Manfred Fischer

Four goals in a single cup tie is the sort of afternoon a midfielder builds a career on. Manfred Fischer did it in the first round of the ÖFB-Cup against FC Wels in 2021/22, the season that ended with Austria Wien lifting the trophy.

The route there was long and mostly unglamorous. Fischer started out with Union Birkfeld and SC Weiz before entering the Grazer AK academy and AKA HIB Liebenau. When Grazer AK collapsed financially, he moved to DSV Leoben in 2012 and made his senior debut a year later. From there came Kalsdorf, Wiener Neustadt, Hartberg and three seasons at SCR Altach — every move a free transfer, no fee attached to his name at any stage.

Austria Wien signed him in June 2021, again for nothing. He has since been made club captain and had his contract extended to 2027.

Two things his record does not contain. He has never won the Austrian Bundesliga with Austria Wien — the club's most recent league title came in 2013, eight years before he arrived. And he has no caps for the Austrian senior side, an absence that sits oddly beside his standing as captain of one of the country's biggest clubs.

What he has collected instead are Player of the Match honours in cup football, which is fitting for a player whose most conspicuous performances have come in that competition. Right-footed, he plays in the number 30 role that Austria Wien have leaned on through several changes of squad.