Football in Austria
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Football is a popular sport in Austria, second only to alpine skiing. The Austrian Football Association, the ÖFB (Österreichischer Fußball-Bund), was founded in 1904 and has been a member of FIFA since then.
Competitions
League system
The Bundesliga is the highest national league-club competition in Austria. It has ten teams. The second tier is the First Division (Erste Liga), which as of the 2006/7 season has twelve teams (up from ten the previous season). The third tiers are the regional leagues (Regionalliga), which are split into three geographical divisions: the East (Regionalliga Ost), which comprises teams from Vienna, Lower Austria, and Burgenland; the Central (Regionalliga Mitte), featuring teams from Styria, Carinthia, Upper Austria, and East Tyrol; and the West (Regionalliga West), competed for by teams from Salzburg, Tyrol, and Vorarlberg. The fourth tier is the state league (Landesliga), with the 2. Landesliga as the fifth tier in some states. Most states have 7 or 8 official tiers, but in some states (i.E. Vienna) unofficial tiers exist under the normal tiers. They are not organized by the ÖFB, but theoretically the champions of these tiers can promote to the official ÖFB-tiers.
Below shows how the current system works.
| Level | Division | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I | Bundesliga 10 clubs | ||||||||
| ↓↑ 1 club | |||||||||
| II | Erste Liga (First League) 10 clubs | ||||||||
| ↓↑ 1-2 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 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 |
Austrian Cup
See also
| League competitions |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cup competitions | |||||
| National teams | |||||
| Regional associations | |||||
| History | |||||
| Lists and categories | |||||
