Flame Azalea – Rhododendron calendulaceum

August Starek (born 16 February 1945) is a former international Austrian footballer and football manager.

Club career

Starek started his career at 1. FC Simmering, clinching the Regionalliga East title in 1965. He then made a move to SK Rapid Wien, where he secured the Austrian football championship for the 1966–67 season and claimed the season's top scorer title. Transitioning to the German league, he joined 1. FC Nürnberg, contributing to their Bundesliga victory in 1967–68. His journey continued at Bayern Munich, where he triumphed with yet another Bundesliga title in 1968–69, marking a historic milestone as the first player to achieve back-to-back Bundesliga wins with two different clubs.^[1]

After his stints in Germany, Starek returned to Rapid Wien, briefly reunited with Nürnberg, and then played for LASK Linz. He once again found success at Rapid Wien, securing the 1976 Austrian Cup. His career path then led him to Wiener Sport-Club before ultimately concluding at First Vienna.

International career

Starek represented the Austrian national team between 1968 and 1974, scoring his first goal on 6 November 1968 in a 2–1 away defeat against Scotland during the 1970 FIFA World Cup qualification.^[2]

Managerial career

Starek began his coaching journey at Austria Salzburg for a one-year stint, then moved to Grazer AK for another year, followed by a three-year tenure at Admira Wacker. Between 1985 and 1987, he held a dual coaching role, serving as an assistant coach for the Austrian national team while also leading the Austrian U-21 squad.

Despite finishing second in the 1987–88 Austrian Bundesliga, his coaching tenure at Austria Wien only lasted four months, as he resigned on November 16, 1988, citing controversies with club's managing director Josef Walter, when a new player, Enrique Báez from Montevideo Wanderers, was introduced by the executive committee two days earlier, without consulting Starek.^[3] Subsequently, he took on coaching roles at SK Sturm Graz (1989 to 1991) and SK Rapid Wien (1991 to 1993), where he lost the 1992–93 Austrian Cup final.

From 1994 to 1996, he ventured to Germany to coach the second-tier VfB Leipzig. His coaching journey continued in Graz AK and FC Kärnten until 1999, marking almost two decades in coaching, although without any title successes.^[1]

Controversy

On November 21, 1970, Starek was excluded from the match between Admira Wacker and Rapid Wien by referee Paul Drabek at the Tivoli in Innsbruck as he lifted his pants, probably due to the insults from the audience, for which he was banned for 10 matches and was fined 5,000 shillings by his club. Since then, he became known as "Gustl Starek" and "der Schwarze Gustl" (German for "the black gustl").^[1]