FK Austria Wien

Football club infobox

fullname = FK Austria Wien
nickname = "Die Veilchen" (The Violets)
founded = March 12 1911
ground = Horr Stadion, Vienna, Austria
capacity = 11,800 | chairman = flagicon|Austria Wolfgang Katzian
manager = flagicon|Austria Thomas Parits
coach = flagicon|Austria Karl Daxbacher
league = Austrian Bundesliga
season = 2007-08
position = 3rd
pattern_la1=_whiteborder|pattern_b1=_whitehorizontal|pattern_ra1=_whiteborder
leftarm1=551A8B|body1=551A8B|rightarm1=551A8B|shorts1=551A8B|socks1=551A8B
pattern_la2=_whiteborder|pattern_b2=|pattern_ra2=_whiteborder
leftarm2=FF7000|body2=FF7000|rightarm2=FF7000|shorts2=FF7000|socks2=FF7000

FK Austria Wien is an Austrian football club which plays in the capital, Vienna. They are the champions of the 2005/06 Austrian Bundesliga. In English, they are commonly referred to as Austria Vienna.

History

Foundation to World War II

Austria Wien were founded in Vienna on March 12 1911 as the "Wiener Amateur Sportvereinigung" by players and officials of the "Vienna Cricket- and Football- Club" taking violet and white as the new club's colours. The team claimed its first championship title in 1924. "Amateure" changed their name to "Austria" in 1926 as the former amateurs had become professionals.

The 1930s, one of Austria’s most successful eras brought two "Mitropa Cup" titles, a predecessor of today’s UEFA Champions League (1933, 1936). During this time world class players like Matthias Sindelar wore the violet jersey.

After the Anschluss and throughout the period of Nazi domination of the country (1938–1945) most of the club’s officials and some players with Jewish heritage, had to flee or were murdered by the Nazi regime. Star player Sindelar died under unresolved circumstances on January 23 1939 of carbon monoxide poisoning in his apartment. Even though the team did not have any success in this period, they managed a much more important victory in keeping the name "Austria" despite attempts by Nazi sports authorities to rename the club.

Post World War II

Post World War II a new successful era began with Austria winning national championship titles in 1949, 1950, 1953 and 1961 – 63 as well as 1969.

The 1960s marked the beginning of a golden period for FK Austria Wien, a run of 16 titles in 33 seasons between 1960 and 1993. The decade began with three titles in a row (1961, 1962 and 1963) and ended with two more (1969, 1970) under the management of Ernst Ocwirk. Stars of the 1960s included:

* Horst Nemec, a fine centre-forward rated by some at the time as one of Europe's best
* Ernst Fiala, another fine attacker and inspirational team leader
* Johann Geyer, a cultured yet hard-working midfield schemer
* Horst Hirnschrodt, who played mainly on the right flank

Glorious era in competition and European Cup

The 1970s saw the beginning of another glorious era. Between 1970 and 1975 the club was in a difficult phase. After a bad season 1974-1975 (goal difference +7) with a somewhat ageing team, the "Violets" began to build a young squad with average age 23 years, season 1975-1976. All squads in the 5 seasons 1975-1976 till 1979-1980 had an average age of about 23 years at the start of the seasons. The eleven seasons 1975-1976 till 1985-1986 Austria Wien won 8 national championship titles (1975-1976; 1977-1978, 1978-1979, 1979-1980, 1980-1981; 1983-1984, 1984-1985, 1985-1986, respective goal differences: +48; +43, +44, +45, +31; +56, +68, +71). After winning the national Cup, season 1976-1977, Austria Wien played the European Cup II-final (1977-1978), which it lost 4-0 against Rob Rensenbrink's Anderlecht (May 3rd 1978), the semi finals of the European Cup I (Champions Cup) were reached season 1978-1979. August 7th 1979 AFC Ajax Amsterdam (with players Ruud Krol, Frank Arnesen, Dick Schoenaker, Soren Lerby, Tscheu La Ling and Simon Tahamata) was beaten in a friendly match 5-1 (5-0 after 39 minutes!). In a friendly match Anderlecht was beaten this time: 3-0 (August 5th 1980). Since the season 1980-1981 the average age of the successive squads went up to about 25 years at the start of the seasons.In 1982-1983 the semi finals of the European Cup II (Cup Winners' Cup)-tournament was reached, in which Real Madrid proved to be too strong. The next 2 seasons Austria Wien stranded in the quarter finales , in respectively the European Cup III (UEFA-Cup)-tournament season 1983-1984 (goal difference +16 (25-9); Aris Bonnevoie (Luxemburg) was beaten 0-5 away and 10-0 at home (15-0 on aggregate) (1st round), after a 2-0 home win from Stade Laval, away being 3-0 behind in the return match Austria Wien drew 3-3! (2nd round), Inter Milan was eliminated: 2-1 home win, 1-1 away draw) (3rd round), before Austria Wien stranded in the quarter finals: 2-0 away loss to Tottenham Hotspur, 2-2 home draw) and the European Cup I Champions Cup season 1984-1985. 3 Successive national championship titles were won, seasons 1983-1984, 1984-1985, 1985-1986 (goal differences +56, +68, +71). In these seasons friendly games against Hungary (5-2, August 31st 1983) and Werder Bremen (3-0, August 10th 1984) were won. Starting the 1985-1986 season 19 seasons without successes in the European Cup-tournaments followed, and from 1986 on also the championships results were declining and declining, with the lowest point in achievements between 1995 and 2002. Not earlier than the season 2004-2005 Austria Wien again reached the quarter finals in a European Cup-tournament (UEFA Cup-tournament). Some important players playing at Austria Wien in the successful era 1975-1976 till 1985-1986: Herbert "Schneckerl" Prohaska (1972-1980, 1983-1989), Felix Gasselich (1974-1983) who played afterwards at AFC Ajax Amsterdam July 1983 till November 1985, Thomas Parits (1964-1970, 1977-1979), Walter Schachner (1978-1981), Thomas Pfeiler (1978-1983), Gerhard Steinkogler (1980-1986), Alfred Drabits (1981-1988) (nowadays youth-coach at Austria Wien), Toni Polster (1982-1987), the Hungarian ex-international Tibor Nyilasi (1983-1988).Afterwards also José Alberto Percudani (January 1988-1990),
Peter Stoger (1988-1994) and Jewgenij Milewskij (1989-1991) wore the tricot of Austria Wien.

