Günther Neukirchner (born December 2, 1971) is a former

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player in the position of a defender. He spent the greatest part of his active career with the traditional

Styria Styria ( ; ; ; ) is an Austrian Federal states of Austria, state in the southeast of the country. With an area of approximately , Styria is Austria's second largest state, after Lower Austria. It is bordered to the south by Slovenia, and cloc ...

n club

SK Sturm Graz Sportklub Sturm Graz is an Austrian professional association football club, based in Graz, 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 Austr ...

, with whom he enjoyed great success.

Career

Playing career

Neukirchner played 17 years for

Austrian Bundesliga The Bundesliga ( , "Federal League"), also known as Admiral Bundesliga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Austria and the highest level of the Austrian football league system. The competition decides the A ...

side Sturm Graz. The all-rounder was a central player of SK Sturm Graz, and has been playing there since 1980. "Gü", as he was called by his teammates, first played in the youth team, the amateurs and later in the first team. He became an all-rounder because, as a young Sturm player, he was not used in his position as a striker and therefore kept moving to other positions. He has already played every position in the Bundesliga, with the exception of goalkeeper. Neukirchner made his debut for the

Austrian Football Association The Austrian Football Association (; 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 its female equivalent. It is b ...

on August 19, 1998, against

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

in a 2–2 draw in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

. He made a total of 14 international appearances. His career in the national team came to a somewhat inglorious end when, together with eight teammates, he refused to fly to

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

to take part in the final qualifying match for the

2002 World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea/Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

. He became Austrian champion twice and

Austrian cup The Austrian 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 a record 27th time. Wo ...

winner three times with Sturm Graz. He also played three times in the Champions League. On August 30, 2006, it was announced on the club's website that Neukirchner was ending his active career. On August 31, the Graz legend signed a contract with FC Gratkorn in the second-tier First League. In the summer of 2007, after 16 appearances and one goal, he ended his active career as a player there. With 426 games Günther Neukirchner played the second most games for SK Sturm Graz.

Coaching career

For the 2009/10 season, the Graz native moved back to his original club, this time to fill the position of co-coach of the amateur team. In September 2014, Neukirchner served as interim coach of the professionals for two games. In November 2018, he became interim coach for a second time for one game.

Achievements

* 2× Austrian Champion (1997/1998 and 1998/1999) * 4× Austrian runner-up (1994/1995, 1995/1996, 1999/2000, 2001/2002) * 3× ÖFB Cup winner (1996, 1997, 1999) * 2× ÖFB Cup finalist (1998 and 2002) * 3× Austrian Supercup winner (1996, 1998, 1999) * 2× Austrian Supercup finalist (1997, 2002)

Other

After a 4–0 defeat to

Grazer AK Grazer Athletiksport Klub (; abbreviated as GAK), better known simply as Grazer AK, is an Austrian sports club based in the city of Graz in the federal state of Styria. The football section was once among Austria's most popular clubs, enjoying s ...

on February 27, 2005, Neukirchner delivered a legendary interview in which he criticized, above all, the "stupid" questions asked by the sports journalist from the

Premiere A premiere, also spelled première, (from , ) is the debut (first public presentation) of a work, i.e. play, film, dance, musical composition, or even a performer in that work. History Raymond F. Betts attributes the introduction of the ...

channel. At the general assembly of SK Sturm Graz on January 18, 2016, he was honored as honorary captain together with Mario Haas and Andy Pichler. He also played

futsal Futsal is a variant of association football played between two teams of five players each on a court smaller than a football pitch. Its rules are based on the Laws of the Game (association football), Laws of the Game of association football, and i ...

for the 1. FSC Graz.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Neukirchner, Gunther 1971 births Living people Men's association football defenders Austrian men's footballers Austria men's international footballers Austria men's under-21 international footballers SK Sturm Graz players FC Gratkorn players Austrian Football Bundesliga players Austrian football managers SK Sturm Graz non-playing staff