Two Ghana internationals had their Rolex watches stolen from their hotel rooms in Vienna — the night before a friendly against Austria. Cash was also taken. No forced entry, no violence. Just gone.
Vienna police confirmed the thefts but declined to name the players or the hotel, saying only that the watches were worth a "low to mid five-figure sum in euros" and that the rooms were in the city's 22nd district, right next to where Friday's match was played. The Ghana Football Association didn't respond to requests for comment.
Not exactly the pre-match preparation you plan for
Getting robbed before an international fixture is the kind of distraction that shouldn't happen — and rarely does in Vienna, a city that regularly tops global quality-of-life rankings precisely because its crime rate is so low. That's what makes this unusual. Vienna isn't Johannesburg or Rio. Incidents like this stand out here.
Whether it affected Ghana's performance on the pitch is another question. Players are professionals, but turning up to training knowing your hotel room was accessed without your knowledge isn't exactly a settled feeling going into a match.
Both Ghana and Austria are headed to the 2026 World Cup — the expanded tournament across the United States, Canada and Mexico starting in June. Friendlies like this one are supposed to be low-stakes preparation windows. Instead, Ghana's camp spent at least part of this one talking to police.
The investigation is ongoing. Police are not treating it as a violent incident, which at least narrows the picture somewhat — but how the access happened remains unclear. Two separate rooms. Two watches. Someone knew what they were doing.