1990's

In the beginning of the 90's, FK Austria enjoyed its so far last successful era: three championship titles (seasons 1990-1991, 1991-1992, 1992-1993; but less brilliant goal differences (+39, +37, +46) than the seasons 1983-1984, 1984-1985, 1985-1986 (+56, +68, +71)), three cup titles (seasons 1989-1990, 1991-1992, 1993-1994) as well as four "Super cup" titles (Austrian national champion vs. Cup winner) (1991, 1992, 1993, 1994) were won. Internationally there were no successes. The era 1995-2002 in the championships Austria Wien finished at the midst of the table only. The 3 seasons 1996-1997, 1997-1998, 1998-1999 the goal differences had even been negative (-10, -15, -3). Apart from this there had been money problems, which stopped the club from keeping star-players.

Frank Stronach and the new millennium from 1999 till today

After a period without any title (last title season 1992-1993), Austria Wien was taken over by billionaire Frank Stronach of the Magna concern in 1999, the name of the club changing into FK Austria Memphis Magna. He invested much money into the club, buying many top players, so they won the title again in the season 2002-2003 (36 matches, goal difference +31), after a very good start of the season (12 matches, goal difference +19). Despite this coach and ex-player Walter Schachner was fired. His successor Christoph Daum produced weaker results (24 matches, goal difference +12), yet Austria won the national Cup. Austria Wien had a three times higher budget than the average league club (as of 2007 Red Bull Salzburg has the highest budget in the Austrian Bundesliga). In 2004 the name Memphis was deleted. Austria was known for their very fancy and creative style of playing football which on the downside has frequently led to "unnecessary" losses and "unnecessary" draws and makes the team somewhat unpredictable. In the spectacular 2004/05 season the team reached the quarter final of the UEFA Cup, in which the Italian team Parma FC proved to be the better club by eliminating Austria on away goals (1:1, 0:0); in the league Austria finished only 3rd, however, the team wasn't considered weak (goal difference +40 (64-24))! On the 21st of November 2005, Frank Stonach decided to resigne from his post. As a result several players like topscorer Roland Linz, Vladimír Janočko, Joey Didulica, Libor Sionko, Filip Šebo and Sigurd Rushfeldt were transferred or signed contracts for other teams in the summer 2006. The highly successful 2005-2006 season concluded with the league championship (although with a goal difference of +18 (51-33)), and the national Cup against Mattersburg (3-0) under Austria's belt!

