Football in Austria facts for kids
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.
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).
Below shows how the current system works.
| Level | Division | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I | Bundesliga 10 clubs |
||||||||
| ↓↑ 1 club | |||||||||
| II | Erste Liga (First League) 10 clubs |
||||||||
| ↓↑ 1-2 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
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.
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Related pages
See also
In Spanish: Fútbol en Austria para niños
