Alex Manninger had spoken with La Gazzetta dello Sport days before April 16, 2026. He looked back on his career with the calm of someone who had already made peace with the past: 14 clubs, a Premier League title with Arsenal in 1997-98 under Arsène Wenger, and 33 appearances for Austria. And just one regret, he said: having retired too soon.
No one knew those words would be his last. In Nussdorf am Haunsberg, his car crossed an unguarded level crossing and was struck by a train operated by the Salzburger Lokalbahn. Emergency services tried to revive him with a defibrillator, but they were unsuccessful. He was 48 years old.
The train driver and passengers escaped unharmed. Clubs such as Red Bull Salzburg and Arsenal themselves paid tribute to a goalkeeper who, until the end, continued thinking about the football he had left behind.