Football in Austria

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.

### 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.

|colspan="1" height="30" width="4%"|Level|colspan="9" width="96%"|Division|||||||||||||||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|colspan="1" width="4%" style="background:#c8c8c8" height="60"|**I**|colspan="9" width="96%"|**Admiral Bundesliga** _12 clubs_|||||||||||||||||
|colspan="1" width="4%"||colspan="9" width="96%"|↓↑ 1 club|||||||||||||||||
|colspan="1" width="4%" style="background:#c8c8c8" height="60"|**II**|colspan="9" width="96%"|**Admiral Zweite Liga** (First League) _16 clubs_|||||||||||||||||
|colspan="1" width="4%"||colspan="9" width="96%"|↓↑ 3 clubs|||||||||||||||||
|colspan="1" width="4%"||colspan="3" width="32%"|↑ 0-1 club|colspan="3" width="32%"|↑ 0-1 club|colspan="3" width="32%"|↑ 0-1 club|||||||||||||
|colspan="1" width="4%" style="background:#c8c8c8" height="60"|**III**|colspan="3" width="32%"|**Regionalliga Ost** _(Regional League East)_ _16 clubs_|colspan="3" width="32%"|**Regionalliga Mitte** _(Regional League Central)_ _16 clubs_|colspan="3" width="32%"|**Regionalliga West** _(Regional League West)_ _16 clubs_|||||||||||||
|colspan="1" width="4%"||colspan="3" width="32%"|↓ 2-5 clubs|colspan="3" width="32%"|↓ 2-5 clubs|colspan="3" width="32%"|↓ 2-5 clubs|||||||||||||
|colspan="1" width="4%"||colspan="1" width="10%"|↑ 1 club|colspan="1" width="10%"|↑ 1 club|colspan="1" width="10%"|↑ 1 club|colspan="1" width="10%"|↑ 1 club|colspan="1" width="10%"|↑ 1 club|colspan="1" width="10%"|↑ 1 club|colspan="1" width="10%"|↑ 1 club|colspan="1" width="10%"|↑ 1 club|colspan="1" width="10%"|↑ 1 club|
|colspan="1" width="4%" style="background:#c8c8c8" height="60"|**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_||||||||||

### 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.

## Related pages

- Austria national football team
- Austrian Bundesliga

## Other websites

- League321.com - Austrian football league tables, records & statistics database.