Dominik Starkl (born 6 November 1993) is an Austrian professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

right winger A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for

SKU Amstetten Sportklub Union Ertl Glas Amstetten is a professional association football club based in the town of Amstetten, Lower Austria, that competes in the Austrian Football Second League, the second tier of the Austrian football league system. Founde ...

Career

Bustling young forward Dominik Starkl began his career at

Kremser SC Kremser SC is an Austrian association football club located in Krems, Austria. It currently plays in 1. Niederösterreichische Landesliga. The team's colors are white and black. They last played at the country's highest level during the 1991� ...

Lower Austria Lower Austria (german: Niederösterreich; Austro-Bavarian: ''Niedaöstareich'', ''Niedaestareich'') is one of the nine states of Austria, located in the northeastern corner of the country. Since 1986, the capital of Lower Austria has been Sankt P ...

. In 2006 Starkl spent a season at SC Getzersdorf's youth academy, before transferring to

SKN St. Pölten Sportklub Niederösterreich St. Pölten is an Austrian football club from Sankt Pölten, capital of the Austrian state of Lower Austria. St. Pölten currently play in the Austrian Football Second League, the second tier of the Austrian footbal ...

where he spent four years. Starkl's performances and growing reputation attracted the attentions of Austria's most successful club,

SK Rapid Vienna Sportklub Rapid Wien (), commonly known as Rapid Vienna, is an Austrian football club playing in the country's capital city of Vienna. Rapid has won the most Austrian championship titles (32), including the first title in the season 1911–12, ...

, who moved in to secure his signature in 2011.

Rapid Vienna

Starkl's impressive start to life in

Hütteldorf Hütteldorf (; Central Bavarian: ''Hittldorf'') is a part of Vienna's 14th district, Penzing. It is located in the west of Vienna, in the geographical center of the district, stretching roughly from ''Deutschordenstraße'' (which forms the border ...

saw him quickly promoted from the youth ranks into the reserve team squad. Then reserve coach

Zoran Barisic Zoran Barisic ( hr, Barišić; born 22 May 1970) is an Croatian-Austrian football manager and a former player. He is currently the sporting director of SK Rapid Wien, Rapid Vienna and also the caretaker manager for the club.SC Neusiedl am See SC Neusiedl am See 1919 are an Austrian association football club founded in 1919 and currently playing in the Austrian Regional League East. They were relegated from the country's top tier after finishing last in the 1983–84 Austrian Footbal ...

. Starkl started the game before being withdrawn after 77 minutes in a game which Rapid won 2–1. During the 2011–12 season he would go on to make a further 25 appearances with an impressive return of 8 goals. In 2012–13 Starkl made the jump from the reserves to first team squad. Then Trainer

Peter Schöttel Peter Schöttel (born 26 March 1967) is a retired Austrian footballer and manager. He currently works as a pundit for Sky Austria. Club career In his playing career Schöttel played exclusively for Rapid Vienna, making him a cult hero with Rapi ...

gave him his first taste of Bundesliga action when he introduced him as a second-half substitute in a game against

SK Sturm Graz Sportklub Sturm Graz is an Austrian association football club, based in Graz, Styria, playing in the Austrian Football Bundesliga. The club was founded in 1909. Its colours are black and white. In its history, Sturm Graz has won the Austria ...

in November 2012. Starkl made an immediate impact, setting up

Guido Burgstaller Guido Burgstaller (; born 29 April 1989) is an Austrian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Rapid Wien. Club career Cardiff City On 23 May 2014, Burgstaller joined Cardiff City on a three-year deal as Ole Gunnar Solskjær's se ...

for Rapid's goal in a 2–1 loss. The 2013–14 season saw Starkl continue his rise. He scored his first Bundesliga goal for ''the Green & Whites'' in the home match against

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 ...

as Rapid ran out clear 3–0 winners. He followed it up a few weeks later when he scored an important goal to get Rapid back into a game away to

SV Grödig Sportverein Grödig is an Austrian association football club from Grödig. The team currently competes in the Regionalliga Salzburg, the third tier of Austrian football. Grödig were relegated from the Austrian Bundesliga at the end of the 2 ...

. Starkl scored a superb solo effort with Rapid trailing the home side 2–0 in a game that finished 2–2. 2013–14 also saw Starkl make his European debut when he came on as an 81st-minute substitute during Rapid's

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

tie in

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

against

KRC Genk Koninklijke Racing Club Genk (), commonly known as KRC Genk, Racing Genk or simply Genk, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Genk in Belgian Limburg. Racing Genk plays in the Belgian Pro League and have won four champ ...

. The game ended 1–1.

Admira

On 15 June 2015, Starkl left Rapid Wien to join fellow Bundesliga club Admira Wacker on a season-long loan deal with Admira having the option to make the move permanent. The option was triggered in April 2016, and he signed a permanent deal. In seven seasons with the Admira, the striker made 142 Bundesliga appearances and 23 other competitive appearances, in which he scored a total of 20 times. With Admira, he suffered relegation from the Bundesliga at the end of the 2021–22 season.

SKU Amstetten

Starkl signed with Austrian Second Division club

ahead of the 2022–23 season, penning a contract until June 2024.

References

1993 births Living people Association football forwards Austrian footballers Austrian Football Bundesliga players SK Rapid Wien players FC Admira Wacker Mödling players SKU Amstetten players Austria youth international footballers Austria under-21 international footballers People from Krems an der Donau Footballers from Lower Austria {{austria-footy-forward-stub