Austria Top Scorers of All Time

Some players who could be considered as Austria football player legends like Anton Polster and Karl Zischek are also on the list of Austria top scorers of all time, too, but of course, you know that this list doesn’t and shouldn’t necessarily contain all the Austria football player legends like, for instance, David Alaba since not all Austrian football legends have played as a forward to finish among

Austria top scorers

.

And one thing to mention about the list of Austria top scorers of all time is that only one footballer on the list, namely Marko Arnautovic, is part of the current Austria national football team. The rest are retired or have passed away, but during their own footballing time, they were, of course, part of the Austria national football team otherwise they couldn’t finish among Austria top scorers.

A List of Austria Top Scorers of All Time

The list of Austria top scorers of all time starts with Anton Polster with 44 goals, but let’s see which other footballers are on the list.

Anton Polster (46 Goals)

Number one on the list of

Austria top scorers of all time

, Anton Polster is a 57-year-old retired Austrian footballer - actually forward - who served the Austrian national team sometime between 1982 and 2000. There is controversy over the number of goals Polster scored during his career; while some sources say it’s 44 some other say it’s 46, however, that makes no difference since either 44 or 46 keeps Polster at the top of the list of Austria top scorers. Polster scored all his 46 international goals in 95 appearances which get him a goal-to-appearance ratio of 0.48 meaning that he scored almost one goal (exactly 0.96) in every two appearances for his country’s national team.

Polster scored all his international goals in friendlies, Euro and World Cup qualification rounds, and World Cup finals, and the interesting fact about him is that he scored exactly the same number of goals in all of them except for World Cup finals. He actually scored 15 goals in international friendlies, 15 goals in Euro qualifying rounds, and 15 goals in World Cup qualifying rounds, in 40, 20, and 30 appearances, respectively. And in World Cup finals he actually made 6 appearances and scored one goal. If you would like to know the truth, until 1996, it was the current Austria second top scorer of all time, Hans Krankl, who held the record of most goals scored for the

.

That record was actually broken by Polster in the same year (1996) in a World Cup qualification match against Latvia as the 57-year-old retired Austrian footballer scored his 35th international goal. You may also like to know that just before 2002, Polster was the most capped Austrian footballer, too, but his record of 94 international appearances got broken in the same year’s May by Andreas Herzog. During his international career, Polster also scored three hat-tricks: Once in a 1990 World Cup qualification match against the former East Germany which ended in Austria’s 3-0 win, another time in a Euro 96 qualification match against Liechtenstein which ended in Austria’s 4-0 win, and yet another time in a 1998 World Cup qualification match against Estonia which ended in Austria’s 3-0 win.

Hans Krankl (34 Goals)

From this point on on the list of Austria top scorers of all time the difference between the number of goals each footballer on the list scored with the number of goals the previous or next footballer to him scored is one or two, of course, with one exception of three, and if you like it, that means Anton Polster did a great job scoring 46 goals and standing on the top of the list with a difference of 12 goals with the second position, though his international goals have not reached 50 yet. Anyhow, let’s get to Austria’s second top scorer of all time, Hans Krankl. As you see, he scored 34 international goals and in 69 appearances which gets him a goal-to-appearance ratio of 0.49 meaning that like Polster, he also scored  almost one goal (exactly 0.98) in every two international appearances of him.

A prolific scorer in nature, Hans Krankl also proved that during his club career by scoring around 471 goals in 586 appearances which translates to four goals in every five appearances averagely. He’s the only footballer on the list to have served the top La Liga club, Barcelona, and the only footballer on the list to have got so close to winning a Ballon d’Or trophy; finishing second in the contest, he actually won the 1978 Ballon d'Or Silver Ball with 81 points and a difference of 6 points with the actual Ballon d’Or winner in the same year, Kevin Keegan, who won the prize with 87 points. If Krankl is not among

Austria football player legends

, he’s indeed one the greatest footballers Austria has ever produced as many believe that.

Ok, let’s see how many goals the 69-year-old retired Austrian footballer scored and in which competitions. Krankl scored all his international goals in friendlies, Euro and World cup qualification rounds, and in World Cup finals. He actually scored 10 goals in 29 appearances in international friendlies, 9 goals in 16 appearances in Euro qualifying rounds, 10 goals in 14 appearances in World Cup qualifying rounds, and 5 goals in 10 appearances in World Cup finals. He also received two yellow cards and a red card in all his international appearances, and the most number of goals he actually scored in a single international match was in a 1978 World Cup qualification match against

where he managed to score 6 goals contributing to his side’s 9-0 win. However, other than that Krankl never scored more than two goals in a single international match.

