Michael Liendl (born 25 October 1985) is a retired Austrian professional

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

player who was the central

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for WAC.

Club career

Liendl started his career playing for FC Nenzing and FC Thüringen. Later on, he played for

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 ...

Kapfenberger SV Kapfenberger SV is an Austrian association football club from Kapfenberg, Styria. They won the 2007–08 Austrian Football First League and were promoted to the Austrian Bundesliga. The club was founded in 1919 as ''Kapfenberger SC''. The nam ...

Austria Wien Fußballklub Austria Wien AG (), known in English as Austria Vienna, and Austria Wien in German-speaking countries, is an Austrian professional association football club from the capital city of Vienna. It has won the most trophies of any Aust ...

and Wolfsberger AC, before moving to Germany to join

Fortuna Düsseldorf Düsseldorfer Turn- und Sportverein Fortuna 1895 e.V., commonly known as Fortuna Düsseldorf (), is a Football in Germany, German football club based in Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, that competes in the 2. Bundesliga. Founded in 1895, Fo ...

in 2014, and 1860 Munich in 2015. Later on, he played for the Dutch club

Twente Twente ( , Tweants dialect: ''Tweante'') is a region in the eastern Netherlands. It encompasses the most urbanised and easternmost part of the province of Overijssel. Twente is most likely named after the Tuihanti or Tvihanti, a Germanic people ...

, then he returned to Austria to rejoin Wolfsberger AC in 2018. On 29 October 2020, Liendl scored a hat-trick in a 4–1 away win over

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Netherlands, Dutch professional association football, football club based in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football league system, Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the ...

in the

2020–21 UEFA Europa League The 2020–21 UEFA Europa League was the 50th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 12th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. Villarreal defeated Manchester United i ...

, to become the third oldest player to achieve that feat, only behind

Zlatan Ibrahimović Zlatan Ibrahimović (born 3 October 1981) is a Swedish former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Striker (association football), striker. Ibrahimović is known for his acrobatic strikes and Volley (association footba ...

and Aritz Aduriz. On 2 June 2022, Liendl joined

, the club where he began his professional career. He signed a one-year contract.

International career

On 3 June 2014, he made his debut for the

Austria national football team The Austria national football team () represents Austria in men's international Association football, football competitions, and is controlled by the Austrian Football Association. The Austrian Football Association (ÖFB) was founded on 18 Mar ...

under coach Marcel Koller, in a friendly away match against

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

, in which he came on as a substitute to Andreas Ivanschitz in the 63rd minute. However, the match ended in a 2–1 win for Austria.

Sports commentator

Michael Liendl has been a co-commentator for ORF broadcasts of the Austrian National Soccer Team games since 2024.

Honours

Kapfenberger SV *

Austrian Football First League The Second League (), commonly known as Admiral 2. Liga for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest professional division in Austrian football. The division currently contains 16 teams, and the champion of the league is promoted to the Austr ...

: 2007–08 Individual *Austrian Football First League Footballer of the Year: 2008

References

External links

Michael Liendl
at oefb.at. {{DEFAULTSORT:Liendl, Michael 1985 births Living people Austrian men's footballers Austria men's international footballers Austria men's youth international footballers 21st-century Austrian sportsmen Men's association football midfielders Grazer AK players FK Austria Wien players Kapfenberger SV players Fortuna Düsseldorf players TSV 1860 Munich players FC Twente players Wolfsberger AC players Austrian Football Bundesliga players 2. Liga (Austria) players 2. Bundesliga players Eredivisie players Austrian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Austrian expatriate sportspeople in Germany