LAST MONTH, THE 2025/26 Austrian Bundesliga season concluded in stunning  fashion with LASK being crowed as champion. Since the adoption of the Bundesliga in 1974, Austrian champions have almost exclusively come from Vienna, Salzburg, or Graz with an exception being two now-defunct clubs from Innsbruck also having won titles. But Linz was clearly the best team in Austria this season as it also won the Austrian Cup to complete the double. It was the club’s first set of trophies since 1964/65 when it also won the double.

Samuel Adeniran, 27, was one of the biggest reasons for LASK’s surprising success this season. The Houston native finished the season with 10 goals and five assists in the Bundesliga and three goals in the Austrian Cup but it was his performances in the final weeks and months of the season that were critical for the club.

In the Austrian Cup semifinal against Ried, Adeniran scored a second-half equalizer as LASK would go on to win 2-1. Then in the final, Adeniran would score twice in a 4-2 victory over Altach.

Then in the Austrian Bundesliga, Adeniran scored goals in the club’s last three games – all wins – over the three clubs directly below LASK in the table, Strum Graz, Salzburg, and Austria Vienna. In the end, that was the difference as LASK finished two points clear over two-time reigning champion Strum Graz.

“I came with the mentality that I wanted to reignite myself and get back to scoring,” Adeniran. “I wanted to achieve more than what I had done previously. As a striker, I want to score as many goals as possible. And not only do I want score, I also want goals that contribute to winning. I don't want to be that guy who scores 20 goals and his team is in last place. For me, that doesn't really mean that much. I guess you could get a good contract, but I've always been a winner.”

“The Austrian league is actually underrated,” he added. “I think that there's a lot of good talent that comes out of the Austrian League and I knew that it would be a challenge for myself. I took it as a big opportunity. Fast forward to now, seeing how it came out, I'm very grateful.”

Adeniran is no stranger to being on winning teams. He was on the Seattle Sounders when they won the CONCACAF Champions League, albeit he was limited with his playing time. On a loan to San Antonio FC, Adeniran scored the winning goal in the USL Championship title game. When he was with St. Louis City for its inaugural MLS season, he had his best domestic season when he scored eight goals in 18 games across 950 minutes. When he was with the Philadelphia Union in 2024, the club advanced to the semifinal of Leagues Cup.

But Adeniran’s success with LASK has been a career defining moment in that he led a club to a double. As a result, he will have the opportunity to compete for place in the Champions League as LASK will enter the competition in the playoff-round, the final qualification round before the league phase. Should they fail to advance, they will be placed into the Europa League.  

Like many on LASK, Adeniran is quick to credit head coach Dietmar Kühbauer for his success towards the end of the season. Prior to the 2025/26 season, LASK had been in a period of instability with four coaches having led the club over the previous 12 months. The former Austrian international took over the job in midseason when the club was in 10^th place out of 12. After 14 games in change, Kühbauer had the team in third place. Then after winning the Austrian Cup, Kühbauer’s team continued its push over the final three games to win the title.

“The confidence that I got from the coach, having a coach that believes in you, having a coach that pushes you and gives you opportunities is very important for me,” Adeniran said of Kühbauer. “I'm the type of player where if I'm playing, and I'm in a rhythm, then I'm able to play well. But if it’s the situation where I’m in the lineup one game and then I'm out the next game, it's difficult for a striker. in my opinion to keep that rhythm. Once we got towards the end of the season and once the light started to shine brighter, I took it upon myself to say we can win it all.”

Adeniran was not the only American player to feature for LASK this season. Left back George Bello was one the team’s most durable players, playing nearly every minute of the season. Prior to arriving in Austria, Adeniran and Bello had never met but the two became close in part because of their similar backgrounds of being raised in the United States, having Nigerian parents, and having played in MLS earlier in their careers.

While Bello has featured for the U.S. national team in the past, with a highlight coming in 2021 when he started in the Gold Cup final win over Mexico, he has not been with the team in four years. Adeniran has never played for the United States at any level, and he hopes now after having led LASK to the title and with the Champions League in sight, there is a pathway there for him to make it, with Nigeria also being an option.

“I've always thought that I want to represent my country, whichever it is,” Adeniran explained. “I can represent Nigeria or America. Me being born in America and growing up in America, I would definitely say I'm closer to my American roots in the sense of I was born there, I grew up there, and obviously it would be an honor to represent the country. It's always been something that I've had in my mind.  I’ve never been called up before, but you never know what can happen when you put your best foot forward. I feel like that's what I did.”

Like many players, Adeniran’s inspiration stemmed from within his family. His father, Adebisi Adeniran (who previously went by Victor Ogunsanya) was a former player in Nigeria. When he moved to the United States, he played for several teams with a highlight coming in 1991 when he won the U.S. Open Cup with the Brooklyn Italians and started in the final against the Richardson Rockets.

These days, Adebisi lives in Houston but still operates a soccer academy back in Nigeria. He has long been a teacher of the game with his first students being his own children. For Samuel, the youngest child, that is how his love for the game began.

“He was my biggest motivation to play,” Adeniran said. “He never forced us to play. Well, he did tell us that he wanted us to play. When we did, he was gonna push us, but it was all out of love. It was what made me into the player I wanted to be. He never let me quit.  I have memories of us waking up 4am to work out before school… Seeing all of that, growing up, just seeing my dad's love for soccer really instilled that love in me.”  

It has been a wild ride for Adeniran over the past year and he has set himself up for a potentially even bigger season ahead. But based on his past, from childhood through MLS, USL, and now Europe, he is very confident for the future.

“There's a quote from me in November saying I think that we could be top three or even win the league,” Adeniran said. “Everyone looked at me like I was crazy saying that the last time we won anything was 61 years ago. What makes this kid think that he's just going to come from America and all of a sudden just start winning? Lo and behold we end up winning the double. You have to have that confidence. You have to speak that into existence. I didn't come to Austria just to sightsee. I didn't come here to just see the mountains. I came here to play football. I came to win. For me to be able to achieve what we achieved in this season and having this be my first full season in a first division league in Europe, and to win two trophies, that's a big blessing.”

“The fans are just really happy, and a lot of people were saying to me that they've been waiting for this for a long time,” he added. “It just felt good to be able to do it for them.”