The Austrian Football Association (german: Österreichischer Fußball-Bund; ÖFB) is the governing body of

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. It organises the football league,

Austrian Bundesliga The Austrian Football Bundesliga (german: Österreichische Fußball-Bundesliga, italic=no , "Austrian Football Federal League"), also known as Admiral Bundesliga for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Austrian football league system. Th ...

, the

Austrian Cup The Austrian Cup (german: ÖFB-Cup), known as UNIQA ÖFB Cup for sponsorship purposes, is an annual football competition held by the Austrian Football Association, the ÖFB. During the 2008–09 season, Austria Wien won the tournament for 27th t ...

and the

Austria national football team The Austria national football team (german: Österreichische Fußballnationalmannschaft) represents Austria in men's international Association football, football competition and it is controlled by the Austrian Football Association (German: Ös ...

, as well as its female equivalent. It is based in the capital,

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. Since 1905, it has been a

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' (French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

member, and since 1954, a

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs fo ...

member. Since 7 April 2002,

Friedrich Stickler Friedrich Stickler (born 18 April 1949, in Vienna) is an Austrian manager and football administrator. He is Deputy Director General of the Austrian lotteries and board member of the Austrian Sports Aid. Stickler is the former president of Austrian ...

(Dipl. Eng.), the director of executive committee of the Austrian lottery, has been the president of the Austrian Football Association. Supporting him is its president, Kurt Ehrenberger,

Frank Stronach Frank Stronach (born 6 September 1932) is an Austrian and Canadian businessman and politician. He is the founder of Magna International, an international automotive parts company based in Aurora, Ontario, Canada, Granite Real Estate, and The ...

, Dr.

Gerhard Kapl Gerhard Kapl (11 November 1946, in Wels – 25 July 2011, in Graz) was an Austrian state official, referee and football official. Life Gerhard Kapl lost his father at an early age and grew up in poverty. Kapl completed the matura with distinction ...

, and Dr.

Leo Windtner Leopold "Leo" Windtner (born 30 August 1950 in Linz, Upper Austria) is general manager of Energie AG Oberösterreich' and honorary president of the Austrian Football Association (german: Österreichischer Fußball-Bund, ÖFB). Biography Windtner g ...

. In 2004, it was announced there are 285,000 players (both sexes) in Austria playing for 2,309 teams in the federation, although many more players play informally or for non-recognised teams. Thus the federation is the largest sporting organisation the country. Football is, perhaps with the exception of

skiing Skiing is the use of skis to glide on snow. Variations of purpose include basic transport, a recreational activity, or a competitive winter sport. Many types of competitive skiing events are recognized by the International Olympic Committee ( ...

, the most popular sport in Austria. Football possesses a large value, and has a rich history and tradition in Austria.

History

In 1894, the First Vienna Football Club, the first football team in Austria, were founded in Vienna. From this nucleus, the Austrian Football Association was established in 1904. One year after the establishment, Austria became a member of the international football federation

and hosted the fifth FIFA congress in 1908. In 1913, they supervised the Galicja national team, which was directly subordinate to the Polish Football Association. The milestones of the federation and past football history were the years 1930 to 1933, 1950 to 1954 and then 1958 as well as 1978, 1982, 1990 and 1998 with the participation of Austria at the World Cup. Hugo Meisl was one of the best-known personalities in the early years of the Austrian Football Association, becoming general-secretary and national team coach in 1927. At the

1936 Summer Olympics The 1936 Summer Olympics (German: ''Olympische Sommerspiele 1936''), officially known as the Games of the XI Olympiad (German: ''Spiele der XI. Olympiade'') and commonly known as Berlin 1936 or the Nazi Olympics, were an international multi-s ...

, his team won silver after losing 2–1 to

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, Austria's only international final. Meisl's team, nicknamed the ''Wunderteam'', remained unbeaten from 12 April 1931 to 23 October 1932 in 14 successive matches. The highlights of this series were the 6-0 (Berlin) and 5-0 (Vienna) victories against

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

. The 1950s saw more achievements with their well-known football greats such as

Ernst Ocwirk Ernst Ocwirk (7 March 1926 – 23 January 1980) was an Austrian football player and coach. He is regarded as one of the greatest Austrian footballers of all time. He spent the majority of his playing and coaching years between Austria and Ital ...

(twice captain of the FIFA World Selection Team), Ernst Happel, Gerhard Hanappi and Walter Zeman. The FIFA World Cup 1954 ranks among being most successful in Austrian Football Association history. Twenty years after being in 4th place in the FIFA World Cup 1934 held in Italy, Austria returned to the circle of the best teams again.

