Trip to the U.S.

Baumgartner: Trip to the U.S., rehab at the ÖFB camp

Christoph Baumgartner(Bild: GEPA)

Christoph Baumgartner will undergo rehabilitation in the coming weeks at the Austrian national soccer team’s World Cup camp in California. The injured forward traveled to Santa Barbara on Wednesday to continue working on his comeback, the ÖFB and his club RB Leipzig announced this morning. Baumgartner suffered a serious thigh injury on June 1 while warming up for Austria’s World Cup warm-up match against Tunisia (1-0) and will miss the tournament.

Baumgartner underwent surgery on his right thigh two days after his injury in Turku, Finland. According to his surgeon, the internationally renowned muscle specialist Lasse Lempainen, the Lower Austrian had sustained an injury to the tendon of the rectus femoris muscle (the front thigh muscle) in the upper region. This is a serious injury that will require at least several months of rest. Baumgartner will thus miss not only the start of the season with Leipzig but also the first ÖFB international matches following the World Cup at the end of September in the Nations League.

However, the most significant blow is that Baumgartner will be unable to actively participate in Austria’s first World Cup finals since 1998. According to Leipzig, the club and the federation agreed to the rehabilitation in North America in accordance with the 26-year-old’s express wish to support his teammates on-site during the tournament. A similar role was played by then-injured ÖFB captain David Alaba during the 2024 European Championship in Germany.

Baumgartner in Top Form Before Injury
Baumgartner had been in top formpriorto his injury, following the best season of his career. With 13 goals and nine assists, the Waldviertel native was Leipzig’s top scorer in the German Bundesliga. He also scored four times in the DFB Cup for the third-place team.

ÖFB head coach Ralf Rangnick has not yet nominated a replacement for Baumgartner. This means that for the time being, there are only 25 players in training instead of the permitted 26. Theoretically, Rangnick would have until 24 hours before the first World Cup group match on June 16 (June 17, 6:00 a.m. CEST) in Santa Clara against Jordan to make a late addition. Will “Baumi” now become a sort of “good luck charm” at the World Cup? ...