Football in Austria-Cedar Herald Index

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

League system

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.

Football in Austria

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: East (Regionalliga Ost), which is made up of teams from Vienna, Lower Austria, and Burgenland Central (Regionalliga Mitte), made up of teams from Styria, Carinthia, Upper Austria, and East Tyrol West (Regionalliga West), made up of teams from Salzburg, North Tyrol, and Vorarlberg. The fourth level of the league system is the state league (Landesliga).

Football in Austria

Below shows how the current system works.

Football in Austria

Austrian Cup

Women's football

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.