Career
A prolific striker, Krankl is regarded by many as the greatest ever Austrian player. Krankl started his professional career at Rapid Wien and stayed there for 8 years, apart from a year at Wiener Air Corps. He returned to Rapid Wien in 1981, captaining the side and again scoring over 100 goals for them over the next 5 years. He played a major part in the most successful of Rapid teams in the 1980s, claiming the League crown twice and most prominently losing the Cup Winners" Cup Final in 1985 against Everton.
In 1986, he moved to become player-manager at Wiener Sport-Club.
Krankl made his debut for Austria in a June 1973 friendly match against Brazil and was a participant at the 1978 and 1982 World Cups. He earned 69 caps, scoring 34 goals.
His final international game was an April 1985 World Cup qualification match against Hungary. Scored in the 88th minute, the live footage of the goal still regularly features on national television, and the audio commentary ("Tor Tor Tor Tor Tor Tor, I werd" narrisch" – "Goal goal goal goal goal goal, I"m going crazy") is immediately recognised by Austrian football fans.
Since ending his playing career at Austria Salzburg in 1989, Krankl has worked as a football manager and coach.
He was most recently employed by the Austrian national team He was sacked on 28 September 2005 after Austria failed to qualify for the 2006 World Cup. He was also manager of LASK Linz.
He has also intermittently featured as a studio guest and co–commentator on Austrian public service broadcaster ORF.
Krankl has also enjoyed domestic success with his music, with several releases entering the Austrian charts.
His biggest musical success was the single "Lonely Boy", released in 1985 and peaking at number 2. Krankl has also appeared on EA Sports Fifa sports games, as he is included as an unlockable in the Classic XI Team.