Friendly Match in Vienna

The Lineup: Here’s How Austria Will Face Ghana

Is Ralf Rangnick looking for a win?(Bild: GEPA)

Here it is, the starting lineup with which Austria’s head coach Ralf Rangnick is aiming for victory in the high-profile friendly against Ghana—and thus a perfect start to the 2026 World Cup year!

Here is the lineup:

Austria’s national soccer team kicks off the World Cup year today at Ernst Happel Stadium with a friendly against Ghana. With Paul Wanner and Carney Chukwuemeka, two promising new additions to the ÖFB are set to make their international debuts. While the duo is likely to start on the bench for now, Ralf Rangnick plans to give nearly his entire squad playing time by making up to eleven substitutions. The result still matters to the head coach, however.

“There’s no substitute for wins,” Rangnick emphasized on Thursday at the conclusion of the four-day training camp in Marbella. “We want to continue building our confidence through good performances and victories.” According to ÖFB figures, nearly 40,000 tickets have been sold. “That’s obviously fantastic for a friendly match,” said Rangnick. The goal is to attract as many people as possible to the stadium for Tuesday’s (8:45 p.m.) friendly against South Korea with a “really good game.”

Home streak to continue
The ÖFB team is unbeaten in eleven consecutive home games. Their last home defeat came in October 2023 in the European Championship qualifier against Belgium (2-3) at Vienna’s Prater Stadium. “We will certainly start with the best possible lineup,” said Rangnick. Assessing players and further developing the team’s game plan are not mutually exclusive. “We want to do both: continue to improve our automatisms and refine them, while at the same time giving every player the chance to prove themselves.”