Moscow āSpartakā, which became the real flagship of Russian football at the turn of the 90s, in the 2000s was already experiencing difficult times. After the resignation of the team leader Oleg Ivanovich Romantsev, the team suffered a repeated change of coaches and a slurred transfer policy. A huge number of foreign players passed through the club, clearly not in line with the clubās ambitions. But even in such a difficult time, players appeared, which fans after many years recall with warmth. One of these players was Martin Stranzl - the defender of the Austrian national team, one of the best in the last decade.
Childhood
Martin was born in the Austrian town of GĆ¼ssing, whose population was just over 26 thousand people. It happened on June 16, 1980. Martinās family was quite athletic: dad played soccer at an amateur level, mom was part of the school team. The question of choosing a sport for the boy in the family did not stand. A big fan of the game, Martin's dad was categorical: only football. And so, at the age of six, Stranzl Martin began to practice at the local club GĆ¼ssing. Typically, almost until the last Martin acted as a striker, and only when he was fourteen, the coaches transferred the tall teenager in defense. As time has shown, they were right. Martin played his full career as a defender.
Bundesliga
In the 90s, football in Austria was in crisis. A generation of Tony Polster and Andreas Herzog passed, but no equivalent shift was observed. The main goal of the young players was neighboring Germany. The level of club football, the growth prospects in the Bundesliga were immeasurably higher than in the Austrian championship. Martin Stranzl was no exception. At the age of 17, the guy was invited to view the Bundesliga club āMunich 1860ā. The club leaders were able to discern the potential in a lanky teenager and signed a long-term contract with him. The Munich team at that time was considered a strong middle peasant in Germany, with a certain perspective in terms of growth. Martin in Munich went through all the steps of becoming a football player. Having started his career in a youthful team, a year later he ended up in Munich 1860. And there Stranzl did not stay long: the main team was ahead.
Martin Stranzl: career
At the end of the 1998/1999 season, when all the tournament tasks were solved, the Munich coaching staff gave young players from the second team play in the last matches of the season. Among them was the 18-year-old football player Stranzl Martin. In these several games, the guy looked so confident that he began preparations for the next season with the main team. And in the 1999-2000 season, Stranzl was already the main defender of the Munich club, having spent 22 games in a season. The season turned out to be successful both for Martin himself and for his club. "Munich 1860" took 4th place and won the right to play in the qualifications of the Champions League. It would seem a little more - and the club will enter the cohort of the strongest in Germany. However, there were problems with the financial plan, and Munich began a gradual downward movement. As a result, this led to the fact that the 2003/2004 season the Munich team finished in 17th place, having flown to the lower division. Martin Stranzl by that time had already gained a certain reputation in football circles, so no one was surprised at his transfer to a more ambitious club. In total, over the five years of his career at Munich 1860, Stranzl played 96 games, scoring 4 goals in them, which is quite a good result for the defender.
Stuttgart
According to the results of 2003-2004. in the qualifying stage of the Champions League from Germany, āStuttgartā. In anticipation of the new season, the team has seriously strengthened by acquiring several high-class players for certain game positions. Among them was the 24-year-old Martin Stranzl. The contract term was four years. Martin managed to fit right into the game model of āStuttgartā, becoming the main player in the teamās defense. Moreover, in āStuttgart,ā Stranzl played the right-back, although he was originally bought for the role of central defender.
In the first season, Martin played 29 matches, scoring one goal against opponents. āStuttgartā at the end of the year took a step back, taking fifth place. And in the middle of the 2005/2006 season, a sharp turn took place in Martin's career.
Russian stage of career
In the middle of the season interest in the Austrian defender showed Moscow āSpartakā. Initially, the management of āStuttgartā did not even consider the option of selling a reliable defender. But the Spartacists were persistent, and in March 2006 Martin Stranzl became a player in the Moscow club. According to various sources, the amount paid for the defender amounted to about 3 million euros. A personal contract involved the payment of approximately 1 million euros per year.
Martin made his debut in Russian football in the cup game against the Moscow āLocomotiveā. From the first season, Stranzl became the main defender of āSpartakā, and Spartak coaches returned Martin to his usual position of central defender.
In total, āSpartakā Martin Stranzl, whose photo you see in the article, spent five seasons, playing 95 games and three times hitting an opponentās goal. During this time, the team three times became the silver medalist of the Russian championship, and Martin himself, in 2007, took second place in the list of the best central defenders of the Russian championship.
Goalkeeper
The Russian stage of his career brought Martin a peculiar experience in the goal. In the 18th round, Spartak hosted an outsider of the championship - Tomsk Tom. The game was held with a noticeable advantage for the Muscovites, and towards the end of the half they were 4-1. And suddenly for a foul of the last hope follows the removal of the goalkeeper of āSpartakā and a penalty is awarded. By this time, all the replacements for the Muscovites had already been made, and the fielder stood at the gate. It turned out to be Martin Stranzl. He missed a penalty kick, but in the remaining few minutes he managed to maintain an acceptable score for the team.
Return to the Bundesliga
In 2010, the leadership of Spartak decides to take a course towards rejuvenating the composition. At the same time, the Bundesliga club, Borussia Mƶnchengladbach, began to show interest in Stranzl. And in the last days of 2010, the parties came to a mutually beneficial agreement. Borussia signed a three-year contract with Stranzl, the deal amounted to 800 thousand euros. And here Martinās career, seemingly already on the slope, gained a second wind. Already in the next season, āBorussiaā takes a significant step forward, taking fourth after sixteenth place. According to the results of the 2011/2012 season, Martin Stranzl gets into various symbolic national teams of the tournament as one of the best central defenders. Subsequently, in 2013, the management extended the contract with the defender for another three years.
Borussia turned out to be a landmark club in the career of Stranzl. It was here that he spent six full seasons, won the bronze of the German championship, took part in European cups. In total for āBorussiaā Martin spent 116 games, scoring 8 goals in these matches. According to the Austrian, the season 2015/2016 should be the last in the career of Martin Stranzl as an active football player.
Austria national team
Already at the age of twenty, Martin made his debut for the Austrian national team. This happened in a friendly game against the Swedish team. In the future, he spent 56 games in the national team, scoring 3 goals in them. The peak of his career in the Austrian national team was the captain's armband, with which Martin led his team to the final games of the 2008 European Championship. Unfortunately, the generation of those years was not able to achieve any success at the national team level. In 2009, Stranzl Martin, whose biography was brought to your attention in the article, decided to complete his appearances for the national team, focusing on games for the club.