Christoph Westerthaler (11 January 1965 – 20 July 2018) was an Austrian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

coach and player.

Club career

Nicknamed ''Gischi'', Westerthaler was a small-built striker who started his professional career at

FC Wacker Innsbruck FC Wacker Innsbruck was an Austrian association football club from Innsbruck, Tyrol. History The ''Fußball-Club Wacker'' ("Valiant") ''Innsbruck'' was established in 1915 by Jakob Hanspeter, Benedikt Hosp, Josef Leitner, Josef Albrecht and o ...

and stayed with them for nine years, split by a two-season period at

LASK Linz Linzer Athletik-Sport-Klub, commonly known as Linzer ASK () or simply LASK, is an Austrian professional football club, from the Upper-Austrian state capital Linz. It is the oldest football club in that region, and plays in the Austrian Football ...

. With the Tyrolean side he won two league titles and two domestic cups. In 1994, he moved to

SK Vorwärts Steyr SK Vorwärts Steyr is an Austrian association football club based in Steyr. It was founded in 1919. They play at the Vorwärts Stadium. Currently the club has about 300 members. Is one of the oldest football clubs in Upper Austria. In 1999 the c ...

only to rejoin LASK two years later. In 1997, he moved abroad and played in Germany for the two major Frankfurt teams and

VfL Osnabrück VfL Osnabrück is a German multi-sport club in Osnabrück, Lower Saxony. It currently fields teams in basketball, gymnastics, swimming, table tennis, and tennis but is by far best known for its football section. History Foundation to WW2 The cl ...

. In the summer of 2001 he finished his career as a player because of a knee cartilage damage.

International career

Westerthaler made his debut for

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

in an October 1989 friendly match against

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

but was not considered for the

1990 FIFA World Cup The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second time (the first being Me ...

. He earned 6 caps, no goals scored. His final international game was a November 1993 World Cup qualification match against

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

Death

On 20 July 2018, Westerthaler died at the age of 53, due to a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...

Honours

Austrian Bundesliga The Austrian Football Bundesliga (german: Österreichische Fußball-Bundesliga, italic=no , "Austrian Football Federal League"), also known as Admiral Bundesliga for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Austrian football league system. Th ...

: 1989, 1990 *

Austrian Cup The Austrian Cup (german: ÖFB-Cup), known as UNIQA ÖFB Cup for sponsorship purposes, is an annual football competition held by the Austrian Football Association, the ÖFB. During the 2008–09 season, Austria Wien won the tournament for 27th t ...

: 1989, 1993 * Austrian Bundesliga top goalscorer: 1992

External links

*
German Bundesliga stats
- Fussballportal

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Westerthaler, Christoph 1965 births 2018 deaths People from Imst District Footballers from Tyrol (state) Men's association football midfielders Men's association football forwards Austrian men's footballers Austria men's international footballers Austrian expatriate men's footballers FC Wacker Innsbruck players LASK players SK Vorwärts Steyr players APOEL FC players Eintracht Frankfurt players FSV Frankfurt players VfL Osnabrück players Austrian Football Bundesliga players Bundesliga players Cypriot First Division players Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Austrian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Austrian expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Austrian football managers SV Horn managers FC Tirol Innsbruck players WSG Tirol players FC Swarovski Tirol players