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. 20130814 AT-GR Herbert Prohaska 2342

Media work

Working as a pundit for the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation

, 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 blunderRef 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 *

: 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