Football “Huge Injustice”
Toni Polster is suing the Austrian association over three goals
As of: 9:35 a.m. | Reading time: 2 minutes
95 international matches and 44 goals for Austria – or not? Toni Polster would like three more of both
Source: picture alliance/Bildagentur Zolles
The former Cologne player Toni Polster is one of the greatest legends of Austrian football. Now the national team’s record goalscorer feels he has been treated unfairly by his own association and has contacted a lawyer. The reason is strange.
Turin, Sevilla, Mönchengladbach or Cologne – wherever Toni Polster played, the striker reliably scored his goals. The striker was one of the dazzling figures of the 1990s in the Bundesliga. The now 59-year-old scored more goals in the Austrian national team than any of his compatriots. Polster has 44 goals in 95 international matches. Or not? If the attacker has his way, his record should be even better.
The Austrian wants to polish up its international record with legal help. Polster has hired a lawyer because he wants to get three more international matches and three goals officially recognized. “Anything else would be a huge injustice,” Polster told the Austrian news agency APA. In Polster’s opinion, the statistics should show 47 goals in 98 games.
Polster played for FC for six years and enjoys cult status in Cologne
Source: picture alliance/augenklick/Jvºrgen fromme/fi/firo Sportphoto/Jvºrgen Fromme
Specifically, he is concerned with games in Liechtenstein in 1984, in Tunisia in 1987 and in Morocco in 1988 that were previously considered unofficial. Because there was no international match calendar at the time and no obligation to reserve national players, the respective associations agreed on the playing conditions among themselves. This meant that you could sometimes switch in and out at will. At that time, Austria’s ÖFB association consciously decided to classify certain international matches as unofficial.
“We are of the opinion that it is exclusively up to the ÖFB to recognize the games and goals or not,” said Polster’s lawyer Manfred Ainedter. So far, discussions with the association have remained fruitless.
Association “unfortunately its hands are tied”
The ÖFB, however, refers to the world association Fifa, which does not allow subsequent recognition of the games because the necessary criteria for official games are not met. “We would like to help Toni. We have no reason not to want the games and goals to be credited to him, but unfortunately our hands are tied,” said ÖFB General Secretary Thomas Hollerer.
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Polster’s official statistics currently show 95 international matches. With 44 goals, the former Bundesliga professional is Austria’s record goalscorer ahead of Inter Milan’s Marko Arnautovic (36 goals in 110 games so far). Polster said it wasn’t about securing his record. “This is simply an injustice that stinks to high heaven and that I would like to have corrected,” explained the former top striker.
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