Austria lose 0:3 to Germany in their opening Cup match

In their opening game of the Deutschland Cup 2026, the team coached by Roger Bader lacked clinical finishing in front of 5.101 spectators in Düsseldorf. Following two tough penalties in the middle period, Stefan Loibl gave the hosts, playing under new national team head coach André Rankel for the first time, the lead on the power play (33th minute), before Colin Ugbekile doubled it shortly before the second interval (40th minute). Wojciech Stachowiak sealed the result in the final period, also on the power play (48th minute). The travelling fans loudly supported the ÖEHV side until the final whistle.

The game began evenly: after both teams had initially felt each other out, Lucas Thaler fired over the goal (6th minute), while David Kickert saved from Alexander Blank at the other end (8th minute). Austria had the best chances in a hard-fought opening period: Henrik Neubauer was denied by Jonas Neffin (16th minute), while Dominic Hackl hit only the crossbar from the blue line (18th minute).

Tough penalties put Austria on the back foot

The ÖEHV side carried that momentum into the period after the break: after just 35 seconds, Lukas Haudum set up Vinzenz Rohrer with a fine pass, but Neffin made the save (21st minute). It took two tough penalties against Thaler (28th minute) and Benjamin Baumgartner (31st minute) to knock Austria out of their rhythm. Austria killed off the first penalty well, but at the end of the second, Loibl converted a cross-ice pass from Tobias Rieder to make it 1:0 (33rd minute). Shortly before the interval, Ugbekile, again set up by Rieder, made it 2:0 (40th minute).

Austria did not give up and came out of the dressing room with purpose: Ali Wukovits, set up by Simeon Schwinger, was just prevented from getting a clear shot on Neffin (42nd minute). But another penalty again led to a goal against them: short-handed after Benjamin Nissner was called for tripping, Stachowiak redirected a sharp pass from Blank to make it 3:0 (48th minute). Austria's own power play went unused, while Baumgartner's final dangerous shot was also stopped by Neffin (58th minute). Austria are back in action against Slovakia on Saturday (at 15:00), after Slovakia lost 2:3 to Latvia in overtime in their tournament opener.

Roger Bader, ÖEHV head coach: "I think Germany deserved to win, but the margin of victory was one or two goals too high. It was an even game for long spells, but we did not score and you cannot win that way."

Benjamin Nissner, ÖEHV forward: "Naturally, we had imagined it differently, but it was not bad. And I think we deserved at least one goal. Our focus now turns to Saturday."

Match report

Deutschland Cup 2026
Germany – Austria 3:0 (0:0, 2:0, 1:0)
PSD Bank Dome, Düsseldorf, GER, attendance: 5.101
Goals:

• LOIBL (Rieder, T. Heigl) (32:24)
• UGBEKILE (Rieder, Calce) (39:03)
• STACHOWIAK (Blank, Ehliz) (47:40)

Austria: Kickert; Unterweger – Nickl, Hackl – Maier, Wimmer – Würschl, Stapelfeldt – Lindner; Huber – Nissner – Thaler, Haudum – Baumgartner – Rohrer, Schwinger – Wukovits – Neubauer, Harnisch – Achermann – Wallner

The remaining ÖEHV matches

• Saturday, 7 November, 15:00: Slovakia – Austria
• Sunday, 8 November, 11:00: Latvia v Austria (live on ORF ON from 10:55, live on ORF SPORT + from 11:55)