Marko Arnautovic (32 Goals)

The only footballer on the list of Austria top scorers of all time who is still active,

is a 32-year-old Austrian forward and winger with 32 international goals to his name, of course, to this date. He’s been serving the Austrian national team since 2008 and has scored all his 32 goals in 96 appearances for them which means he has exactly scored one goal in every 3 appearances for them on average. That is his goalscoring records to this date, and if that improves which surely will, he is going to overtake Hans Krankl on the list, who is only two goals in front of him, in a near future, and who knows? Maybe if he continues to score vigorously, he may even overtake Anton Polster, but that needs a little bit of effort since he’s behind by 14 goals as of today; we shall wait and see if he can.

The major difference between Arnautovic and other footballers on the list of Austria top scorers of all time is that he has never served an Austrian club, of course, to this date. However, at international level, he’s more or less the same as the other footballers already mentioned on the list, except for that he has managed to make 96 international appearances as of this date which has made him the third most capped Austrian footballer of all time, and considering that he’s only 2 caps behind the second most capped Austrian footballer, Aleksandar Dragovic, and five caps behind the most capped Austrian footballer ever, Andreas Herzog, there is a high probability that he overtakes both these footballers sometime in the future and actually become the most capped Austrian footballer of all time. This we should also wait and see.

Well, here is Arnautovic’s stats concerning his international goals and appearances: Friendlies, 8 goals in 32 appearances, World Cup qualification rounds, 9 goals in 26 appearances, Euro qualification rounds, 13 goalsin 26 appearances, Euro finals, 1 goal in 6 appearances, and UEFA Nations League, 1 goal in 6 appearances. He has also provided 26 assists and received 7 yellow cards and one red card in all his international appearances till now. And despite the fact that Arnautovic is currently Austria’s third top scorer of all time, he has not scored more than two goals in a single international match which may partly be because of more professionalism in football compared to older times.

Johann Horvath (29 Goals)

The first passed and one of the old-timer footballers on the list of Austria top scorers of all time, Johann Horvath served

Austria national football team

sometime between 1924 and 1934 making 46 appearances and scoring 29 goals for them in the process. That actually gets him a goal-to-appearance ratio of 0.63 meaning that he scored almost two goals (exactly 1.98) in every three appearances that he made for his country’s national team averagely. Horvath took part only in one edition of FIFA World Cup, namely the 1934 edition, with the Austrian national team where they actually managed to achieve one of their best results in the World Cup history: Finishing as fourth and in that World Cup Horvath scored two goals; one against Hungary in quarter-finals and one against Germany in the third-place match where in both matches he also captained his country’s national team.

The passed Austrian footballer also scored four hat-tricks in all his international appearances with three of them happening in friendlies and one in a 1934 World Cup qualification match against

which ended in Austria’s 6-1 victory. It might be interesting for you to know that 24 from 29 of Horvath’s international goals and 43 from 46 of his international appearances actually occurred in international friendlies. He also never received a yellow or red card during his international career. Horvath died in July 1968 at the age of 65.

Erich Hof (28 Goals)

Nicknamed the “professor of football” during his career, Erich Hof is a passed Austrian footballer who played as a forward and was indeed a prolific goalscorer both at club and international level. At club level, he actually scored 222 goals in 307 appearances - almost 1.5 goals in every two appearances - and at international level 28 goals in 37 appearances between 1957 and 1968 which gets him a goal-to-appearance ratio of 0.75 meaning that at international level he also scored 1.5 goals in every two appearances averagely. This is actually the second highest international goal-to-appearance ratio on the list of Austria top scorers.

Hof never played in a Euro or World Cup finals match during his career since he was not part of Austria’s first-team for these two competitions, however, he played in three matches in 1958 World Cup qualification round where he also managed to score six goals and in four matches in different Euro qualification rounds where he managed to score four goals, too. The rest of Hof’s international appearances - actually 30 - took place in friendlies with him scoring 18 goals and providing one assist. He never received a yellow card during his international career but was sent off once in a friendly match against Scotland in 1963 which ended in Austria’s 4-1 defeat. The most number of goals Hof scored in a single international match was in a 1970 World Cup qualification match against Cyprus where he managed to score 5 goals contributing to his team’s 7-1 victory.

