Austria vs Jordan prediction, tips and odds | World Cup 2026

Austria return to the World Cup for the first time since 1998, and 28 years of anticipation end at San Francisco Bay Area Stadium, where they open Group J against Jordan at 5am BST on Wednesday 17 June.

With Argentina the heavy favourites to top the group, the race for the remaining qualification places is where this match matters most – and a strong opening result carries significant weight in a 48-team format where point differentials can determine progression routes.

Preview: Austria vs Jordan

Ralf Rangnick has done more than simply qualify Austria for a World Cup – he has given a generation of players a recognisable identity that the national side lacked for years.

The numbers from qualifying tell the story: six wins, one draw and one defeat across eight matches, with 22 goals scored and just four conceded as Austria topped UEFA Group H.

Recent warm-up form has continued in the same vein, with three consecutive victories before the tournament including back-to-back clean sheets against South Korea (1-0) and Tunisia (1-0).

Marko Arnautovic carries the attacking burden as Austria's all-time record scorer, with 47 goals from 133 appearances for the national side.

Eight of Austria's 22 qualifying goals were his, and at 37 this is almost certainly his only opportunity to perform on the World Cup stage.

Marcel Sabitzer (three goals, three assists in qualifying) arrives approaching 100 caps and provides the creative outlet behind Arnautovic, while Xaver Schlager and Nicolas Seiwald form the double pivot that makes the pressing structure function.

The blow of losing Christoph Baumgartner – who scored 13 goals and contributed eight assists in the Bundesliga with RB Leipzig during 2025-26 – before the tournament even began is real.

The RB Leipzig midfielder suffered a thigh injury in the warm-up to the Tunisia friendly in early June, with Dejan Ljubicic called up as his replacement in the squad.

Jordan arrive at their first World Cup having reached back-to-back competitive showpieces – the AFC Asian Cup final in February 2024, where they lost to hosts Qatar, and the Arab Cup final in December 2025, where Morocco edged them 3-2 after extra time.

That Arab Cup run is particularly telling: Jordan reached the final even after losing Yazan Al-Naimat – their top qualifying scorer with eight goals – to a knee ligament injury sustained in the quarter-finals.

The Chivalrous Ones scored 32 goals across their Asian World Cup qualifying campaign, the highest total in the country's history over a single cycle, finishing second in their group to reach the tournament.

Jamal Sellami, who took charge in June 2024, has built a side capable of competing in knockout rounds, but the warm-up results heading into this tournament do not inspire confidence.

Jordan have not won any of their last five matches, conceding 13 goals in the process – including a 4-1 defeat to Switzerland and a 2-0 loss to Colombia in the final two pre-tournament friendlies.

The standout individual remains Musa Al-Taamari, the only Jordan player competing in one of Europe's top five leagues, who contributed six goals and six assists in 33 Ligue 1 appearances for Rennes in 2025-26.

The 29-year-old forward added seven goals during Asian World Cup qualifying, making him the focal point of everything Jordan do in attack.

Sellami's likely 3-4-3 shape becomes a compact 5-4-1 without the ball, designed to absorb pressure and threaten in transition – a structure that held up in the Asian Cup and Arab Cup, but looked vulnerable in recent friendlies against stronger European opponents.

Team news: Austria vs Jordan

Austria

Baumgartner's absence is the headline news in the Austria camp, with Dejan Ljubicic called up as his replacement. Rangnick must now reconfigure the creative axis around Sabitzer and Gregoritsch.

David Alaba was substituted at half-time in the Tunisia friendly with muscle tightness but has since returned to full training and is expected to start at centre-back.

Konrad Laimer received a red card in that same friendly but the suspension does not carry over to World Cup fixtures – he is available and expected to start at right-back.

Florian Grillitsch and Patrick Wimmer both carry minor fitness concerns but neither is a first-choice starter in Rangnick's preferred system, limiting the practical impact of their availability.

Jordan

Al-Naimat's absence is the most significant factor in Jordan's attacking setup – Sellami has acknowledged the striker “cannot be replaced” like-for-like, having scored eight goals in Asian qualifying before rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament in the Arab Cup last December.

Ibrahim Sabra was also withdrawn from the squad through injury and replaced by Mohammad Taha, the 20-year-old Al-Hussein midfielder, who has two senior caps to his name.

Captain Ehsan Haddad is available despite spending much of the past 12 months sidelined with injury, and Ali Olwan – who scored nine times during Asian qualifying including a hat-trick against Oman – has recovered from an Achilles problem and is fit to start.

Austria vs Jordan predicted XIs

Predicted XI – Austria (4-2-3-1): A Schlager; P Mwene, P Lienhart, D Alaba, K Laimer; X Schlager, N Seiwald; M Sabitzer, M Gregoritsch, R Schmid; M Arnautovic.

Predicted XI – Jordan (3-4-3): Y Abulaila; A Nasib, S Obaid, Y Al-Arab; M Abu Taha, N Al-Rawabdeh, N Al-Rashdan, E Haddad; O Al-Fakhouri, A Olwan, M Al-Taamari.

Head-to-head: Austria vs Jordan

Austria and Jordan have never met in a competitive fixture or a recorded international friendly, making Wednesday's match the first encounter between these nations in history.

The contrast in World Cup experience is stark: Austria have appeared at seven previous tournaments, with a third-place finish in 1954 their finest result and a fourth-place showing in 1934 where they lost the third-place playoff to Germany, while Jordan are stepping onto this stage for the first time.

Without any historical meetings to draw on, both coaching staffs have prepared solely from video analysis of the other side's qualifying campaigns and recent friendlies – a shared constraint, but one that arguably disadvantages the side accustomed to researching familiar opponents.

Our Austria vs Jordan prediction and tips

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