Football
Associated Press 8y

Marcel Koller names Austria squad for Euro 2016 with few surprises

Austria coach Marcel Koller has announced no new names in his preliminary 24-man squad for next month's Euro 2016.

Koller's choices include only two players from Austrian clubs -- Austria Vienna goalkeeper Robert Almer and Salzburg midfielder Valentino Lazaro -- while Bayern Munich defender David Alaba is among 16 players based in Germany.

Lazaro, who has won four caps for Austria, was the only surprise name as he had not been called up since October 2014.

"We rely on the proven team," said Koller, who will drop one player on May 31 -- the deadline for submitting his final squad of 23 to UEFA.

Koller was reluctant to explain why he dropped Nuremberg midfielder Guido Burgstaller in favour of Lazaro, other than saying the Salzburg man "can play several positions."

Austria, who co-hosted Euro 2008 but have qualified for a European Championship for the first time, will prepare for next month's tournament with an eight-day training camp in Switzerland.

Defender Aleksandar Dragovic and striker Marc Janko have been out injured but are expected to be fit in time for the training camp, which starts on May 22.

Austria, who face warm-up games against Malta and Netherlands, are in Group F at Euro 2016 alongside Hungary, Portugal and Iceland.

Austria squad:

Goalkeepers: Robert Almer (Austria Vienna), Heinz Lindner (Eintracht Frankfurt), Ramazan Oezcan (Ingolstadt).

Defenders: Aleksandar Dragovic (Dynamo Kiev), Christian Fuchs (Leicester), Gyoergy Garics (Darmstadt), Martin Hinteregger (Borussia Monchengladbach), Florian Klein (Stuttgart), Sebastian Proedl (Watford), Markus Suttner (Ingolstadt), Kevin Wimmer (Tottenham).

Midfielders: David Alaba (Bayern Munich), Marko Arnautovic (Stoke), Julian Baumgartlinger (Mainz), Martin Harnik (Stuttgart), Stefan Ilsanker (RB Leipzig), Jakob Jantscher (Luzern), Zlatko Junuzovic (Werder Bremen), Valentino Lazaro (Salzburg), Marcel Sabitzer (RB Leipzig), Alessandro Schoepf (Schalke).

Forwards: Lukas Hinterseer (Ingolstadt), Rubin Okotie (1860 Munich), Marc Janko (FC Basel).

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