Marc Janko (28 Goals)

He actually scored the same number of goals as Erich Hof but in twice as much appearances - actually 70 - which gets him a lower goal-to-appearance ratio of 0.4 meaning that he scored two goals in every 5 international appearances of his averagely. In fact, in terms of the international goals scored, Marc Janko and Erich Hof share the 5th positon on the list of

Austria top scorers of all time

, however, concerning their international goal-to-appearance ratios, Janko is not only behind Hof but also behind the other footballers already mentioned in this post except for Marko Arnautovic who has a goal-to-appearance ratio of 0.33.

Just like Hof, Janko never played in a World Cup finals match since the Austrian national team never qualified for the competition during his international career, however, he took part in two editions of UEFA Euro, namely the 2008 and 2016 editions, where in the former he was not part of Austria’s first-team and in the latter he only played in two matches with no goals and no win for Austria.

Here is a complete account of Janko’s international goals and appearances which actually took place between 2006 and 2019: Friendlies, 8 goals in 29 appearances, World Cup qualification rounds, 11 goals in 22 appearances, Euro qualification rounds, 9 goals in 16 appearances, Euro finals, 2 appearances but no goals, and UEFA Nations League, only one appearance with no goal. He also provided 8 assists and received 8 yellow cards and one red card during his international career. And Janko never surprised at international level by scoring more than 2 goals in a single match, though he was considered to be a prolific goalscorer at least at club level by scoring 184 goals in his 372 club appearances.

Anton Schall (27 Goals)

Considered as one of the greatest Austrian footballers ever - you can even call him one of Austria football player legends, Anton Schall is a passed footballer whom we call kind of special on the list of Austria top scorers of all time, firstly, because he has the highest international goal-to-appearance ratio to his name on the list: 0.96 which comes from the 27 goals he scored in his 28 international appearances - just one more goal and that would be one, and secondly, because he’s the only footballer on the list and among not so many footballers in the history of football to have played both as a forward and defender.

Schall was actually part of the Austrian national team who were known as “the wonder team” during 1930s and managed to finish fourth in the 1934 FIFA World Cup. In that competition, the passed Austrian footballer played in two matches, namely a round-of-16 match against France where he also scored a goal to help his team win 3-2 in extra time and a semi-finals match against Italy that ended in Austria’s 1-0 defeat. Schall’s remaining 26 international appearances actually took place in friendlies where he scored exactly 26 goals but not of course one goal per match. The most number of goals he scored in a single international match was in a friendly against Hungary where he scored 4 goals helping his team win 8-2. Schall died in 1947 at a very early age of 40 due to a rare heart condition just one year after he had managed the Swiss club,

.

Matthias Sindelar (26 Goals)

One of the two one-club men on the list of

Austria top scorers of all time

, Matthias Sindelar is another passed old-timer Austrian footballer who served only the Austrian club, Austria Wien, during his 15 year career lasting from 1924 to 1939. The interesting fact about Sindelar is that he died in the same year as he finished his club career (1939) and at a very early age of 35, but his death was not due to illness or accident but a suspected murder. He actually refused to play for the Nazi Germany after his country was occupied by the invading nation in 1938 citing his old age and injury as his excuses. Later, in January 1939, he and his girlfriend were found dead in their shared apartment in Vienna and the cause of their death was announced carbon monoxide poisoning.

Anyhow, the passed Austrian footballer who played as a forward was a prolific goalscorer, too, scoring 240 goals in 312 club appearances - 2.1 goals in every three appearances averagely - and 26 goals in 42 international appearances which gets him an international goal-to-appearance ratio of 0.6 meaning that he scored 3 goals in every 5 appearances for the Austrian national team during the time he served them; actually between 1926 and 1937.

Just like Anton Schall, Sindelar was also part of the Austria “wonder team” taking part in one 1934 World Cup qualification match scoring one goal and three World Cup finals matches scoring one goal and providing one assist for them. He made the rest of his international appearances (38) in friendlies scoring 24 goals in the process. And finally the most number of goals the passed Austrian forward in a single international match was in a friendly against Germany in 1931 where he scored 3 goals contributing to his team’s 5-0 win and in another friendly against

in 1932 that ended in Austria’s 8-2 win. In that match he also scored three goals. Sindelar never received a yellow or red card during his international career.

