Quietly and secretly

New job! Ex-Rapidler confirms the end of his career

Mario Sonnleitner has quietly and secretly retired from professional soccer. The 37-year-old, who has been without a contract since June 2023, has now confirmed that he will be taking on the role of assistant coach at Vienna city league club ASV 13.

"I've ended my career, otherwise I wouldn't be working as an assistant coach. I haven't made it official, but if you work as a coach, you won't work as a player anymore," the ex-Rapidler told Platzverweis.at.

Sonnleitner played a total of 436 Bundesliga games, including at Rapid and most recently in Hartberg. His focus is now on training as a coach. "I now want to work on being successful in my second career," said Sonnleitner.

"I might have done something in the professional game"
He wants to prevent the threat of relegation from the fourth-highest division with Viennese city league club ASV 13. Will he - like Martin Hinteregger - be on the pitch at amateur level? "I can't imagine that. That was a consideration, I've given it a lot of thought," explained the Styrian: "I actually wanted to play my last games in the Bundesliga and that's what I did. I didn't find the motivation to gain a foothold two or three leagues further down. I might have done something else in the professional game, but there was nothing there where I would have said it was a good fit. That's why I'm now looking forward to the coming weeks and months."

Champion and cup winner with Sturm
After initial spells at GAK and Kapfenberg, Sonnleitner established himself in central defense at Sturm Graz in 2007. He celebrated the only championship title of his career with the "Schwoazn". Under coach Franco Foda, he won the ÖFB Cup in 2010. He then moved to Rapid, where he played 357 competitive matches in 11 years. From 2021 to June 2023, he was still involved with TSV Hartberg with his experience.