Birmingham City's Christoph Klerer says not receiving a call from Austria is not a big shock for him.
The 25-year-old player has represented Austria at various youth levels from U15 to U21 at the start of his career.
However, the Birmingham City captain has yet to receive a call-up to the senior team and Austria manager Ralf Rangnick has not considered him again for this international break.
The centre-back joined the championship team from Darmstadt 98 in July 2024. The move allowed him to return to England, where he spent four years at Southampton between 2016 and 2020.
He made 39 appearances for Chris Davis' side this season and this included 36 starts in the Championship. The Austrian's statistics per game in the league are as follows.
- Interception: 1.3
- Tackle: 1.0
- Clearance: 7.2
- Duel won: 7.2
- Ball recovered: 3.9
- Dribbled past: 0.3
- Blocked Shots: 0.5
Despite his overall impressive form for the Blues, he has yet to fully convince Rangnick.
No contact from Birmingham City Star
Sky Interviewed Christoph Klerer to hear his thoughts on not getting a call up to the national team in Austria.
"I'm not disappointed. I'm trying to make the best of it. I give my all for Birmingham City. It's quite a challenging job." He said.
When asked if he would be happy if Rangnick added him to his team, Klerer explained: "If it ever happens, of course I'll be very happy."
"If it doesn't happen, it doesn't matter. For me, it's not a big shock. I do what I can control. The coach decides what happens in the end."
On the possibility of making it to the World Cup this summer, he said: "I haven't ruled out anything. But of course, I'm realistic as well. There are other players in that position who perform well and play in good leagues. I'm just trying to impress as best I can."
The Blues defender clarified that no contact has been made with the Austrian Football Association regarding the lack of recognition.
"I enjoyed playing for Austria very much, I am very proud to be an Austrian. But there has been no contact with the Austrian Football Association (OFB) regarding the national team." The player said.
Austria fixtures and squads for the March international break
The national team has already qualified for the World Cup and has two friendly matches this month.
- vs Ghana on 27 March
- vs South Korea on 31 March
Ralf Rangnick's full squad for these matches:
Goalkeepers: Patrick Pentz, Alexander Schlager, Tobias Laul, Florian Wigele
Defenders: David Alaba, Kevin Denzo, Philipp Lienhart, Stefan Posch, Maximilian Wobber, Marco Friedel, Michael Svoboda, David Effengruber
Midfielders: Konrad Leimer, Marcel Sabitzer, Nikolaus Seewald, Romano Schmidt, Florian Grilitz, Alexander Prais, Alessandro Schöpf, Xaver Schlager, Christoph Baumgartner, Paul Wanner
Forwards: Marko Arnautovic, Michael Gregoritsch, Sasa Kalajdzic, Patrick Wimmer, Philippe Mwene, Carney Chukwuemeka
🇩🇪Marvin Daksh | The Birmingham City player is attracting interest from Real Sociedad, AEK Athens and MLShttps://t.co/y4J8qJ8fJY #bcfc
- Sports Witness (@Sport_Witness) 16 March 2026
