Austria start new Nations League cycle against disrupted Israel
Austria open their UEFA Nations League B campaign against Israel at the Raiffeisen Arena in Linz on Thursday, 24 September 2026, with kick-off at 20:45 CEST. Ralf Rangnick’s side are starting a new cycle after their World Cup exit against Spain in July, and they do so without the spine of the last few years. Israel, meanwhile, are playing their first competitive fixture in more than ten months and arrive with a patched-up defence and half of their attacking options still in the air on Wednesday.
The home side has won each of the last four meetings between these teams, and every one of those games produced at least four goals.
Predicted lineups: Austria vs Israel
Rangnick has not published a starting eleven and both the captaincy and the goalkeeper position are open, so the Austrian side below is a projection from the squad and the players in club form rather than a confirmed team. Alexander Schlager remains the most experienced keeper despite sitting on the bench at Werder Bremen, with Florian Wiegele the main alternative. Israel’s expected shape, reported by Sport5 on Tuesday, is a 4-2-3-1 with Idan Nachmias partnering Nikita Stoinov in the middle, provided Nachmias‘ calf holds up after he trained fully on 22 September.
Austria Team News & Preview
The story of this squad is who is not in it. Marko Arnautovic has retired from international football after the World Cup, David Alaba is without a club and was left out, Marcel Sabitzer has asked for a break and Christoph Baumgartner is injured. Add Konrad Laimer, who withdrew on 18 September with a minor adductor injury and will miss both this game and Sunday’s trip to Vienna against Kosovo, and Rangnick is missing five players who between them account for 314 caps and 110 international goals. Sascha Horvath, the 30-year-old LASK captain, was called up in Laimer’s place for his first senior camp. Four debutants are in the group – goalkeepers Lukas Jungwirth and Christian Zawieschitzky, Lyon defender Felix Bacher and 18-year-old Austria Wien midfielder Vasilije Markovic – and Rangnick was blunt about the plan at the squad announcement: „Wir bleiben bei unserer DNA. Gegenpressing ist das Maß aller Dinge.“
That pressing identity is the reason I do not read the absences as a collapse. Nicolas Seiwald and Xaver Schlager are both still here, Romano Schmid arrives with two assists from Frosinone’s 2-0 win over Como, David Affengruber played the full 90 minutes in Fulham’s 0-0 at Liverpool, and Marco Grüll has two goals and four assists in four Bundesliga games for Bremen. The attacking issue is different: Michael Gregoritsch, 32, and Sasa Kalajdzic are the only established goalscorers left, and neither Junior Adamu nor Grüll has scored for Austria. The World Cup ended with a 0-3 defeat to Spain in the round of 32 after a 3-3 draw with Algeria, and ÖFB president Josef Pröll has already set the target of promotion back to League A. At home, against an opponent whose preparation has been badly disrupted, this is the right fixture to start that.
What works for or against Austria
- Austria have won their last three competitive home games against Israel, scoring nine goals in the process.
- Arnautovic, Alaba, Sabitzer, Baumgartner and Laimer are all missing – that is 110 international goals out of the squad, and the captaincy is still undecided.
- Schmid, Grüll, Affengruber and Bacher all arrive from strong club weekends, and the Seiwald–X. Schlager axis that drove Rangnick's press is intact.
- Rangnick has not named a goalkeeper: Alexander Schlager is on the bench at Bremen, while Wiegele, Jungwirth and Zawieschitzky have one cap between them.
Israel Team News & Preview
Ran Ben Shimon’s problems start at the back and end with the calendar. Centre-backs Stav Lemkin, Or Blorian and Itay Rotman are all injured, leaving Nikita Stoinov, Raz Shlomo, the 18-year-old debutant Noam Sztejfman and Idan Nachmias as the only recognised options in the middle. Nachmias was sent for a scan on his calf on Monday, trained normally on Tuesday and is expected to start, but it says a lot that Ben Shimon has been looking at a back three as an emergency plan. The squad travelled to Austria before Yom Kippur and spent the fast in the team hotel, so the first real training session under the manager only took place on Tuesday. Tai Baribo, Idan Toklomati, Dor Turgeman, Liel Abada and Ilay Feingold could not leave the United States until the holiday ended and land on Wednesday afternoon, one day before kick-off. Gabi Kanichowsky misses this game for his brother’s wedding.
