Matthias Seidl

Matthias Seidl's path to the Bundesliga ran through his own home town. Born in Kuchl, he went through Red Bull Salzburg's academy before a spell at SV Grödig, then returned to SV Kuchl, the local club, where he spent four years in the Regionalliga and the Salzburg Landesliga. Across 81 appearances there he scored 51 goals.

The move to FC Blau-Weiß Linz in 2021 turned that goalscoring form into promotion. In the 2022–23 season he scored 12 goals in 26 league matches as Blau-Weiß Linz won the 2. Liga title and went up to the Bundesliga. Seidl was named 2. Liga Player of the Season and picked for the division's Team of the Season, and it was that campaign that took him to Rapid Wien in June 2023 for a reported fee of €400,000.

His form for club sides carried over to the national team. Seidl made his senior debut for Austria in September 2023, coming on as a substitute in a Euro 2024 qualifier against Sweden, and was included in Austria's squad for the tournament itself, featuring against France, the Netherlands and Turkey. He scored his first international goal in October 2024 against Kazakhstan in the Nations League, a 79th-minute strike assisted by Marko Arnautović in a 4–0 win.