Former Austria hero

Shortly before his birthday: Former ÖFB star Pirkner is dead!

Johann "Hans" Pirkner - on the left in 1977 in an Austria shirt and on the right in 2018 at a reception in the Vienna Hofburg(Bild: Votava / brandstaetter images / picturedesk.com; APA/ROLAND SCHLAGER)

Austria's sport is mourning the loss of Johann "Hans" Pirkner, one of the greats of red-white-red soccer! Another month or so and he could have celebrated his 79th birthday, but fate had other things in mind for the 20-time ÖFB team player. Today Pirkner "fell asleep peacefully" ...

Born in Vienna, Pirkner, who started his career at Floridsdorfer AC in 1965, was part of the legendary Austria team between 1974 and 1978, which not only won the league title several times, but also reached the final of the European Cup Winners' Cup. This was probably one of the greatest successes in Pirkner's career and in the club annals of the "Veilchen", even if the final in the Prinzenpark Stadium in Paris was all too clearly lost 4-0 to RSC Anderlecht ...

Pirkner was also in the service of FC Schalke 04
At club level, Pirkner scored 76 times in 164 competitive matches for Austria (top scorer in 1975/76 with 21 goals!) and also played for FC Schalke 04 in Germany's Bundesliga. He played 59 competitive matches for the "Royal Blues" (11 goals), but was also involved in a major pushing scandal that earned him a two-year ban in Germany.

Pirkner was also active musically, as the video shows:

Winning two championships as well as a cup title
In Austria, where he was allowed to play again after just one year, he scored in the following seasons until his move to Austria for the then so-called Donawitzer SV Alpine, the top flight of Austrian soccer (52 games, 30 goals). As an Austria player, Pirkner was able to celebrate winning two championships (1975/76 and 1977/78) and a cup title (1977).

Later, Pirkner, who played with Herbert Prohaska, Felix Gasselich, Ernst Baumeister, Thomas Parits and the Sara brothers Robert and Josef among others at Austria, ended his career at Vienna, Post SV Wien, SPG Innsbruck and Donaufeld.