Who are West Ham United’s Europa League opponents Rapid Wien?

West Ham United continue their UEFA Europa League campaign today as they host Austrian side SK Rapid Wien at the London Stadium.

David Moyes’ side are top of the group after a 2-0 away win against Dinamo Zagreb in which Michail Antonio and Delcan Rise were on target.

As with any team coming to the British Isles for a European match, there is a feeling of intrigue on what they can offer up and Wien are no different.

Here is everything you need to know of West Ham’s opponents in East London tonight.

Form

A 1-0 defeat to Genk in their opening group game has them in third-place in Group H but it is their domestic form which is the most alarming.

From their opening nine league matches, they’ve won just two times, conceding 13 goals, which leaves them on a minus goal difference.

In their most recent fixture, they suffered a 3-0 defeat to SK Strum Graz, which leaves them second from bottom in 11th in the Austrian Bundesliga.

It is a world away from their position of second last season and a turnaround will need to come at some point.

Who is their manager, top scorer and players to look out for?

At the helm is Dietmar Kühbauer, who had a 13-year playing career, including a five-year spell with Wien, making over 150 appearances.

It’s the club where he enjoyed his most success as he won both the League and Cup, as well as playing in the UEFA Cup Winners Cup against Paris Saint-Germain, which they lost out narrowly on.

Kühbauer’s career though started with city rivals Admira Wacker, where he made his league debut aged just 16.

In regards to his coaching career, he began when he took over the reserve team of Trenkwalder Admira, before later becoming a coach when they were promoted. He was recognised then by Wolfsberger AC, managing them for two years before a move to SKN St.Polten but his time there was brief as he moved to Rapid after half-a-year.

As well as his club honours, he featured 55 times for the Austrian national team and played in the 1998 FIFA World Cup.

Rapid Wien’s top scorer this season is Greek forward Taxiarchis Fountas who has four goals for Wien this season. He has been at the club since 2019 and has plied his trade in his native Greece, as well as in Germany and in Austria. Before joining his current club, he was hardly prolific but in 2019/20, Fountas scored 19 times in 27 appearances.

He’s yet to reach the heights of last season but forward Ercan Kara will be one player to keep an eye out for. Austrian-born forward Kara has risen through the Austrian leagues to cement his place in the top tier of football and represented the national team earlier this year. He led the line well last year, netting 15 goals as he helped his team to success.

European history

West Ham’s opponents have plenty of European pedigree having been involved in eight of the last ten campaigns. In the last decade, their best achievement is reaching the Round of 32 on two occasions, losing heavily to both Inter Milan and Valencia. It seems the group stage is the ceiling for them in the modern era, finishing third on four occasions, so they will at least want to progress this time round.

In regards to their exploits in the Champions League, they last reached the competition in 2005 and throughout their history have played mainly in the second tier competitions through its various guises.

Wien came up against West Ham’s league opponents Arsenal last season, but suffered 4-1 and 2-1 defeats. At the start of the 2010s though, they faced Aston Villa for two consecutive seasons, beating them twice in the play-off round for the UEFA Cup.

On two occasions they have played in the Cup Winners Cup final, first losing to Everton in 1984, before suffering the same fate 12 years later to PSG.