Andreas Ivanschitz ( hr, Ivančić; born 15 October 1983) is an Austrian retired

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 ...

who played as an

attacking 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 ...

. During the career, Ivanschitz played for

Rapid Wien 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, ...

, Red Bull Salzburg, Panathinaikos, 1.FSV Mainz 05, Levante, Seattle Sounders FC and

Viktoria Plzen Viktoria usually refers to Viktoria, a name which is the same as Victoria (name), but may also refer to: Places * FK Viktoria Stadion, stadium of Viktoria Žižkov * Viktoria-Luise-Platz, building in Berlin * Viktoriastadt, now known as Victoria ...

. A full international since 2003, he represented Austria at

Euro 2008 The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2008 or simply Euro 2008, was the 13th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA (the Union of Europea ...

Club career

Born in Eisenstadt, Ivanschitz began his football career as a youth in his town's local team called ASK Baumgarten, where he spent nine years. Soon,

scouts found out about his talent and in 1998, he signed his first professional contract with the

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 ...

n champions. He was only 16 years old when he wore his team's shirt during an Austrian Cup match against Ranshofen on 26 October 1999. His first official League match was in 2000 against Wüstenrot Salzburg. In 177 games for Rapid Wien, Ivanschitz scored 27 times, winning the Austrian Championship title in 2004–05. In 2003, he was elected "Austrian Footballer of the Year." In January 2006, Ivanschitz transferred to Red Bull Salzburg and then to Greek Super League club Panathinaikos in August 2006 on a two-year loan. On 20 June 2008, Ivanschitz agreed on a permanent deal with Panathinaikos. After three years in

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

with Panathinaikos he agreed on 18 July 2009 on a two-year loan with 1. FSV Mainz 05 with the view to a two-year permanent contract in the summer of 2011. Mainz took advantage of this contract option prematurely, and signed Ivanschitz permanently in January 2011. On 10 June 2013, Ivanschitz left Mainz for Levante UD. He scored his first goal in

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men' ...

on 31 August, the winner with the last kick of a 2–1 home win over

Rayo Vallecano Rayo Vallecano de Madrid, S.A.D. (), often abbreviated to Rayo (Spanish for "thunderbolt"), is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid, in the neighbourhood of Vallecas. Rayo was founded on 29 May 1924, and currently compete in La Li ...

. He finished his first season in Spain with three goals from 29 games, the last being in a 2–0 win over city rivals

Valencia CF Valencia Club de Fútbol (, ca-valencia, València Club de Futbol ), commonly referred to as Valencia CF (or simply Valencia) is a professional football club based in Valencia, Spain, that currently plays in La Liga, the top flight of the Spa ...

on 10 May. On 4 August 2015, he signed with Seattle Sounders FC in Major League Soccer. After suffering from an injury his debut was postponed to 13 September where he assisted a late Obafemi Martins goal to tie up the game against San Jose Earthquakes. Ivanschitz converted Seattle's second kick from the spot in the 2016 MLS Cup penalty shootout, which the Sounders eventually won after six rounds, securing their first MLS Cup Title.

International career

Ivanschitz made his debut for

in a February 2003 friendly match against

, coming on as a substitute for

Markus Weissenberger Markus Weissenberger (born 8 March 1975) is an Austrian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He is a younger brother of former Austria international player Thomas Weissenberger. Club career Weissenberger played for Eint ...

. He was also a participant at the

UEFA Euro 2008 The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2008 or simply Euro 2008, was the 13th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA (the Union of European ...

. He has earned 69 caps for Austria and has scored 12 goals.

Career statistics

Club statistics

*1.Includes Super League playoffs and

MLS Cup playoffs The MLS Cup Playoffs is the annual postseason elimination tournament of Major League Soccer. The final match of the tournament is the MLS Cup, the league's championship game. Under the current format adopted for the 2019 season, 14 teams quali ...

International goals

:''Scores and results list Austria's goal tally first.''

National team statistics

Honours

Club

* Austrian Football Bundesliga: 2005 Seattle Sounders FC *

MLS Cup The MLS Cup is the annual championship game of Major League Soccer (MLS) and the culmination of the MLS Cup Playoffs. The game is held in November and pits the winner of the Eastern Conference Final against the winner of the Western Conferen ...

: 2016

Individual

* Austrian Footballer of the Year: 2003

Personal life

Ivanschitz comes from a musical family and plays various musical instruments in his spare time. He is a part of the Burgenland Croat community.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ivanschitz, Andreas 1983 births Living people People from Eisenstadt Association football midfielders Austrian footballers Austrian expatriate footballers Austria international footballers Austrian people of Croatian descent Austria youth international footballers UEFA Euro 2008 players SK Rapid Wien players FC Red Bull Salzburg players Panathinaikos F.C. players 1. FSV Mainz 05 players Levante UD footballers Seattle Sounders FC players Austrian Football Bundesliga players Super League Greece players Bundesliga players La Liga players Major League Soccer players Expatriate footballers in Greece Expatriate footballers in Germany Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate soccer players in the United States Burgenland Croats Austrian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Austrian expatriate sportspeople in Greece Austrian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Austrian expatriate sportspeople in the United States FC Viktoria Plzeň players Czech First League players Expatriate footballers in the Czech Republic Austrian expatriate sportspeople in the Czech Republic Footballers from Burgenland