Austria national football team

The Austria national football team is the national football team of Austria and is controlled by the Austrian Football Association.

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. After 1918, Germany and Austria were barred from merging by the Treaty of Versailles. The Austrian team had its first success in the 1930s under coach Hugo Meisl. On 16 May 1931, the "Wunderteam" caused the first defeat of Scotland on the European continent.

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.

Austria had qualified for the 1938 finals, but as Austria was joined to Germany in spring of that year by 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 few time and very few games to prepare, and the united German-Austrian 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 playmaker 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 soccer 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 (de:Schmach von Córdoba).

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 de:Nichtangriffspakt von Gijón. 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.

However, as a co-host for the 2008 European Cup, Austria will have its chance to redeem its name once again.

Stadium

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 - Quarterfinals
1982 - Quarterfinals
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 squad

Goalkeepers

Defenders

Midfielders

Forwards

Famous players

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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?"
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 has chosen in 2002 to prefer their former away shirts, which have the same color scheme as Austria's flag, red-white-red.

External links

European national football teams | Football in Austria

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