The 'Austria national football team' is the
association football team that represents the
country of
Austria in international competition and is controlled by the
Austrian Football Association (German: Österreichischer Fußball Bund).
Austria has qualified for seven
World Cups, most recently in
1998. The country has not yet qualified for a
European Championship; it will play in the tournament for the first time in
2008 when it co-hosts the event with
Switzerland.
History
Pre-war
The
Austrian Football Association was founded on 18 March 1904 in the Empire of
Austria-Hungary. The team enjoyed success in the 1930s under coach
Hugo Meisl becoming a dominant side in Europe and earning the nickname "Wunderteam". On 16 May 1931, they were the first European side to defeat
Scotland.
In the
1934 FIFA World Cup, they finished 4th after losing 0-1 to
Italy in the semifinals, and 3-2 to
Germany for Third place. They were runners-up in the
Football at the Summer Olympics 1936, again losing to Italy, 2-1. (They had actually lost in the quarterfinals to Peru, but were re-instated after Peru withdrew after a re-match was ordered.)
Austria had qualified for the
1938 finals, but as Austria was annexed to Germany in spring of that year in the
Anschluss, they withdrew and did not play any matches. For political reasons, some players from
Rapid Wien had to be merged into the
German team. Theoretically, a united team could have been a strong force, but Coach
Sepp Herberger had little time and very few games to prepare, and the united German-Austrian team failed in the tournament. The elimination in Round 1 after two games against
Switzerland remains Germany's worst World Cup result.
After World War II, Austria was again separated from Germany. Austria's best result came in
1954, when they finished third after losing the semifinal to eventual champion Germany. It was their best result ever, and unfortunately the last time for decades that Austria reached the end round of a major tournament.
Over the years, a strong yet mainly lopsided rivalry with Germany developed.
1970s and 1980s
Anchored by legendary striker
Hans Krankl and backed up by co-star
Bruno Pezzey, Austria reached the World Cup in 1978 and 1982 and both times reached the Second Round, held in team group games that replaced the knock-out Quarter Finals. This Austria team is widely regarded as the best post-WWII Austrian football team ever.
In the
Football World Cup 1978 in Argentina, they had lost two games and would almost surely finish last in their Second Round group of four teams, but they put in a special effort for their last game in
Córdoba against Germany, and eliminated the defending world champion, beating them 3-2 by goals of Krankl. The celebrating report of the radio commentator Edi Finger ("I werd narrisch!") became famous in Austria, while the Germans regard the game as a disgrace ().
During the
Football World Cup 1982 in Spain, Austria and Germany met again, in the last game of Round 1, after the other two teams in their group had played a day earlier. A score by German striker Hrubesch after 10 minutes meant that both teams would advance if the 0-1 would be the final score, and thus both teams defended this result for 80 minutes in what was an exceptionally boring game, called the "", ''the non-aggression pact of Gijon''.
Algeria had also won two games, including a shocking surprise over Germany in the opener, but was eliminated by the 0-1 result based on goal difference. As a result, FIFA stages all final group games in parallel times slots ever since.
Austria was eliminated by losing to France in the Second round group stage of three teams.
1990s
Led by striker
Toni Polster, Austria qualified for the 1990 World Cup, but were eliminated in the first round.
Much worse was the stunning 0:1 loss against the
Faroe Islands in the qualifying campaign for the European Championship 1992, considered the worst embarrassment in any Austrian team sport ever, and one of the biggest upsets in footballing history. The game was played in Landskrona, Sweden because there were no grass fields on the Islands.
It was a sign for things to come: Austria suffered another couple of years of botched qualifying campaigns.
In the World Cup 1998, Austria were drawn in Group B along with
Italy,
Cameroon and
Chile. Their appearance was brief but eventful, as they managed the curious feat of only scoring in stoppage time in each of their matches. Against Cameroon,
Pierre Njanka's superb goal was cancelled out by
Toni Polster's late strike. In their second game, it was
Ivica Vastic who curled a last minute equalizer, cancelling out
Marcelo Salas's disputed opener. Austria weren't so fortunate in their crucial, final match at the
Stade de France. Italy scored twice after half-time; a header from
Christian Vieri and a tap-in from
Roberto Baggio.
Andreas Herzog's stoppage time penalty kept up Austria's unusual scoring pattern, but was not enough to prevent Austria finishing third in the group, behind the Italians and Chileans.
Recent years
In the recent years, Austria's play has declined. They failed to qualify for the next World Cups and European Championships, and suffered extreme embarrassment (similar to the Faroe Islands loss) when they lost 0:9 against
Spain and shortly after 0:5 against
Israel in
1999. In 2006 Josef Hickersberger became coach of the Austrian national team which was not able to win against Canada 0:2, Croatia 1:4, Hungary 1:2, Costa Rica 2:2 and Venezuela 0:1. The last three matches in 2006 against Liechtenstein 2:1; a notable match against Switzerland 2:1 and Trinidad & Tobago 4:1 stopped the series of bad games and results.
In 2007 Austria played against Malta (1:1), Ghana (1:1), France (0:1), Scotland (0:1), Paraguay (0:0), Czech Republic (1:1) and Japan (0:0; 4:3 after penalty shooting). They will still play against Chile (11.9.); Switzerland (13.10.); Ivory Coast (17.10.) and some other unknown national teams.
In 2008 there will be matches against Germany (6.2.2008) and the Netherlands (26.3.2008).
As a co-host for the 2008 European Cup, Austria will have its chance to redeem its name once again before and during the European Cup.
Records at major tournaments
World Cup record
★
1930 - ''Did not enter''
★
1934 - Fourth place
★
1938 - ''Qualified, but withdrew after
Anschluss to Germany, to play in a united German team''
★
1950 - ''Withdrew''
★
1954 - Third place
★
1958 - Round 1
★
1962 - ''Withdrew''
★
1966 to
1974 - ''Did not qualify''
★
1978 - Second group stage
★
1982 - Second group stage
★
1986 - ''Did not qualify''
★
1990 - Round 1
★
1994 - ''Did not qualify''
★
1998 - Round 1
★
2002 to
2006 - ''Did not qualify''
European Championship record
★
1960 to
2004 - ''Did not qualify''
★
2008 - Qualified automatically as co-host
Players
Current players
Goalkeepers
Defenders
Midfielders
Strikers
Notable former players
Trivia
★ Due to the former empire of
Austria-Hungary that was dissolved in 1918, games among these teams still serve as a background for an old joke: "Who's playing?" - "Austria-Hungary" - "Against whom?". However, even before 1918 the Austrian and Hungarian parts of the empire had separate teams.
★ Austria used to play in the same colors as Germany, white jerseys, black shorts, white socks. In order to distinguish themselves, then-coach Hans Krankl chose in 2002 to switch to their former away shirts, which have the same color scheme as Austria's flag, red-white-red.
External links
★
Official website
★
RSSSF archive of results 1902-2003
★
RSSSF archive of most capped players and highest goalscorers
★
RSSSF archive of coaches 1902-1999
★
Austria national football team /Ambrosius Kutschera/
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