beginning of a breathtaking career.

The ÖFB (Austrian Football Association) had also noticed the talented left footer who had already played six games for the U-17s and 10 international matches for the U-16 National Team.

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05/2000 – 06/2001

The final jump into the professional squad had been made. Ivanschitz got the number 2 shirt and signed his first professional contract (until 2005) on July 1 2000. Unfortunately trainer Heribert Weber, Ivanschitz’s long time coach and mentor, had to leave Rapid. Ernst Dokupil, who had taken a part time position in 1998, was now solely responsible for managing Rapid Vienna. In the autumn of 2000, the motto for most of the games was still “stay on the bench” for the 17-year-old Burgenländer. In spite of this he took part in his first European squad game in August 2000. Arnold Wetl was substituted for Ivanschitz when the score was still 0-0. They eventually won 2-0 at home against the Albanian club Tueta Durres.

The next milestone in Ivanschitz’s career was to follow when he scored his first ever professional goal in his last game before the winter break. In his 6th game (2nd start), against opponents “Schwarz Weiß Bregenz”, Ivanschitz opened the scoring in the 25th minute with a wonderful goal. In the opening home game of 2001 Ivanschitz was once again on the score-sheet. Altogether Ivanschitz played 14 full games in his first season, but as in his first game, he didn’t get the chance to play 90 minutes and another goal was beyond him. Then Ivanschitz scored his second goal in a 1-2 home defeat against Admira Wacker. Rapid were once again runners-up that season and got to the quarter finals of the Austrian Football League Cup.

Once again in August 2000 Ivanschitz was involved with the national team. In a 4-1 defeat, with the U-17s, he scored a special goal. This was followed by four games in the U-18 line-up against Germany, Bosnia Herzegovina, Russia (1 goal) and Azerbaijan. On April 24 2001 he celebrated his U-21 team début in Ried, in a 1-1 draw, in an EU qualifier against France. So in only one season he had advanced his way through the U-17 and U-19 teams to the U-21 Austrian team.

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07/2001 – 06/2003

By his 19th birthday, on October 15 2002, he had played nine further U-21 games. Although Andreas Ivanschitz only managed to score one more time. In the European Championship Qualifying stages he reached this objective with a golden goal in a 1-0 victory against Moldova.

Still his ambition had grown in the new season after winning the runner’s up spot with Rapid the previous season. Under Ernst Dokupil, Ivanschitz only played as a substitute, and during this time he had to survive a real crisis at the traditional Viennese club Rapid. Bad defeats followed against newly promoted Kärnten (3-0 away) and against GAK (0-4 home), the most embarrassing defeat, however, was against San Marino (1-0 away) leading to angry protests by fans. After another defeat in the Vienna derby, Dokupil had to step down from his managerial post on 13 August 2001.

At the beginning of September 2001 Lothar Matthäus committed himself as the new manager of the club. It was under the German football legend’s guise that Ivanschitz was finally deployed to play his first full 90 minute game. On September 16 he levelled the scoring in an away game against Sturm Graz, the game ending 1-1. This was to remain Ivanschitz’s only goal under Lothar Matthäus. Rapid finished the season in 8th place, the lowest position in the
club’s over 100 year history. Rightly so, it was the 5-1 home win against Partizan Belgrade that was the season highlight, in which Ivanschitz didn’t play. Matthäus had to go, and he was replaced by Josef Hickersberger in June 2002.

The 55-year-old (and future) one time ÖFB Team manager gave Ivanschitz his complete trust from the very beginning. He deployed the Burgenländer, in all of the 36 games in the 2002/3 season. He always wore the number 8 shirt and soon built up a big fan base. At the very beginning he was still side-lined on the substitutes bench, because the two mid-fielders Andreas Herzog and Thomas Sobotzik were routine selections in the starting line up. Still Ivanschitz came on as a substitute (like in his league début game under Rene Wagner) and managed to score 2 goals in 7 minutes against Sturm Graz. The final result was 4-0 and everyone in Hütteldorf was already dreaming of winning the title.

Until September 30 Ivanschitz had to be content with brief substitutions, most were between 20-30 minutes long – but the strong competition still taking its toll! Finally it was enough and he became a regular player in the starting line up. Together with Austria’s most capped player, Andreas Herzog, and the later Rapid captain, Steffen Hofmann, Ivanschitz was needed as the creative player in the green-white game. In March 2003 Ivanschitz was given the chance to play in his first game for Austria under Hans Krankl. With the score 2-2 against Greece in Graz, Ivanschitz came on for Markus Weissenberger at half time. Rapid finished the season in fourth place, and once again Ivanschitz and his green and white colleagues had failed to qualify for the European Championships.

