Former ÖFB national player Stefan Ilsanker has ended his professional career. His management announced this on Saturday. The 34-year-old from Salzburg last played in the second Italian league for Genoa and has been without a club since the summer.
The strong tackling midfielder represented Austria at the 2016 and 2021 European Championships. Ilsanker played his last of 61 international matches in March 2022 when team boss Franco Foda said goodbye against Scotland (2:2). With Salzburg, Ilsanker was champion three times (2007/not playing, 2014 and 2015) and cup winner twice (2014 and 2015). In Germany he worked for RB Leipzig (2015-2020) and Eintracht Frankfurt (2020-2022). The defensive all-rounder was not in the squad for Frankfurt’s Europa League triumph in 2022. He then joined Genoa for a season. The club managed to get promoted to the upper house, but Ilsanker was no longer able to go beyond the role of a supplementary player. His contract was terminated at the beginning of September. “Stefan has had an outstanding career,” said his agent Frank Schreier. “Over the last 15 years we have had a very pleasant and trusting collaboration, which is not a given in football.” Ilsanker played an important role in the national team under both Marcel Koller and Foda – although never as an absolute regular player. Team boss Ralf Rangnick no longer relied on him. The defensive man from Hallein failed to score a goal for Austria in 61 games.
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