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.

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 Admiral Bundesliga12 clubs ↓↑ 1 club II Admiral Zweite Liga(First League)16 clubs ↓↑ 3 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 Burgenland16 clubs Landesliga Niederösterreich16 clubs Wiener Stadtliga16 clubs Landesliga Steiermark16 clubs Landesliga Oberösterreich14 clubs Landesliga Kärnten16 clubs Landesliga Salzburg16 clubs Tiroler Liga16 clubs Landesliga Vorarlberg14 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.http://www.frauenfußball.at Homepage Union Kleinmünchen 

Related pages
 Austria national football team
 Austrian Bundesliga

References

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