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07/2003 – 06/2004

For the first time in his career Ivanschitz started the new season with the same trainer as the previous season, and it was a dream start. Rapid impressed with offensive football and played impressive football throughout the autumn. The main reason for this, was above all, the new captain Steffen Hofmann, the strong again striker, Rene Wagner – and: Andreas Ivanschitz. He shone as both an assister and goal scorer (six goals in the autumn season!) and brought himself more and more into the spotlight. On the October 11 2003 he rewrote the history books. The not yet 20-year-old Ivanschitz was given the Austrian captain’s armband from Thomas Flögel, against The Czech Republic. In addition he scored an unforgettable goal to make it 2-1 in the 78th minute. Although the national team finally lost 2-3, from a late away goal, the hype surrounding the “youngest team captain of all time” continued. Andreas Ivanschitz’s feet, however, remained firmly on the ground. The spring of 2004 did not live up to everyone’s hopes. In January 2004 he had to do his military service. He was also injured during an ÖFB cup game in Arnfels at the beginning of April, and couldn't play any further part in the 2003/2004 season. Rapid fell from top of the table, in winter, back to fourth place by the end of the season. This was enough however to earn them a qualifying place in the EUFA Cup the following season.

This time period brought with it three great honours for Ivanschitz. In the Austrian Press Agency's traditional voting, which was carried out by trainers and managers from the county clubs, Andreas Ivanschitz was voted “Austrian Footballer of the Year 2003”. On his club homepage he was voted “Rapidler of the year 2003” and besides that he was also voted “Burgendland’s Sportsman of the Year 2003!”

In January 2004 he could also celebrate a title with his club. It was in Vienna, in the renowned “Stadthalle” Tournament, which had begun in 1959. After an enthralling final against arch local rivals Austria Wien, it went to the Green and Whites, Ivanschitz scoring the winning goal in extra time. One year later they won 2nd place and Ivanschitz was voted “Best Player” of the tournament.

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07/2004 – 12/2005

On July 14 began, what was until now, the best season of Ivanschitz’s career. The first game of the season was a 5-1 thrashing of “Schwarz-Weiß Bregenz”. In the 8th minute Ivanschitz unleashed what to be honest was an unstoppable free-kick into the back of the goal. In the 62nd minute he scored his second goal, and with it his second double in the Austrian Football League, and made the score 4-1. One week later his team convincingly won their first home game in the Hanappi Stadium 4-1 against Wacker Innsbruck. The 20-year-old midfielder was again on the score sheet, and sent the visitors packing back to Tirol.

 

The adventurous European Cup began in August, and with the Russian Rubin Kazan on board, the Green and Whites faced a difficult opponent. After a 0-2 home defeat nobody batted an eyelid on the record holders. Surprisingly on 26 August 2004, thanks to two goals from Steffen Hofmann and a goal from Marek Kincl, they won 3-0 away. This game is often quoted as “Wonder of Kazan”. One month later the chance was over. Rapid lost 2-0 against Sporting Lisbon in the European Championship Jose-Avalade Stadium. Despite having some good chances there were no away goals. For Ivanschitz the pain at the end was double pain because of an injury sustained by a brutal foul from the Brazilian Polga, who was sent off for the reckless challenge. In the home game, at the sold out Hanappi Stadium, he was back. In spite of the fan support, the team could only manage a goalless draw, and in the process all their UEFA-Cup-Team dreams were once more just a pipe dreams. Things were better in the league. Ivanschitz & Co. only lost two games before the end of the year and went into the winter break top of the table, one point ahead of Austria Wien. The perfectly harmonised team wanted to remain in this position after the 36th game, and this was their main objective that season.

It was a shaky start to the spring season, because of a hard winter and lack of under soil heating at the Hüttledorf Stadium. Several home games had to be postponed which turned out to be an advantage in the long run. Rapid began the season in the middle of March and straight away lost to arch rivals Austria 1-0. Josef Hickersberger’s team had a wonderful run winning nine out of ten games between 6 April and 14 May. They were probably the most emotional weeks in Ivanschitz’s career with his team winning almost everything. Inside three days they had two hands down victories, first beating Salzburg 5-0 and then thoroughly outclassing Admira 6-0. On the 11th May was the “return game” against Admira in the south stadium. It was 0-0 at the end of normal time and everyone had goose pimples, before Ferdl Feldhofer scored a golden goal, with his shoulder, from an Ivanschitz free-kick. The following minutes remain unforgettable, the emotion was high, we – all the players and fans mobbed Josef Hickersberger – the ecstatic Rapid fans stormed onto the pitch and one had the feeling that they were at a championship celebration. The season still had not ended however. Three days later Bregenz were guests in the sold out Hanappi Stadium, and once again Rapid celebrated a jubilant 4-1 victory! Unfortunately with a downside, Markus Katzer suffered from a torn cruciate ligament.

