Gernot Trauner (; born 25 March 1992) 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

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

club

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the club changed to various names before settling on being called after its ...

and the Austria national team. Trauner progressed through different youth teams in

Upper Austria Upper Austria (german: Oberösterreich ; bar, Obaöstareich) is one of the nine states or of Austria. Its capital is Linz. Upper Austria borders Germany and the Czech Republic, as well as the other Austrian states of Lower Austria, Styria, a ...

, before making his debut in professional football as part of

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

in 2010. Sidelined by injury in the 2011–12 season, he made the move to

SV Ried SV Ried is an Football in Austria, Austrian association football club from Ried im Innkreis, Upper Austria. The team plays its home matches at Josko Arena, a stadium with a capacity of 7,680. After being relegated from Austrian Football Bundesli ...

in 2012 where he made his breakthrough in the

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 ...

. He returned to LASK in 2017 under head coach

Oliver Glasner Oliver Glasner (born 28 August 1974) is an Austrian professional football coach, currently as a head coach of Eintracht Frankfurt. In his playing career, he played as a defender for Austrian Football Bundesliga side SV Ried. Playing career G ...

where he grew into one of the best

s in the league, and also experienced European success. In 2021, he joined

club

, where he reached the

UEFA Europa Conference League The UEFA Europa Conference League (abbreviated as UECL) is an annual football club competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. Clubs qualify for the competition based on their ...

final in his first season and was voted into the Team of the Season. He made his debut for the Austria national team in 2018 in a friendly against

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Club career

Early years

Trauner started playing football for SV Kematen am Innbach in the

Hausruckviertel The Hausruckviertel (literally German for the ''Hausruck'' quarter or district) is an Austrian region belonging to the state of Upper Austria: it is one of four "quarters" of Upper Austria the others being Traunviertel, Mühlviertel, and Innvier ...

in 1997. Described by his youth coach Karl Karazi as "agile and techically gifted" from early on, he was particularly praised for his ambition to succeed. He progressed through the different youth teams of the club until 2006, where he moved to regional football academy of

Linz Linz ( , ; cs, Linec) is the capital of Upper Austria and third-largest city in Austria. In the north of the country, it is on the Danube south of the Czech border. In 2018, the population was 204,846. In 2009, it was a European Capital of ...

. He played there from under-15 to the under-19 level, winning the national under-17 championship with the team in the 2008–09 season.

LASK

After having impressed with the under-19s of the Linz academy, Trauner was signed by regional powerhouse

in February 2010. He initially played for the second team competing in the Upper Austrian Landesliga. He made his debut for this team in a 6–1 victory against

SV Gmunden SV Gmunden is a football club that currently plays in the 5th tier Austrian 2. Landesliga The Austrian 2. Landesliga is the fifth tier of football in Austria. It is divided among the Austrian states by one or more conferences. The champions of ...

on 21 March 2010, scoring a goal. Teammates on his debut included Lukas Kragl, Thomas Höltschl and Ali Hamdemir. In his first season he made another ten appearances and scored three more goals. The reserve team won promotion to the

Austrian Regionalliga Central The Austrian Regional League Central (german: Regionalliga Mitte) is a third-tier division of Austrian football, established in the 1994–95 season. It covers the Austrian states of Carinthia (with East Tyrol), Styria and Upper Austria and is ...

at the end of the season with a second place. Ahead of the 2010–11 season, Trauner was promoted to the LASK first team, making his

debut under head coach

Helmut Kraft Helmut Kraft (born 24 July 1958) is an Austrian football manager. External links

* * 1958 births Living people Austrian footballers Austrian football managers SV Ried managers Wiener Sport-Club managers SK Vorwärts Steyr managers ...

as a substitute for René Aufhauser in a 1–0 regional derby loss to

on 31 July 2010. He made 10 more league appearances that season as his team suffered relegation to the First League, but would miss the entirety of the 2011–12 season with a complicated hip injury.

