Markus Berger (born 21 January 1985) is an Austrian professional

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 ...

coach and a former

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

. He is the head coach of the Under-15 squad of Red Bull Salzburg.

Club career

Having started his professional career at

SV Ried SV Ried, commonly known as SV Guntamatic Ried for sponsorship reasons, is an Austrian association football club based in Ried im Innkreis, Upper Austria. The team plays its home matches at Josko Arena, a stadium with a capacity of 7,680. The t ...

, Berger helping to promotion to the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

in his first year, and played 14 games as the team finished in a best-ever runner-up position in 2006–07.

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (), also known as Liga Portugal Betclic for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Portugal and the highest level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga ...

side Académica de Coimbra signed him in July 2007, as a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

; after going almost unnoticed throughout the season, he scored in his fifth match with the ''Students'' in a 3–0 away win against

S.L. Benfica (), commonly known as Benfica, is a professional football club based in Lisbon, Portugal, that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football. Founded on 28 February 1904, as ''Sport Lisboa'', Benfica is one of the " ...

. Berger was first choice in his last two years with Académica, netting a combined four league goals in the process. During January 2009, he went on a trial period with Hibernian from the

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the Scottish football league system, top-level league competition for professional Association football, football clubs in Scotland. The league was founded in 1998, when it broke away from the Scottish Foo ...

, and his agent later claimed that a loan deal had been agreed between the clubs with Hibs having the option to buy the player at the end of the campaign for £500,000, but the move was not completed. On 30 December 2011, after nearly 100 official appearances for Académica, Berger penned a three-year contract at

Ukrainian Premier League The Ukrainian Premier League ( ) or UPL is a professional association football league in Ukraine and the highest level of the Ukrainian football league system. Originally known as the Vyshcha Liha ( , ) it was formed in 1991 during the 1992 in ...

FC Chornomorets Odesa FC Chornomorets Odesa ( ) is a Ukrainian professional Association football, football club based in Odesa, Ukraine. According to the club's website, it was formed in 1936 as ''Dynamo'', but until 2002 it carried a logo with 1958 and 1959

. At the start of March 2014, he left his team due to the civil unrest caused by the

2014 Ukrainian revolution The Revolution of Dignity (), also known as the Maidan Revolution or the Ukrainian Revolution, took place in Ukraine in February 2014 at the end of the Euromaidan protests, when deadly clashes between protesters and state forces in the capit ...

, going on to sign for

Tippeligaen Eliteserien () is a professional association football league in Norway and the highest level of the Norwegian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the Norwegian First Division ...

club

IK Start Idrettsklubben Start (or simply IK Start) is a Norwegian Association football, football club from the city of Kristiansand that currently plays in the Norwegian First Division, the second tier of the Norwegian football league system. The club was ...

late into that month. He made his debut on 6 April in a 3–1 home victory over

FK Haugesund Fotballklubben Haugesund (), usually referred to as FK Haugesund or FKH, is a professional association football, football club from the city of Haugesund that plays in the top tier of the Norwegian football league system. FK Haugesund previousl ...

, in which he also scored his first goal. In June 2014, after only a few months in Norway, Berger moved to the

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; , ''Rossiyskaya premyer-liga''; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is a professional association football league in Russia and the highest level of the Russian football league system. It was establis ...

with

FC Ural Sverdlovsk Oblast FC Ural Yekaterinburg () is a Russian professional association football club based in Yekaterinburg that plays in the Russian First League. History The club was founded in 1930 and was known as Avangard (1930–1948, 1953–1957), Zenit (1944� ...

. However, in January of the following year, he returned to Portugal after signing with Gil Vicente F.C. until the end of the season. Berger agreed to a one-year deal with C.D. Tondela in early July 2015, after suffering relegation. He returned to his country on 20 June 2016, joining Regional League West side

SV Grödig Sportverein Grödig is an Austrian association football club from Grödig. The team currently competes in the Regionalliga Salzburg, the third tier of Austrian football. Grödig were relegated from the Austrian Bundesliga at the end of the ...

Personal life

Berger's older brother, Hans-Peter, was also a footballer.

Honours

Académica *

Taça de Portugal The Taça de Portugal (; ) is an annual association football competition and the premier knockout tournament in Portuguese football. For sponsorship reasons, it has been known as Taça de Portugal Generali Tranquilidade since the 2024–25 seaso ...

: 2011–12

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Berger, Markus 1985 births Footballers from Salzburg Living people Austrian men's footballers Austria men's under-21 international footballers Men's association football defenders Eintracht Frankfurt II players SV Ried players Académica de Coimbra (football) players FC Chornomorets Odesa players IK Start players FC Ural Yekaterinburg players Gil Vicente F.C. players C.D. Tondela players SV Grödig players Regionalliga players Oberliga (football) players 2. Liga (Austria) players Austrian Football Bundesliga players Primeira Liga players Ukrainian Premier League players Eliteserien players Russian Premier League players Austrian Regionalliga players Austrian Landesliga players Austrian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Austrian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Austrian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Ukraine Austrian expatriate sportspeople in Ukraine Expatriate men's footballers in Norway Austrian expatriate sportspeople in Norway Expatriate men's footballers in Russia Austrian expatriate sportspeople in Russia Austrian football managers