The following day the team met behind closed doors, in a local pub in Meidling, to watch Pasching against Austria. It finished as it should have, Austria lost and Rapid Vienna were the 2004/2005 Champions, four games before the end of the season. On this day long champions’ celebrations began, bringing together all the players, organizers and fans for unforgettable moments. Unfortunately a few players injured themselves in the remaining games and so the season finished with four defeats. This included the ÖFB Cup Final in front of over 30,000 fans in the Happel Stadium. The Championship Trophy shined above everything and the next objective was already in sight - qualification for the Champions League!

This they succeeded in doing in August 2005! The Viennese, to every expert’s surprise, won 1-0 away against Locomotiv Moscow after having drawn 1-1 at home, the golden goal coming from Jozef Valachovic! Once again there were unforgettable moments as “The Heroes From Moscow” were greeted by thousands of fans at Vienna airport. This brought together the amazing group – Bayern Munich, Juventus Turin, Club Brügge and Rapid Vienna. Unfortunately the six games didn’t go according to plan. Even though Rapid performed well against Bayern Munich winning a penalty, they still lost, in a completely sold out Happel Stadium. They also took the lead against Brügge, after a few seconds, but went on to lose the game and the Green and Whites remained without a point after all six games. In spite of the immensely important experience, the fairy tale had turned sour. Sportingly as well they delivered below average performances in the league. Josef Hickersberger was obligated to remain Team Manager until January 1 2006 and the team morale was not what it had been a few months before. Captain Steffen Hofmann was about to transfer to Germany and Andreas Ivanschitz was also thinking about leaving his favourite club. In December the 22-year- old Burgenländer received a very good offer from Red Bull Salzburg, and after a short period of thought, he decided to move to the city of Mozart. This wasn’t an easy decision, his heart still remained very much with Rapid. It was the club with which he had become famous and for whom as a boy he had always crossed his fingers for. Ivanschitz was however convinced both from a sporting and financial side that he had made the right decision.

By this time Ivanschitz had already long since established himself as both captain and club player for the national team. Without doubt one of the highlights has to be the battled home game against England in autumn 2004. During the game the red-white-red eleven struggled to win the favour, and after going 2-0 down they still managed to turn the game around, drawing 2-2. Ivanschitz also added another goal to his account. In spite of this, the team, managed by Hans Krankl, missed qualifying for the World Cup Finals in Germany by some margin. Winning 2-0 at home against Northern Ireland was little consolation and under the Herzog/Ruttensteiner training duo their chances were closed.

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01/2006 – 08/2006

At the beginning of January was the much talked about and heavily discussed transfer of Ivanschitz. From then onwards he played for Red Bull Salzburg. Under trainer Kurt Jara he always wore the number 10 shirt. In Ivanschitz’s second game, a 5-2 thrashing against Wacker Innsbruck, Ivanschitz scored what was to remain his only championship goal for the Red Bulls. The second championship title, one of Ivanschitz’s career objectives, was also out of reach. Despite having players such as former Bayern Munich striker Alexander Zickler, they finished the season 6 points behind Austria Wien in second place. Even worse was the finishing position of Ivanschitz’s former club, Rapid Wien. They had to make do with 5th place after the departure of both Steffen Hofmann and Ivanschitz.

At the end of the season Red Bull Salzburg surprisingly changed their manager. Kurt Jara was sent packing, and the prominent duo of Italian star coach Giovanni Trapattoni and Germany’s most capped player Lothar Matthäus took over. The latter with whom Ivanschitz had already played under at Rapid Wien. It was to be the “Mister” from Italy who was to call the shots. He made it clear to Ivanschitz that he would probably spend more time on the substitutes bench than on the pitch. For the ambitious Burgenländer this was the cue that it was time to move on again. The captain of the Austrian National team didn't have to wait long for an offer.

Meanwhile in the national team, Josef Hickersberger (Ivanschitz’s mentor) took over as coach on January 1 2006. Despite this change the results of the first two games were appalling. In March, in a half empty Happel Stadium, a 0-2 embarrassment against Canada was followed by a 1-4 defeat against World Cup starters Croatia. A small consolation for Ivanschitz was a goal against Zlatko Kranjcar´s team. This was his first international goal for Austria under Hickersberger, and his third goal for the Red-White-Reds!

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from 08/2006

By the middle of August 2006 Andreas Ivanschitz had found his new club. The 23-year-old moved from Red Bull Salzburg to the traditional Greek club Panathinaikos Athens and this move was, in contrast to the transfer from Vienna to Salzburg, to prove dead right. Before he could play his first match for the Green and Whites Ivanschitz was called up for duty in his first national game, and his third game the 2006 World Cup year. This time the game was played in Graz against Hungarian opponents. Austria thought it would be an easy win. Once again it wasn’t. The game was a 1-2 defeat, and for Ivanschitz the Greek adventure was to begin.