Andreas Herzog (26 Goals)

Based on

Austria scoring stats

, Andreas Herzog scored the same number of goals as Matthias Sindelar and shares the 8th position on the list of Austria top scorers of all time with him, however, because he scored all his 26 international goals in 103 appearances getting him the lowest international goal-to-appearance ratio on the list (0.25), he’s just been put one position lower to Sindelar on the list; actually the 9th position. Herzog may be at the bottom of the list of Austria top scorers, but with that many international appearances of his, he’s actually the most capped Austrian footballer of all time at least as of today - you know, he might be surpassed in the future by Marko Arnautovic who is still active and only seven caps behind him.

Herzog is the only footballer on the list to have served the top Budnesliga club,

, for a season during his career and the only footballer on the list to have served three national teams, namely the national teams of Austria, United States, and Israel , as a manager after his playing career, though he never won a trophy with any of these teams. To Herzog’s goalscoring stats, the 53-year-old retired Austrian midfielder scored 116 goals in 555 club appearances and 26 goals, as you know, in 103 international appearances which means he scored one goal in every of his four international appearances averagely.

Herzog actually served the Austrian national team sometime between 1988 and 2003 taking part in international friendlies, World Cup qualification rounds, World Cup finals, and Euro qualification rounds with the following results: 5 goals, 3 assists, and 5 yellow cards in 40 friendly appearances, 14 goals, 7 assists, and 5 yellow cards in 37 World-Cup-qualification-round appearances, one goal and one yellow card in 6 World-Cup-finals appearances, and 6 goals, 1 assist, and 3 yellow cards in 20 Euro-qualification-round appearances. He never scored more than 2 goals in a single international appearances of his, and if you would like to know, he actually received 14 yellow cards - the sum of all yellow cards mentioned above - during his international career.

Karl Zischek (24 Goals)

The last but not least on the list of Austria top scorers of all time, Karl Zischek is another passed old-timer footballer on the list who served the Austrian national team sometime between 1931 and 1945 making 40 appearances and scoring 24 goals for them in the process. That actually gets him a goal-to-appearance ratio of 0.6 meaning that he scored three goals in every five appearances of his. Like some of his contemporary fellow footballers mentioned in this post, Zischek was also part of the Austria “wonder team” who managed to finish fourth in 1934 World Cup.

Zischek made four appearances for his country’s national team in that World Cup and scored one goal in a match against Hungary in quarter-finals that ended in Austria’s 2-1 win. He also made 2 appearances and scored one goal in the same World Cup qualification round. And the rest of Zischek’s international appearances (34) actually took place in friendlies where he also managed to score 22 goals. Zischek never received a yellow or red card during his international career, and the most number of goals he scored in a single international match was in a friendly against Italy in 1934 where he scored 3 goals contributing to his team’s 4-2 win. Zischek died in October 1985 at the age of 75.

The Rest of the List of Austria Top Scorers of All Time

Well, the list of Austria top scorers of all time is not limited, of course, to the players mentioned above. Here are a few more Austrian top scorers. Please consider that by ratio below we mean international goal-to-appearance ratio.

• Walter Schachner, Goals: 23, Apps: 64, Ratio: 0.35, Pos: Forward, Status: Retired

• Theodor Wagner, Goals: 22, Apps: 46, Ratio: 0.47, Pos: Forward, Status: Passed Away

• Karl Decker, Goals: 19, Apps: 25, Ratio: 0.76, Pos: Forward, Status: Passed Away

• Erich Probst, Goals: 18, Apps: 19, Ratio: 0.94, Pos: Forward, Status: Passed Away

• Johann Studnicka, Goals: 18, Apps: 28, Ratio: 0.64, Pos: Forward, Status: Passed Away

• Franz Binder, Goals: 16, Apps: 19, Ratio: 0.84, Pos: Forward, Status: Passed Away

• Ferdinand Swatosch, Goals: 16, Apps:23. Ratio: 0.69, Pos: Forward, Status: Passed Away

• Horst Nemec, Goals: 16, Apps: 29, Ratio: 0.55, Pos: Forward,  Status: Passed Away

• Ernst Melchior, Goals: 16, Apps: 35, Ratio: 0.45, Pos: Winger, Status: Passed Away

• Ferdinand Wesely, Goals: 16, Apps: 40, Ratio: 0.4, Pos: Winger, Status: Passed Away

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