# 2018–19 Austrian Football Bundesliga

The 2018–19 Austrian Football Bundesliga was the 107th season of top-tier football in Austria. Red Bull Salzburg successfully defended last year's title.

## Changes
### Structural changes

The league expanded from 10 to 12 teams. A new format was introduced this season, under which the league is split into a championship round and a relegation round after 22 matches.

### Team changes

Wacker Innsbruck were promoted as champions of the 2017–18 Austrian Football First League and TSV Hartberg were promoted as runners-up. No teams were relegated as St. Pölten won their relegation playoff match.

## Teams
### Stadia and locations

| Team | Location | Venue | Capacity |
| Admira Wacker Mödling | Maria Enzersdorf | BSFZ-Arena | 10,800 |
| Austria Wien | Vienna | Generali Arena | 17,500 |
| LASK | Pasching | Waldstadion Pasching | 7,870 |
| Rapid Wien | Vienna | Allianz Stadion | 28,000 |
| Red Bull Salzburg | Wals-Siezenheim | Red Bull Arena | 17,218 (30,188) |
| Rheindorf Altach | Altach | Stadion Schnabelholz | 8,500 |
| St. Pölten | Sankt Pölten | NV Arena | 8,000 |
| Sturm Graz | Graz | Merkur-Arena | 15,323 |
| SV Mattersburg | Mattersburg | Pappelstadion | 17,100 |
| TSV Hartberg | Hartberg | Stadion Hartberg | 4,500 |
| Wacker Innsbruck | Innsbruck | Tivoli-Neu | 16,000 |
| Wolfsberger AC | Wolfsberg | Lavanttal-Arena | 7,300 |

## Regular season
### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Red Bull Salzburg | 22 | 17 | 4 | 1 | 51 | 18 | +33 | 55 | Qualification for the Championship round |
| 2 | LASK | 22 | 13 | 7 | 2 | 40 | 19 | +21 | 46 | Qualification for the Championship round |
| 3 | Sturm Graz | 22 | 7 | 10 | 5 | 26 | 23 | +3 | 31 | Qualification for the Championship round |
| 4 | Wolfsberger AC | 22 | 7 | 9 | 6 | 32 | 31 | +1 | 30 | Qualification for the Championship round |
| 5 | Austria Wien | 22 | 9 | 3 | 10 | 29 | 28 | +1 | 30 | Qualification for the Championship round |
| 6 | St. Pölten | 22 | 8 | 6 | 8 | 26 | 29 | −3 | 30 | Qualification for the Championship round |
| 7 | Mattersburg | 22 | 8 | 5 | 9 | 28 | 36 | −8 | 29 | Qualification for the Relegation round |
| 8 | Rapid Wien | 22 | 7 | 6 | 9 | 26 | 29 | −3 | 27 | Qualification for the Relegation round |
| 9 | Hartberg | 22 | 7 | 5 | 10 | 35 | 45 | −10 | 26 | Qualification for the Relegation round |
| 10 | Admira Wacker Mödling | 22 | 5 | 6 | 11 | 26 | 42 | −16 | 21 | Qualification for the Relegation round |
| 11 | Rheindorf Altach | 22 | 4 | 6 | 12 | 30 | 32 | −2 | 18 | Qualification for the Relegation round |
| 12 | Wacker Innsbruck | 22 | 4 | 5 | 13 | 17 | 34 | −17 | 17 | Qualification for the Relegation round |

### Results

| Home \ Away | ADM | AWI | LIN | RWI | RBS | ALT | StP | STU | MAT | HAR | INN | WOL |
| Admira Wacker Mödling | — | 1–2 | 0–1 | 0–3 | 2–2 | 2–4 | 3–2 | 2–3 | 0–0 | 2–3 | 3–0 | 0–0 |
| Austria Wien | 4–0 | — | 0–3 | 6–1 | 0–2 | 1–3 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 4–2 | 2–1 | 2–3 |
| LASK | 5–1 | 2–0 | — | 2–1 | 3–3 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 3–3 | 2–0 | 2–0 |
| Rapid Wien | 2–0 | 0–1 | 0–1 | — | 2–0 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 2–1 | 0–0 |
| Red Bull Salzburg | 3–1 | 2–0 | 3–1 | 2–1 | — | 1–0 | 5–1 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 3–0 |
| Rheindorf Altach | 0–1 | 2–0 | 1–2 | 2–2 | 2–3 | — | 1–2 | 0–2 | 2–3 | 6–1 | 1–2 | 0–1 |
| St. Pölten | 0–0 | 0–0 | 2–2 | 0–4 | 1–3 | 2–1 | — | 2–0 | 0–1 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 4–3 |
| Sturm Graz | 3–0 | 1–0 | 0–3 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 0–0 | — | 1–2 | 3–2 | 1–1 | 3–0 |
| Mattersburg | 2–2 | 2–1 | 1–3 | 2–1 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 | — | 1–2 | 2–1 | 0–6 |
| TSV Hartberg | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 3–0 | 0–4 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 4–2 | — | 2–2 | 1–1 |
| Wacker Innsbruck | 1–3 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 0–2 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 2–3 | 0–1 | 2–1 | — | 0–0 |
| Wolfsberger AC | 2–2 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 1–4 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 3–4 | 3–1 | — |