SV Ried

Trauner joined SV Ried on 12 June 2012, after his contract with LASK had expired. He signed a three-year contract. He made his competitive debut for the club on 1 September, coming off the bench in the 84th minute for Nacho Rodríguez in a 1–0 home loss to

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 Austrian f ...

. He would suffer a

zygomatic bone In the human skull, the zygomatic bone (from grc, ζῠγόν, zugón, yoke), also called cheekbone or malar bone, is a paired irregular bone which articulates with the maxilla, the temporal bone, the sphenoid bone and the frontal bone. It is si ...

fracture in October 2013, again sidelining him for an extended period. However, he managed to establish himself as a starter for the club, switching from a position as

central midfielder 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 ...

under head coach

. On 7 March 2015, Trauner scored his first goal in the Austrian Bundesliga, a powerful shot from distance, to hand Ried a 2–1 victory against

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 ...

. In May 2015, he signed a contract extension with Ried until 2017. Trauner suffered an

anterior cruciate ligament injury An anterior cruciate ligament injury occurs when the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is either stretched, partially torn, or completely torn. The most common injury is a complete tear. Symptoms include pain, an audible cracking sound during inju ...

in his right knee in April 2016, which meant that he missed large parts of the 2016–17 season. He returned to the pitch on 29 November 2016, after a six-month absence, coming on as a substitute in the second half for

Clemens Walch Clemens Walch (born 10 July 1987) is an Austrian footballer who plays for SPG Silz/Mötz as a right midfielder. Club career He signed a professional contract with VfB Stuttgart until 2011. On 12 August 2010 Walch moved to 1. FC Kaiserslautern ...

in a 1–0 loss to Rheindorf Altach. The season ended with Ried suffering relegation to the second tier; their first relegation since

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

Return to LASK

On 29 May 2017, Trauner returned to LASK on a three-year contract, as the club had won promotion back to the Bundesliga. On 15 July, Trauner made his first competitive appearance for the club since his return, in the 1–0 win against FC Kitzbühel in the

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 ...

. A week later he also played his first league game since his return, in a 3–0 victory against Admira Wacker. On 17 February 2018, Trauner scored his first goal for LASK, opening the score in a 2–0 win against Rheindorf Altach. The team finished fourth in the league table at the end of the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

, and thus qualified for

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 ...

football. For the 2018–19 season, Trauner was named

team captain In team sport, captain is a title given to a member of the team. The title is frequently honorary, but in some cases the captain may have significant responsibility for strategy and teamwork while the game is in progress on the field. In eithe ...

. Entering the second qualifying round of the Europa League, Trauner made his European debut in a 4–0 victory against Norwegian club

Lillestrøm Lillestrøm is a municipality in Viken county. It is located in the traditional district of Romerike. With a population of 85,757 inhabitants, it is the fourth most populated municipality in Viken. It was founded on 1 January 2020 as a merger be ...

. LASK were eliminated in the third qualifying round on away goals by Turkish side

Beşiktaş Beşiktaş () is a district and municipality of Istanbul, Turkey, located on the European shore of the Bosphorus strait. It is bordered on the north by Sarıyer and Şişli, on the west by Kağıthane and Şişli, on the south by Beyoğlu, and ...

. He finished the season with three goals scored as LASK finished in second place in the Bundesliga. In the play-off round of the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

against

Club Brugge (), known simply as Club Brugge (in English also: ''Club Bruges''), is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges, Belgium. It was founded in 1891 and its home ground is the Jan Breydel Stadium, which has a capacity of 29,062.

, Trauner was sent off after receiving two yellow cards and LASK were eliminated, allowing them to enter the group stage of the Europa League. On 12 December 2019, Trauner scored his first European goal, opening the score against

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal, founded Sporting Club de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP, often known abroad as Sporting Lisbon , is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Lisbon. It is best known for the professional foot ...

in a 3–0 win. In the Round of 16, LASK were eliminated by

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

. In the 2019–20 season, LASK finished in fourth place in the Bundesliga, a result they repeated in the 2020–21 season. In the latter season, they were eliminated in the group stage of the Europa League and lost the final of the Austrian Cup to Red Bull Salzburg. Trauner made 158 competitive appearances for the club during his second stint, scoring 17 goals.

