Fans have voted

Sascha Horvath is “Krone” footballer of the year

Sascha Horvath is "Krone" Footballer of the Year!(Bild: LASK)

The "Krone" footballer of the year is Sascha Horvath! LASK "magic mouse" wins ahead of Rapid captain Guido Burgstaller and Leipzig legionnaire Christoph Baumgartner.

If you're the smallest member of your team at the Linz Gugl, but the biggest from Lake Neusiedl to Lake Constance and therefore in the whole of Austria!

Then the "Krone" readers and krone.at users have spoken to the country's largest soccer electorate, casting 51,484 votes for Sascha Horvath and crowning the 1.68 m tall LASK "magic mouse" Austria's Footballer of the Year 2023.

Sascha Horvath(Bild: GEPA pictures)

"I'm absolutely delighted, but absolutely surprised by the title," said the 27-year-old, who played his 100th game for the Linz Black & Whites last Friday. This means for the club where Horvath has finally arrived as a professional. "Sascha has already got to know the other side of soccer," says player consultant Max Hagmayr about one of his "gems". He was considered the rough diamond of Vienna Austria from 205 to 2015 before he was unable to really gain a foothold as a legionnaire in Dresden after two years at SK Sturm between 2017 and 2020 and was loaned out first to Innsbruck and then to Hartberg.

"Krone" footballer of the year

1. HORVATH Sascha (LASK) 51,484 votes
2. BURGSTALLER Guido (Rapid) 46,806
3. BAUMGARTNER Christoph (Leipzig) 32,054
4. BRAUNÖDER Matthias (Austria Vienna) 29,324
5. CVETKO Christopher (A. Klagenfurt) 26.540
6. LAIMER Konrad (Bayern Munich) 21,509
7. EDELHOFER Luca (Vienna) 19,304
8. KUSTER Markus (Winterthur) 17,890
9. INGOLITSCH Sandro (Altach) 14.905
10. GÖLLES Julian (BW Linz) 14.455

Remarkable transformation
"I was still a bit lazy back then - I thought I was a magic mouse and therefore didn't need to do anything," Horvath later admitted. He went on to say that corona would have been good for his development. Not the illness, of course, but the boredom that prevailed during the lockdown. Back then, the midfielder started to steel his body. Today, he even goes to the gym every match day before the game.

"Sascha has also found his position as a box-to-box player at LASK. He is not only the engine of the LASK game, but also very, very important for the dressing room thanks to his refreshing manner and positive thinking in view of the many foreigners," says Hagmayr about the man who, after extending his contract until 2027 last year, said: "I'm looking forward to a great time at LASK!" To which this title now also contributes: "Crown" Footballer of the Year 2023!