Robert Sara (born 9 June 1946) is an Austrian former professional

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 lea ...

who played as a defender. His younger brother Josef was also a footballer.

Club career

Sara was bornborn in Oberlainsitz, near St. Martin im Waldviertel. He became a club legend at

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 ...

, after staying 20 years at the club and winning major silverware with them. He started his professional career at 19 and won nine league titles, 6 domestic cups and played in the 1978 Cup Winner's Cup Final which they lost 4–0 against

Anderlecht Anderlecht (; ) is one of the List of municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the south-western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Forest, B ...

. His 571 games is a record for the most appearances by a player in the Austrian top flight. Sara was chosen in Austria's Team of the Century in 2001.

International career

Sara made his debut for the Austria national team in a 3–2 win over England at Wembley in October 1965 and played in the

1978 FIFA World Cup The 1978 FIFA World Cup was the 11th edition of the FIFA World Cup, a Anniversary#Latin-derived numerical names, quadrennial international Association football, football world championship tournament among the men's senior national teams. It wa ...

finals. Captain of the team, he played the decisive pass to

Hans Krankl Johann "Hans" Krankl (; born 14 February 1953) is an Austrian former professional footballer. A prolific striker, he is regarded by many as one of Austria's greatest players. Club career Krankl started his professional career at Rapid Wien a ...

to score the winning goal against arch-rivals

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

in a game dubbed ''The miracle of Córdoba'', which the Austrians won 3–2 and which was Austria's first win against West Germany for 47 years. He earned 55 caps, scoring three goals.Appearances for Austrian National Team
– RSSSF His last international was a May 1980 friendly match against

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

Honours

Austria Wien *

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 ...

(9): 1968–69, 1969–70, 1975–76, 1977–78, 1978–79, 1979–80, 1980–81, 1983–84, 1984–85 *

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 ...

(6): 1966-67, 1970–71, 1973–74, 1976–77, 1979–80, 1981–82

External links

Player profile
– Austria Wien archive *

References

1946 births Living people People from Gmünd District People from Donaustadt Footballers from Lower Austria Austrian men's footballers Austria men's international footballers Men's association football defenders 1978 FIFA World Cup players FK Austria Wien players Austrian Football Bundesliga players Austrian football managers FK Austria Wien managers Favoritner AC players 20th-century Austrian sportsmen {{austria-footy-defender-stub