He spent the greatest part of his active career with the traditional Styrian club SK Sturm Graz, with whom he enjoyed great success.

His career in the national team came to a somewhat inglorious end when, together with eight teammates, he refused to fly to Israel to take part in the final qualifying match for the 2002 World Cup.

For the 2009/10 season, the Graz native moved back to his original club, this time to fill the position of co-coach of the amateur team.

[5] After a 4–0 defeat to Grazer AK on February 27, 2005, Neukirchner delivered a legendary interview in which he criticized, above all, the "stupid" questions asked by the sports journalist from the Premiere channel.

[6] At the general assembly of SK Sturm Graz on January 18, 2016, he was honored as honorary captain together with Mario Haas and Andy Pichler.