Before his first appearance the Greek Press had already knighted him “the Green Mozart”. In the number 27 shirt, and with his outstanding performances, he quickly made the sporting headlines. In his first season he made 40 appearances for “PAO”, and with his spectacular goals and assists he quickly made a name for himself in the Greek Super League. The best compliment probably came from arch rivals Olympiakos Piräus. Peter Persidis, the co-trainer of the Austrian National Team played there in the 70s. When he saw Ivanschitz play for Athens, met numerous old team mates and the current functionaries of the Hellenic champions, he often heard the accusation “Why didn’t you bring Ivanschitz to us?”
In his first season Ivanschitz was twice voted “Man of The Match”. Once he achieved “Best Goal of the Game” and at the end of the season he was chosen in the “ALLSTAR TEAM 2007”

As beautiful as the time was in Athens, which ended in third place and the Cup Final (1-2 def. against Larissa), the time became very difficult in 2006 for the National Team. Ivanschitz remained without a win in the 4th and 5th games for his country that year. Austria drew 2-2 in Switzerland against Costa Rica, and an even more embarrassing was their 1-0 defeat to Venezuela. In October Ivanschitz’s team just scraped past The Principality of Liechtenstein, narrowly avoiding another embarrassment. After the hosts had been leading 1-0 for a long time Josef Hickersberger’s eleven somehow managed to come away with a 1-2 victory.

A few days later everything was okay again in the team. Austria beat Switzerland 2-1, in the sold out Tivoli Stadium, in Innsbruck, with a dazzling performance. This was the first time since 1996(!) that Austria had beaten a team currently classified in the top 15 of the FIFA world rankings. To finish the year there was another convincing 4-1 home win against World Cup participants Trinidad and Tobago. So things with the national team also appeared to be heading in the right direction.

Still things didn’t go according to plan. In 2007 Ivanschitz and Co. had to wait until their 10th game of the year to obtain their first victory. In February they managed a meagre 1-1 draw against Malta, Ivanschitz equalizing with a free-kick. In March there was a very good game against World Cup participants Ghana, ending 1-1. Ivanschitz set up Rene Aufhauser to give Austria the lead. Unfortunately the Africans equalized, scoring shortly before the final whistle. A few days later a there was a passable performance in front of 65,000 people in the Stade De France, the hosts winning the closely contested game 1-0. At the end of May/beginning of June two home games were on the fixture list in the Vienna Hanappi Stadium. These games were about to create worryingly negative headlines in the newspapers. In the first game Austria lost 0-1 against Scotland. A few days later Austria put this weak performance behind them and came away with a credible 0-0 draw against World Cup participants Paraguay.

In Summer 2007 an injury put Ivanschitz out of action for several weeks, thus missing international matches against Czech Republic (1-1), Japan (0-0/4-3 in a penalty shoot out) and Chile (0-2). The captain was finally back on board in the second and last away game of the year. In Zurich, the EURO co-host Switzerland got revenge for their defeat 12 months earlier (final result 3-1 to the Swiss). A few days later Austria played host to superstar Didier Drogba and his Ivory Coast team-mates in Innsbruck. In the almost sold out 30,000 stadium, Ivanschitz and Co. played the best international game of the year. Austria finally won 3-2 against the 2006 runner-up African champions. Ivanschitz scored a penalty to make it 2-1, and set up the exemplary Joachim Standfest who made it 3-1. In November 2007 there was once again little cause for celebration with the closing international games against England (0-1 in front of 45,000 spectators) and Tunisia (0-0 in front of only 14,200 visitors), the Austrian team failing to score a single goal.

For Ivanschitz things were running quite well at the club despite his injury break. By the end of the year Ivanschitz had played in 11 games and scored 2 goals. In the EUFA Cup he came on as a substitute four times, which included setting up all three goals for Panathinaikos in the 3-0 win against FC Aberdeen. In the league his club slid to third place in the European Cup year, but they do remain on course to achieve their goal of becoming “Greek Champions”

To be continued.....

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Sports and Sociales

As a prominent sportsman I would like to use my high profile to help people who need help. Children are especially in need of help and protection. That’s why I was especially honoured to take up the offer from the SOS-Children’s Village of becoming the first Austrian Footballer to be made FIFA-4-SOS Ambassador.

I am very proud to act together with stars such as Cannavaro, Shevchenko and many others as a voice in the world of football for this Austrian Children’s organisation.

In addition to my engagement I have decided to adopt the SOS-Children’s Village of Seekirchen. If you would like to know more about how you can provide a better future for the children for less than €1 a day here is the link:
SOS-Kinderdorf!

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