Regional associations

* Burgenland Football Association (German: Burgenländischer Fußball-Verband - BFV) in 1923 * Lower Austrian Football Association (German: Niederösterreichischer Fußball-Verband - NÖFV) in 1911 *

Upper Austrian Football Association The Upper Austrian Football Association (German: Oberösterreichischer Fußballverband; OFV) is the umbrella organization of the football clubs of the Austrian state Upper Austria. The OFV was founded in 1919 and has its headquarters in Linz. The ...

(German: Oberösterreichischer Fußball-Verband - OFV) in 1919 * Salzburg Football Association (German: Salzburger Fußball-Verband - SFV) in 1921 * Styria Football Association (German: Steirischer Fußballverband -StFV) in 1923 * Tirol Football Association (German: Tiroler Fussballverband - TFV) in 1919 * Vorarlberg Football Association (German:Vorarlberger Fussballverband - VFV) in 1920 * Vienna Football Association (German: Wiener Fußball-Verband - WFV) in 1923

Former regional associations

* Polish Football Association ( pl, Związek Polski Piłki Nożnej, ZPPN) in the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria in 1911-1920 centered in Lemberg (today

Lviv Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in Western Ukraine, western Ukraine, and the List of cities in Ukraine, seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is o ...

), transferred to the Polish Football Association centered in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officiall ...

as the ''Lwow District (okrug)'' * German Alpine Football Association (german: Deutsch-Alpenländische Fußballverband) in 1911 centered in

Graz Graz (; sl, Gradec) is the capital city of the Austrian state of Styria and second-largest city in Austria after Vienna. As of 1 January 2021, it had a population of 331,562 (294,236 of whom had principal-residence status). In 2018, the popula ...

* Austrian Union of Sports Workers and Soldiers (german: Verband der Arbeiter- und Soldatensportvereine Österreichs)

Former associations of
Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

* Football Association of German Prague (german: Verband der Prager Deutschen Fußball-Vereine) in the city of Prag in 1900 to 1904 and merged to the German Football Union * Hungarian Football Federation in 1901 as a separate Hungarian association of the

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

* Bohemian Football Union in 1901 * Austrian Football Union in 1904 * Polish Football Union in 1911

Presidents

* 1904–1906: Heinrich Strehblow * 1906–1907: Ignaz Abeles * 1907–1914: Adolf Wallner * 1914–1922: Ignaz Abeles * 1922–1926: Karl Volkert * 1926–1938: Richard Eberstaller * 1945–1955: Josef Gerö * 1955–1969: * 1970–1976: Heinz Gerö * 1976–1982: * 1982–1984: Herbert Raggautz and Heinz Gerö (interim) * 1984–2002: Josef "Beppo" Mauhart * 2002–2008:

* 2008–2009: Kurt Ehrenberger (interim) * 2009–2021:

* 2021–present:

Gerhard Milletich Gerhard Milletich (born 1956) is an Austrian media entrepreneur and soccer official. He has been president of the Austrian Football Association since October 2021. Life In 1985 Milletich joined the Compress Group, a publishing house of which he bec ...

Current sponsorships

Uniqa The Uniqa Insurance Group AG (corporately styled "UNIQA") is one of the largest insurance groups in its core markets of Austria and Central and Eastern Europe and has approximately 40 companies in 22 countries and serve about 10.5 million custom ...

* Admiral * Puma * Magenta * Tipp3 *

Volkswagen Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German Automotive industry, motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a ...

* ORF * Kronen Zeitung * Geomix *

Raiffeisen Bank International Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) is an Austrian banking group and a central institution of the Raiffeisen Banking Group Austria (RBG). The bank is listed on the Vienna Stock Exchange, with RBG's regional banks its major shareholders. RBI was ...

Stiegl Beer in Austria comes in a wide variety of styles. There are many small breweries across the country, although a few large breweries dominate the market. The most common beer is ''Märzen''. Breweries Styrian breweries, in the south, include ' ...

ÖBB The Austrian Federal Railways (german: Österreichische Bundesbahnen, formally (lit. "Austrian Federal Railways Holding Stock Company") and formerly the or ''BBÖ''), now commonly known as ÖBB, is the national railway company ...

* Burgenland *

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance bar, temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pembe ...

External links

Austrian Football Association
at FIFA site

at UEFA site {{Authority control

Football in Austria Futsal in Austria

Foo The terms foobar (), foo, bar, baz, and others are used as metasyntactic variables and placeholder names in computer programming or computer-related documentation. - Etymology of "Foo" They have been used to name entities such as variables, fu ...

1904 establishments in Austria Sports organizations established in 1904 Football in Austria-Hungary Organisations based in Vienna Sport in Vienna