Friday under the lights against Austria Vienna

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FC Red Bull Salzburg

·4 February 2026

Friday under the lights against Austria Vienna

First Bundesliga game of 2026 ahead

Here we go - the ADMIRAL Bundesliga is back! This Friday 6 February the action resumes at 20:30 CET. Our lads kick things off with Matchday 18 of the regular season as they host FK Austria Vienna.

Matches against Austria Vienna have suited us well in the recent past. In fact, we're unbeaten at home against the Violets for close to 12 years – our last defeat was in September 2014! Since then, we've racked up 15 wins and three draws. We've even kept a clean sheet in six of our last seven home games. We also managed a 3-0 away victory in our first meeting of the season.

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It's difficult to assess the current form of Stephan Helm's team, as Manfred Fischer and his teammates haven't yet played a competitive match in 2026. They've played a total of five friendlies – two of them during their training camp in Side. One of these matches was against Dunajska Streda, the former club of our new signing Damir Redzic (a 1-1 draw). The Viennese outfit played a friendly at home last Saturday against GAK, which they won 2-0. You can read more about this in our Bundesliga winter review.

There wasn't much transfer activity at Austria Vienna during the winter break. However, their form improved significantly before the break, with ten points from their last five matches. In terms of the league table, though, the race for the championship group spots remains tight for everyone involved. While we, as league leaders (32 points), have managed to build a small cushion, Austria Vienna (26 points) are only one point ahead of seventh-placed Rapid Vienna (25 points).

The final stretch of the regular season promises plenty of excitement when the lights come on at the Red Bull Arena on Friday evening and the new year in the ADMIRAL Bundesliga kicks off. Tickets for the match are available online in our ticket shop.

As usual, Sky Sport Austria will be broadcasting the game. All the essential information for your visit to the stadium can be found in our matchday information:

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Injury news

Not available are Takumu Kawamura (knee), John Mellberg (thigh) and Valentin Sulzbacher (calf).
Soumaila Diabate is out suspended.
Yorbe Vertessen picked up an injury in training and is also out.

Views

We've played three good games since the winter break, and we're going into this match with the expectation of starting the new year in the Bundesliga with a win. For us, it's important to focus on what made us strong in those three games, while still, of course, taking our opponents into account. We've been following Austria's preparations, naturally. We've prepared for the things Austria do well – especially their long balls forward.

Thomas Letsch

We're ready for anything Austria throw at us on Friday. We've seen recently that our pressing is working really well and that we're getting a lot of joy out on the pitch. Of course, we need to score more goals, but we will on Friday. We're a real unit at the moment. The players who come on as substitutes are also doing a great job. The whole team is in good spirits, and we now need to show in the Bundesliga that we're better than we were in the autumn.

Mads Bidstrup