The season 2006-2007 seemed to result in a small disaster as the team found it difficult to cope with their significantly reduced budget and resulting loss of most of their key players. After losing 1-4 on aggregate from Benfica in the preliminary round of the Champions League, the team managed to qualify (against Legia Warsaw winning 2-1 on aggregate) for the Group Phase of the UEFA Cup-tournament, but the 1st match was lost 1-4 at home to Zulte Waregem (Belgium). Thomas Parits (ex-player Austria Wien 1964-1970, 1977-1979 and ex-coach Austria Wien 1984-1985) became the new general manager and after losing 3 days later 4-0 away to Salzburg (firing of manager and ex-player Peter Stoger and Dutch coach and ex-football-player Frank Schinkels), Georg Zellhofer became the new coach. In the Group Phase of the UEFA Cup-tournament Austria Wien collected 0 points (goal difference -8 (1-9)), in the entire European Cup-tournament a goal difference of -10 (4-14)! In the league championship things also went completely wrong as the possibility existed that Austria could relegate for the 1st time in history (however, only through mid season). After 21 rounds the club ranked at the bottom of the table (10th, Budesliga). After the winter break Austria managed to finish 6th (midst of the table, goal difference 0 (43-43) in 36 rounds), yet they won the Austrian National Cup, the ÖFB-Stiegl-Cup. The 1st half of the 2007-2008 season had been a good one as Austria was top of the Bundesliga in week 7 and from weeks 9 through 21. However, performances were not always impressive (round 10 till round 23: 14 rounds, goal difference 0) and Austria dropped to the 3rd position in the league table just before winter break (three-way tie for top at 36 points, goal differential +8). In the UEFA Cup-tournament Austria didn't perform much better than in the 2006-2007 season. Indeed the two qualification rounds (4 matches) had been successful: goal difference +3 (9-6), but in the Group Phase things went wrong again: 4 matches only yielded 1 point and a goal difference of -5 (1-6) (elimination). Total goal difference this tournament had not been that bad as in 2006-2007: -2 (10-12). In the end Austria finished 3rd in the 07/08 Bundesliga, succumbing only to Rapid Vienna and Red Bull Salzburg.The summer of 2008 brought notable changes for Austria Vienna. Twelve players left the club, among them key players like Sanel Kuljic and Yüksel Sariyar, who went and joined Frank Stronach's newly founded team "FC Magna" in Austria's second division. The "Betriebsführervertrag" with Stronach's company "Magna" expired, which gave the club a wholly new structure. On July 1, 2008 it was given back its original name "FK Austria Wien", without any sponsor name included for the first time in 30 years.Austrian players like Michael Madl, who came back on loan from Wacker Innsbruck, or Lukas Mössner from SK Austria Kärnten joined the team. In addition to them Austria recruited Chinese international Xiang Sun, who became the first Chinese to play in Austria's Bundesliga.

Stadium

FK Austria Wien play their home games at the Horr Stadion which has a total capacity of 11,800.

Achievements

Domestic competitions:
Austrian Bundesliga [23] : 1924,1926,1949,1950,1953,1961,1962,1963,1969,1970,1976,1978,1979,1980,1981,1984,1985,1986,1991,1992,1993,2003,2006

Austrian Cup [26] : 1921,1924,1925,1926,1933,1935,1936,1948,1949,1960,1962,1963,1967,1971,1974,1977,1980,1982,1986,1990,1992,1994,2003,2005,2006, 2007

Austrian Supercup [6] :1990,1991,1992,1993,2003,2004

Wiener Cup [2] :1948,1949

European competitions:
Mitropa Cup [2] : 1933, 1936

Cup Winners' Cup Runners Up: 1978

European records

The 1930s, one of Austria’s most successful eras, brought two Mitropa Cup titles, a predecessor of today’s UEFA Champions League (1933, 1936). During this time world class players like Matthias Sindelar wore the violet jersey.

Current squad

"As of August, 2008.

Transfers 2008

In:

Out:

Austria Wien Amateure squad

Notable players

* flagicon|Croatia Joey Didulica
*Thomas Flögel
* Julio Morales
*Matthias Sindelar
*Ernst Ocwirk
*
*Herbert Prohaska
*Alfred Riedl
*Filip Šebo
*Libor Sionko
*Toni Polster
*flagicon|CroatiaIvica Vastic
*Ernst Ocwirk
*Anton Pfeffer
*Walter Schachner
*Friedl Koncilia
*Rabiu Afolabi
*Mikael Antonsson
*Nastja Čeh
*Tosin Dosunmu
*Mons Ivar Mjelde
*Sebastian Mila
*Valdas Ivanauskas
*Arminas Narbekovas
*Petko Petkov
*Chavdar Tsvetkov
*Erich Obermayer
*Andreas Ogris
*Sigurd Rushfeldt
*Ernst Stojaspal
*Djalminha
*Paul Scharner
*Tibor Nyilasi

External links

* [http://www.fk-austria.at Official website]
* [http://www.uefa.com/footballeurope/club=50110/domestic.html Austria Wien at UEFA.COM]
* [http://www.eufo.de/football/aut/austwien.htm Austria Wien at EUFO.DE]
* [http://www.weltfussball.de/teams/austria-wien/ Austria Wien at Weltfussball.de]
* [http://www.playerhistory.com/Default.aspx?page=club_details&clubID=1043 Austria Wien at Playerhistory.com]
* [http://www.transfermarkt.de/de/verein/14/fkaustriawien/uebersicht/startseite.html Austria Wien at Transfermarkt.de]
* [http://www.footballsquads.co.uk/austria/2008-2009/bundes/austvien.htm Austria Wien at Football Squads.co.uk]
* [http://www.national-football-teams.com/v2/club.php?id=137 Austria Wien at National Football Teams.com]
* [http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/FK_Austria_Wien German wikipedia]