Feyenoord

Trauner joined

club

on 26 July 2021, for a reported fee of €1 million. He made his competitive debut for the club on 5 July, in a 3–0 away win against

FC Luzern Fussball-Club Luzern (), or simply abbreviated to FCL, is a Swiss sports club based in Lucerne (german: Luzern). It is best known for its professional football team, which plays in the Super League, the top tier of the Swiss football league syste ...

in the

. His home debut in the

De Kuip Stadion Feijenoord (), more commonly known by its nickname De Kuip (, the Tub), is a stadium in Rotterdam, Netherlands. It was completed in 1937. The name is derived from the Feijenoord district in Rotterdam, and from the club with the same na ...

followed in the return game a week later. On 15 August, Trauner made his Eredivisie debut in a 4–0 victory against Willem II. He held on to a place in the starting lineup throughout the season, as Feyenoord impressed in the first season under head coach

Arne Slot Arend Martijn Slot (; born 17 September 1978) is a Dutch professional football coach and former player who is the head coach of Feyenoord. Playing career Slot played as midfielder for PEC Zwolle, NAC Breda and Sparta Rotterdam. Coaching care ...

, finishing third in the league table. Their main success, however, was in the

, where the club reached the final – the club's first European final since

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

. They were eventually beaten 1–0 in the final by

José Mourinho José Mário dos Santos Mourinho Félix GOIH (; born 26 January 1963), is a Portuguese professional football manager and former player who is the current head coach of Italian Serie A club Roma. Once dubbed "The Special One" by the British ...

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: Places Australia * Roma, Queensland, a town ** Roma Airport ** Roma Courthouse ** Electoral district of Roma, defunct ** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council *Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...

. Trauner was voted into the Team of the Season of the inaugural tournament. Following

Jens Toornstra Jens Toornstra (born 4 April 1989) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays for Eredivisie side FC Utrecht. He usually plays as an attacking midfielder. Club career Early career Toornstra was born in Ter Aar. In his youth, he played eight ...

's departure, Feyenoord head coach Arne Slot chose Trauner as team captain for the league opener, a 5–2 win against Vitesse on 7 August 2022. His performance as captain was praised by pundit , who said he had "fought as a true captain" in

RTV Rijnmond Radio + TV Rijmond, usually abbreviated as RTV Rijnmond, is a public broadcast organization for the Rijnmond region of the Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Soverei ...

. In the end, long-time Feyenoord player Orkun Kökçü was made the new permanent club captain, with Trauner taking over duties as vice-captain. Trauner sustained a knee injury during practice on 22 December 2022 which required surgery, sidelining him for the following months.

International career

Trauner has represented Austria at under-18, under-19 and under-21 level and was a member of the Austrian

squad In military terminology, a squad is among the smallest of military organizations and is led by a non-commissioned officer. NATO and US doctrine define a squad as an organization "larger than a team, but smaller than a section." while US Army do ...

at the

2010 UEFA European Under-19 Championship The 2010 UEFA European Under-19 Championship was the ninth edition of UEFA's European Under-19 Championship since it was renamed from the original under-18 event, in 2001. France hosted the championship during July. Ukraine were the title holders ...

, where he played in all three of Austria's games and scored against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. He made his debut for the

Austria national football team The Austria national football team (german: Österreichische Fußballnationalmannschaft) represents Austria in men's international football competition and it is controlled by the Austrian Football Association (German: Österreichischer Fußba ...

on 16 October 2018 in a friendly against

Personal life

Trauner is married and has three children.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Austria's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Trauner goal''.

Honours

Feyenoord *

runner-up: 2021–22 Individual *

Team of the Year: 2018–19 2019–20 * UEFA Europa Conference League Team of the Season: 2021–22

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Trauner, Gernot 1992 births Living people Association football midfielders Austrian footballers Austria youth international footballers Austria under-21 international footballers Austria international footballers Austrian Football Bundesliga players Eredivisie players LASK players SV Ried players Feyenoord players Austrian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Footballers from Linz