## Championship round

The points obtained during the regular season were halved (and rounded down) before the start of the playoff. As a result, the teams started with the following points before the playoff: Red Bull Salzburg 27 points, LASK 23, Sturm Graz 15, Wolfsberger AC 15, Austria Wien 15 and St. Pölten 15. The points of Red Bull Salzburg and Sturm Graz were rounded down – in the event of any ties on points at the end of the playoffs, a half point will be added for these teams.
| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | RBS | LIN | WOL | AWI | STU | STP |
| 1 | Red Bull Salzburg (C) | 32 | 25 | 5 | 2 | 79 | 27 | +52 | 52 | Qualification for the Champions League group stage | — | 2–1 | 3–1 | 5–1 | 3–1 | 7–0 |
| 2 | LASK | 32 | 18 | 9 | 5 | 59 | 31 | +28 | 40 | Qualification for the Champions League third qualifying round | 0–2 | — | 3–0 | 5–2 | 1–2 | 0–0 |
| 3 | Wolfsberger AC | 32 | 12 | 10 | 10 | 47 | 47 | 0 | 31 | Qualification for the Europa League group stage | 2–1 | 0–3 | — | 1–1 | 2–1 | 4–0 |
| 4 | Austria Wien | 32 | 12 | 6 | 14 | 45 | 48 | −3 | 27 | Qualification for the Europa League third qualifying round | 1–2 | 2–2 | 2–0 | — | 0–1 | 2–2 |
| 5 | Sturm Graz (O) | 32 | 10 | 10 | 12 | 37 | 40 | −3 | 24 | Qualification for the Europa League play-off final | 1–2 | 2–3 | 1–2 | 1–3 | — | 0–1 |
| 6 | St. Pölten | 32 | 9 | 9 | 14 | 32 | 50 | −18 | 21 | | 1–1 | 0–1 | 1–3 | 1–2 | 0–1 | — |

## Relegation round

The points obtained during the regular season were halved (and rounded down) before the start of the playoff. As a result, the teams started with the following points before the playoff: Mattersburg 14 points, Rapid Wien 13, Hartberg 13, Admira Wacker Mödling 10, Rheindorf Altach 9 and Wacker Innsbruck 8. The points of Mattersburg, Rapid Wien, Admira Wacker Mödling and Wacker Innsbruck were rounded down – in the event of any ties on points at the end of the playoffs, a half point will be added for these teams.
| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation | RWI | MAT | ALT | ADM | HAR | WKR |
| 1 | Rapid Wien | 32 | 13 | 7 | 12 | 48 | 44 | +4 | 32 | Qualification for the Europa League play-off semi-final | — | 2–1 | 1–2 | 3–0 | 3–4 | 1–0 |
| 2 | Mattersburg | 32 | 12 | 7 | 13 | 41 | 48 | −7 | 28 | Qualification for the Europa League play-off semi-final | 1–0 | — | 0–0 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 3–1 |
| 3 | Rheindorf Altach | 32 | 9 | 10 | 13 | 48 | 44 | +4 | 28 | | 2–2 | 2–1 | — | 2–2 | 3–1 | 1–4 |
| 4 | Admira Wacker Mödling | 32 | 8 | 9 | 15 | 42 | 62 | −20 | 22 | | 3–4 | 0–2 | 1–1 | — | 2–3 | 3–2 |
| 5 | Hartberg | 32 | 10 | 5 | 17 | 48 | 66 | −18 | 22 | | 2–4 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 3–1 | — | 0–2 |
| 6 | Wacker Innsbruck (R) | 32 | 8 | 5 | 19 | 32 | 51 | −19 | 20 | Relegation to Austrian Football Second League | 0–2 | 4–0 | 0–4 | 1–3 | 1–0 | — |

## Europa League play-offs

The winner and the runner-up of the relegation round played a one-legged play-off semi-final match against each other. The winner played a two-legged final against the fifth-placed team from the championship round to determine the third Europa League participant.

### Final
## Statistics
### Top scorers

| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Mu'nas Dabbur | Red Bull Salzburg | 20 |
| 2 | João Victor | LASK | 13 |
| 3 | Michael Liendl | Wolfsberger AC | 11 |
| 4 | Smail Prevljak | Red Bull Salzburg | 10 |
| 5 | René Gartler | St. Pölten | 9 |
| 6 | Alexander Grünwald | FK Austria Wien | 8 |
| 6 | Hannes Wolf | Red Bull Salzburg | 8 |
| 8 | Fredrik Gulbrandsen | Red Bull Salzburg | 7 |
| 8 | Christoph Monschein | FK Austria Wien | 7 |
| 8 | Rajko Rep | TSV Hartberg | 7 |

## Awards
### Annual awards

| Award | Winner | Club |
| Player of the Year | Munas Dabbur | Red Bull Salzburg |
| Top goalscorer | Munas Dabbur | Red Bull Salzburg |
| Manager of the Year | Marco Rose | Red Bull Salzburg |
| Breakthrough of the Year | Thomas Goiginger | LASK |
Team of the Year :
| Goalkeeper | Cican Stanković (Red Bull Salzburg) | Cican Stanković (Red Bull Salzburg) | Cican Stanković (Red Bull Salzburg) | Cican Stanković (Red Bull Salzburg) |
| Defence | Stefan Lainer (Red Bull Salzburg) | Andre Ramalho (Red Bull Salzburg) | Gernot Trauner (LASK) | Andreas Ulmer (Red Bull Salzburg) |
| Midfield | Thomas Goiginger (LASK) | Diadie Samassékou (Red Bull Salzburg) | Michael Liendl (Wolfsberger) | Xaver Schlager (Red Bull Salzburg) |
| Attack | Munas Dabbur (Red Bull Salzburg) | Joao Victor (LASK) |