One scandal too many – the way to the end of his career

He did not admit a connection between the end of his career and his most recent scandal – just one of many. In fact, since “last autumn he had had initial thoughts of quitting after the season,” explained the long-time defense boss: “I enjoyed the victory in the Europa League so much because I knew then that it would be my last big victory celebration with the fantastic fans in this city that has become my second home.”

Hinteregger has always been the somewhat different professional. One with corners and edges that left almost no faux pas.

Recently there were a few too many. Immediately after Eintracht’s Europa League triumph, Hinteregger caused the club to shake their heads. “A lot has fallen apart this year. I was told in late autumn and between the quarter-finals against Barcelona that I should leave in the summer,” he trumpeted internally.

A little later, he annoyed his teammates by not saying goodbye to some of his colleagues. Now the unspeakable farce about the “Hinti Cup”, which broke the camel’s back.

While still in the service of FC Augsburg, he provoked his sacking by publicly exposing coach Manuel Baum (“I can’t say anything positive about him and I won’t say anything negative either”). The FCA then loaned him to Frankfurt for six months.

When he was supposed to be back in Augsburg for the start of training for the new season, he did so, but came to training with a backpack emblazoned with the Eintracht crest. Hinteregger drove to the Augsburg training camp, but caused the next scandal there. Instead of going to the team evening, he preferred to visit a village festival in Tyrol. A video later made the rounds showing him staggering and apparently drunk. The next day he skipped training. This is how he provoked his departure to the Hessians, which is now over – finally.

He also misbehaved with the Austrian national team, for which he played 67 international matches. Because he missed the tattoo and celebrated his 27th birthday too long, the former ÖFB coach Franco Foda removed him from the squad.

In 2021, in the service of SGE, the defender downplayed a mass brawl among rival fans, saying after a game in Leverkusen: “If both wanted it, it’s okay. Happens more often, is somehow part of football, isn’t it? You can report about something again, they have fun fighting, we have to answer interviews about it and everyone gets something out of it. It’s nothing bad.”