What Israel do have is quality in the final third. Oscar Gloukh scored the winner in Albania in June and remains the creative reference, Manor Solomon is on the left, and Anan Khalaili is now the most valuable player in the squad at €23m on Transfermarkt. Toklomati has nine MLS goals this season and Turgeman seven goals and seven assists, so there is a goal threat if they are fresh enough to be used. The concern is what happens when this team is stretched by good opposition. Their last competitive match was a 4-1 win over Moldova in November 2025, but the two games before that against strong sides finished 0-5 in Oslo and 0-3 in Italy, and the previous home game against Italy was a 4-5 defeat. Ben Shimon has set the target of a top-two finish, and Sport5 reports around 250 travelling supporters in Linz.
What works for or against Israel
- Three centre-backs are injured and Nachmias only trained fully on Tuesday, so the defence that faced Norway and Italy is not available in its old form.
- Five MLS-based players, including strikers Baribo, Toklomati and Turgeman, arrive from the United States on the day before the game after Yom Kippur.
- Gloukh, Solomon and Khalaili give Israel a front line capable of scoring against anyone – the last four meetings with Austria all saw Israel score at least once.
- No competitive football since November 2025 and only two friendlies in 2026, a 2-2 in Georgia and a 1-0 win in Albania.
Austria vs Israel Odds
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Austria Form, Stats & Data
The €250.5m squad value is still more than double Israel’s, but it flatters a group that has just lost its most valuable player in Laimer and its best finisher in Arnautovic. Austria scored six goals in four World Cup games and the three goals against Algeria came from Arnautovic, Sabitzer and Kalajdzic – only Kalajdzic is here. That is why I see this less as a question of whether Austria create chances, which their pressing usually guarantees at home, and more of who converts them. Gregoritsch’s 24 international goals and Kalajdzic’s aerial presence are the obvious answers, with Schmid and Wanner supplying from behind. The 0-3 against Spain is not a useful reference point for this level of opponent.
Israel Form, Stats & Data
Israel’s squad is worth less than half of Austria’s and sits 76th in the FIFA ranking, but the raw numbers undersell the front four. The bigger issue is defensive depth: with Lemkin, Blorian and Rotman out, the two centre-backs likely to start have 20 caps between them, and 18-year-old Sztejfman is the next option. Against Rangnick’s press, a makeshift defence with barely two training sessions together is where I expect this game to be decided. Israel’s recent record against sides above them in the ranking – 0-5, 0-3 and 4-5 in their last three such competitive games – points the same way.
Austria vs Israel: Prediction & Betting Tip
For me, the decisive factor is preparation. Austria have been together since Monday in Windischgarsten with a manager whose system does not depend on any single player, while Israel only trained properly for the first time on Tuesday, will have five players arriving on Wednesday with jet lag, and must build a new centre-back pairing on the spot. Austria’s own absentees are real – the attack has lost most of its goals – but the players who remain, particularly Seiwald, Xaver Schlager, Schmid and Grüll, are in good club form and this is exactly the type of home fixture Rangnick’s press has dominated in the past.
The strongest argument against is that nobody knows how this Austrian team scores. Without Arnautovic, Sabitzer and Baumgartner, the burden falls on a 32-year-old Gregoritsch, Kalajdzic and whichever of Wanner and Schmid steps up, and Israel’s front line has scored in each of the last four meetings, so a chaotic, open game is possible. I still expect Austria’s control of the midfield and Israel’s defensive gaps to tell over 90 minutes.
My main bet is **Austria to win at 1.40 with MyStake**. My correct-score pick is 2-0.