Herbert Prohaska (; born 8 August 1955) is an Austrian former 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 ...
. He ranks among Austria's greatest football players of all time. Prohaska works as a football pundit for the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation (
ORF
ORF or Orf may refer to:
* Norfolk International Airport, IATA airport code ORF
* Observer Research Foundation, an Indian research institute
* One Race Films, a film production company founded by Vin Diesel
* Open reading frame, a portion of the ...
). His nickname "Schneckerl",
Viennese dialect for curly hair, derives from his curly haircut in his younger years. A talented, elegant, and combative
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 ...
, Prohaska played as a
deep-lying playmaker, and was known for his technique, intelligence, and precise passing.
Club career
Born in
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
, Austria, Prohaska started his professional career in 1972 at the football club
Austria Vienna
Fußballklub Austria Wien AG (; known in English as Austria Vienna, and usually shortened to Austria (German: Österreich) in German-speaking countries, is an Austrian association football club from the capital city of Vienna. It has won the mos ...
. By 1980 he had helped his club to win four
Austrian league titles and three
Austrian Cup wins. In 1980, he joined
Inter Milan
Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Inter is ...
, and won the
Italian Cup
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
in his second season with the ''
nerazzurri''. In 1982, he moved to
A.S. Roma
' (''Rome Sport Association''), commonly referred to as Roma (), is a professional football club based in Rome, Italy. Founded by a merger in 1927, Roma has participated in the top tier of Italian football for all of its existence, except for ...
, 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
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 a November 1974 friendly match against
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...
and was a participant at the
1978 and
1982 FIFA World Cups. He earned 83 caps, scoring 10 goals. His final international was a June 1989 World Cup qualification match against
Iceland
Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...
, but he retired before the
1990 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 ...
, while Austria qualified for the tournament.
Managerial 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 the
Austria national team, qualifying as group winners for the
1998 World Cup in France. In 1999, he resigned after a disastrous 9–0 defeat to
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
. 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
The Austrian Football Association (german: Österreichischer Fußball-Bund; ÖFB) is the governing body of football in Austria. It organises the football league, Austrian Bundesliga, the Austrian Cup and the Austria national football team, as well ...
as their most outstanding player of the past 50 years. In August 2004, he was voted the Austrian Footballer of the Century as the Austrian Football Association celebrated its 100th anniversary.
Media work
Working as a pundit for the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation
ORF
ORF or Orf may refer to:
* Norfolk International Airport, IATA airport code ORF
* Observer Research Foundation, an Indian research institute
* One Race Films, a film production company founded by Vin Diesel
* Open reading frame, a portion of the ...
, Prohaska suggested at the
2006 World Cup
The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the ...
that referee
Graham Poll
Graham Poll (born 29 July 1963) is an English former football referee in the Premier League. With 26 years of experience, he was one of the most prominent referees in English football, often taking charge of the highest-profile games. His final ...
's famous yellow card blunder
Ref Poll sent home from World Cup
BBC Sport, 28 June 2006 was a result of heavy alcohol consumption before the match.
Honours
As a player
* Austrian Bundesliga (7): 1976, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1984, 1985, 1986
* Austrian Cup: 1974, 1977, 1980, 1986
* Italian Serie A Championship: 1983
* Italian Cup
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
: 1982
Individual
* Austrian Player of the Year (Krone-Fußballerwahl): 1975, 1985
* Austrian Player of the Year (APA-Fußballerwahl): 1984, 1985, 1988
* UEFA Jubilee Awards To celebrate the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA)'s 50th anniversary in 2004, each of its member associations was asked by UEFA to choose one of its own players as the single most outstanding player of the past 50 years (1954–2003). ...
(Austria's Golden Player): 2004
As a manager
* Austrian Bundesliga: 1991, 1992
* Austrian Cup: 1990, 1992
* Austrian Manager of the Year (Krone-Fußballerwahl): 1997
References
External links
Player profile – Herbert Prohaska
Austria Archive
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Prohaska, Herbert
1955 births
Living people
Footballers from Vienna
Austrian footballers
Association football midfielders
Austria international footballers
UEFA Golden Players
1978 FIFA World Cup players
1982 FIFA World Cup players
Austrian Football Bundesliga players
Serie A players
FK Austria Wien players
Inter Milan players
A.S. Roma players
Austrian football managers
1998 FIFA World Cup managers
Austria national football team managers
FK Austria Wien managers
Austrian expatriate footballers
Austrian expatriate sportspeople in Italy
Expatriate footballers in Italy
Recipients of the Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria