Austria's Football Miracle

Sarah Henker

Drama

Synopsis

Emma can hardly believe it: After 28 years, it has finally happened again! The men’s national football team of Austria has qualified for the World Cup. 2026 is bound to be a great football summer – but will it also be a great summer for her family?

Emma knows more about the power of football to unite and divide than most people. She has played football since she could walk, and now she must decide between a career as a professional football player and a more “conventional” education. Emma is passionate, talented and ambitious – but she is also a realist. Unlike her father, who is just as passionate about football but prefers to live in daydreams. The World Cup matches of the Austrian team mark their first reunion in a long time. Will the World Cup help them bond, or will it tear their family apart for good?

Football creates communities that persist long after a 90-minute match has ended. It gives rise to emotions and collective memories – and it is also a multi-billion-euro business. “Austria’s Football Miracle” examines all these aspects of the sport – a theatre night about football, family and fantasy.

Sarah Henker is a writer, director and dramaturge. Her commissioned plays for the Salzburg State Theatre include “We Should All Be Feminists” and “The Wolf Must Go!”. Her written works offer a humorous take on contemporary social discourse. “Austria’s Football Miracle” narrates the real event of the 2026 World Cup through the eyes of fictitious characters.

In his work as a stage director, Carl Philip von Maldeghem has repeatedly examined the mechanisms and correlations of sports, entertainment and theatre, e.g., in “Bend It Like Beckham“, “Kasimir and Karoline” and “Ballhaus – A Midsummer Night’s Dream”. He presents “Austria’s Football Miracle” in collaboration with the equally football-loving actor Maximilian Schmiedl, known for his theatre work and his TV appearances, e.g., on the football show “Volltreffer” (ATV).