Austrian Women's Football Coach Söndergaard Sticks With Core Squad for Upcoming Matches

Söndergaard highlighted Billa's importance: 'She's played many full 90-minute matches and has the necessary experience. She's very dangerous in front of goal and knows where the net is - that could be decisive in the coming games.' The Tirol native has 47 goals in 107 international appearances.

Other notable selections include Bayern Munich's Katharina Naschenweng, who returns after recovering from injury, and veteran Sarah Puntigam of Houston Dash, Austria's most capped player with 164 appearances. The squad features several players based abroad in Germany, England, Turkey and the USA.

Key Players Return

The team will gather for a pre-camp in Eisenstadt starting June 1st before moving to Vienna's ÖFB Campus ahead of their June 5th match against Slovenia at Sport-Club-Platz. Only 1,600 of 4,600 available tickets have been sold so far for that fixture.

Söndergaard, who hasn't yet seen the players in action, said he's looking forward to properly getting to know the squad. 'I've got a first impression from watching videos, now I'm excited for the real first meeting,' he commented.

The coach plans to implement small tactical adjustments during the camp but kept details private. 'We can talk after the matches about whether it worked,' he said, adding he hopes to surprise their opponents.

Preparation Plans

Austria currently has just one point from four World Cup qualifying matches. Their second June fixture is against Norway on June 9th. Söndergaard remained optimistic: 'Of course I hope it will be enough for a win and that we make a good start in an important game.'