Hiden: Martin

1998-2000 (Player Details)

Defender/Right Back

Born: Stainz, Austria: 11-03-1973

Debut: v Southampton (h): 28-02-1998

6’1” 11st 6lb (2007)

Austrian International Hiden started his football career with six years at his hometown team of Stainz with St Stefan ob Stainz. He then played for BNZ Sturm under coach August Starek. Starek made Hiden into a star player for the Sturm Graz Under-Eighteen team and he quickly progressed to first team after signing professional in August 1993. He started to accumulate Austrian Under-Twenty-One honours and from 1992 to 1996 he gained twelve Under-Twenty-One and two Under-Eighteen caps. After scoring five goals in fifty-three appearances in a two year stay at Sturm Graz, he joined Austria Salzburg, in August 1995, where his stocks rose even higher with each cap. He played there for a year, picking up an Austrian Championship in 1994-95 and two Austrian Super Cup in 1994 and 1995, while making fifty-nine appearances and scoring twice, before returning to Sturm Graz in August 1996. He stayed for a year scoring three times in twenty-eight games, before moving to Rapid Vienna in August 1997, making twenty appearances there before leaving for George Graham’s Leeds United at a fee of £1.3 million on 25th February 1998. He was initially thought to be either a solution to Leeds' left-back problem, or a replacement or back-up for Molenaar or Wetherall in the centre of the defence. However, he went straight into the team first as deputy for Gary Kelly and later moved to central defence, and remained an ever-present to the end of the season. When he arrived at Elland Road, he still had not been capped by his country, but had been called up for the Austrian squad in Bordeaux during the European winter break. It was then that George Graham had made his move. He had only seen Hiden on video to that point, but had been impressed by his ability to fill a variety of defensive positions, something that was to hold him in good stead after he joined the Whites. The Leeds Manager had resigned himself to waiting for the restart of the Austrian League before he could run the rule over the Rapid Vienna defender. As luck would have it, Rapid had arranged a friendly game in Dubai against a Russian club side as a warm-up for the restart of their season. Graham took a flight to Dubai, was impressed by what he saw and made Hiden the first outfield Austrian to play in the EPL. After just five games for United Hiden became a full Austrian International when, on 25th March 1998, he won his first Austrian cap at centre back as Austria were beaten 2-3, in Vienna, by Hungary. This was quickly followed, on 22nd April 1998, by his second, as U.S.A. inflicted a 0-3 home reverse on the Austrians, with Hiden being used at right-back. His third cap came as a second half substitute, as Austria won 2-1 at home to Tunisia on 27th May 1998. Hiden was picked for the World Cup squad in France but did not play as the experienced Wolfgang Feiersinger, at centre-back and Peter Schottel, at right-back, were preferred to Hiden in the final line-ups. On 19th August 1988, he had gained his fourth cap as Austria drew 2-2, at home to France. Hiden returned to Leeds and looked increasingly assured as, complete with orange hair, he was a permanent fixture in the now miserly Leeds defence that conceded only one goal in the first seven games, including a 1-0 home win in the UEFA Cup over Maritimo. Austria now focused their attentions on qualifying for the 2000 European Cup and Hiden was capped three times in quick succession in those qualifying games. On 5th September 1998 Hiden came on as a late substitute in a disappointing 1-1 draw at home to Isreal. It was enough to earn him a start in the 3-0 win in the away tie with Cyprus on 10th October and four days later he again started in a 4-1 away win against San Marino, in which Hiden scored his first, and only, International goal, after sixty-nine minutes.Things were going well for Hiden, and he was now starting to establish himself in the Austrian team and was a regular at Leeds. However, it all went wrong on one autumn Sunday, when Leeds, now managed by David O'Leary, visited Old Trafford on 29th November 1998. They were in fifth place and looking to go even better, but they were thwarted by a Nicky Butt goal that gave the game to Manchester United, 3-2, with thirteen minutes to go. It was even worse for Hiden, who got his studs caught in the recently relaid Old Trafford turf and sustained damage to his knee ligaments, which ruled him out for the rest of the season and it proved to be the final EPL game that he played for Leeds. When he returned the following season he featured only once as a substitute and seven times he sat on the bench unused and unable to win back his place as Gary Kelly and Danny Mills were first in line at right back, Ian Harte had a stranglehold on the left back berth and Lucas Radebe and Jonathan Woodgate, similarly held sway in central defence with Michael Duberry and Alf-Inge Haaland waiting in line. It came as little surprise when Hiden left on 25th May 2000, at the end of his three year contract, joining FK Austria Vienna, for £500,000 and with his last season with United plagued by a recurrence of his knee problems he was hoping that he could get himself back to full fitness and have a decent chance of first-team football. This he did, and he was soon back as a regular in the national side. The National team had suffered some humiliating defeats in his absence, losing 5-0 to Isreal and 7-0 to Spain and had failed to qualify for the European Championships in 2000. The Austrian team was rebuilt by Otto Baric and he was pleased to see the defensive steel of Hiden return and his first game back was marked by a 5-1 home victory over Iran on 1st September 2000. He remained at Austria Vienna for three seasons chalking up eighty-two appearances and scoring twice and picked up an Austrian Championship and an Austrian Super Cup winners medal. He joined Rapid Vienna in 2003, for the start of the 2003-04 season and amassed a hundred and fourteen appearances and scored four goals, and was appointed captain of the club from 2006, before he joined Austria Karnten on 30th January 2008, on loan. He won two further Austrian Championship medals, in 2004-05 and 2007-08. He played ten times for Austria Karnten before he returned to Rapid Vienna in July 2008 and made four League appearances before rejoining Austria Karnten once more in August 2009 on a contract to June 2010. He scored once in eleven games in the season. He gained fifty caps for Austria, reaching that milestone in Euro 2008, when he again made the Austrian squad, and at the age of thirty-five on 16th June 2008 he led the Austrian team that held favourites Germany to a 1-0 margin in Vienna in the Finals Group B fixture. He scored one International goal and was the Austrian captain from 2007. He scored twice for the renamed Austria Salzburg, now called Red Bull Salzburg, in twenty-one games in the 2010-11 season, before retiring on 28th May 2011. He then joined the coaching staff of the Red Bull Juniors Salzburg. Where he became assistant to coach Gerald Baumgartner. In January 2012, both switched to FC Pasching, Salzburg's partner.