Football in Austria

overview of association football practiced in Austria

Football is a popular sport in Austria. It is the second most popular sport in the country after alpine skiing. The Austrian Football Association (Österreichischer Fußball-Bund), the ÖFB, was created in 1904. It has been a member of FIFA since then. The country's national team has not been successful in tournaments. Austria has never qualified for the European championship. It did participate once in 2008, when it co-hosted the championship with Switzerland and did not need to qualify in order to play. In the World Cup, Austria has taken the fourth and third place in 1934 and 1954, respectively.

Competitions

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League system

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The Austrian league system is maintained by the ÖFB and its parts from the federal states. The licences for the professional leagues (Level 1 and 2) are given by the association "Austrian Football League". Below the Level 4 there are a different number of leagues depending of the federal states.

The Bundesliga is the highest national league-club competition in Austria. It has ten teams. The second level is the First Division (Erste Liga). It has twelve teams. The third levels are the regional leagues (Regionalliga), which are split into three geographical divisions:

The fourth level of the league system is the state league (Landesliga).

Below shows how the current system works.

Level Division
I Admiral Bundesliga
12 clubs
↓↑ 1 club
II Admiral Zweite Liga
(First League)
16 clubs
↓↑ 3 clubs
↑ 0-1 club ↑ 0-1 club ↑ 0-1 club
III Regionalliga Ost
(Regional League East)
16 clubs
Regionalliga Mitte
(Regional League Central)
16 clubs
Regionalliga West
(Regional League West)
16 clubs
↓ 2-5 clubs ↓ 2-5 clubs ↓ 2-5 clubs
↑ 1 club ↑ 1 club ↑ 1 club ↑ 1 club ↑ 1 club ↑ 1 club ↑ 1 club ↑ 1 club ↑ 1 club
IV Landesliga Burgenland
16 clubs
Landesliga Niederösterreich
16 clubs
Wiener Stadtliga
16 clubs
Landesliga Steiermark
16 clubs
Landesliga Oberösterreich
14 clubs
Landesliga Kärnten
16 clubs
Landesliga Salzburg
16 clubs
Tiroler Liga
16 clubs
Landesliga Vorarlberg
14 clubs

Austrian Cup

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Women's football

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The Austrian leagues for women football are all amateur leagues. They are also maintained by the ÖFB and its local parts in the federal states. There is also a 4th and 5th level which is organised by the local football associations.[1]

class="wikitable "

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References

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  1. http://www.frauenfußball.at Homepage Union Kleinmünchen (in German)

Other websites

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  • League321.com - Austrian football league tables, records & statistics database.