Early years and rise of the amateurs
FK Austria Wien was founded as the "Wiener Amateur-Sportverein" (Vienna Amateur Sports Club) on 29 October 1910 at a constituent general meeting chaired by Erwin Müller. Admission to the Austrian Football Association took place barely two weeks later, on 16 November 1910. A large proportion of the founding members were former players of the Vienna Cricket and Football Club, from which they had resigned as a result of serious personal differences with the club management. Until their club was admitted to the ÖFV they still wanted to play matches for the Cricketers against Rapid and MTK Budapest, both of which they won. However, as an ÖFV member, the Vienna Amateur Sports Club did not receive clearance from the Vienna Cricket and Football Club for the majority of its players and therefore decided to wait out the six-month lockout period as well as resign from the ÖFV again in the meantime in order to at least play against small non-association members for training purposes. Shortly before the end of the blocking period, however, an agreement was reached with the cricketers, so that their readmission to the ÖFV could be announced as early as 15 March 1911. The "Amateurs", as the team was soon called, were already classified in the First Class on 5 July 1911 after a record of 11 victories in 17 association matches.
In their first championship season 1911/12 the amateurs were involved in the relegation fight, only on the last matchday they managed to stay in the league with a 4-0 win against WAC. The Vienna Cricket and Football Club, meanwhile, had to be relegated to the Second Division, the first prestigious derby having ended 1-1. The club's mainstay at the time was captain Ludwig Hussak, who also wore the captain's ribbon in the national team. The amateurs began to flourish in 1912, when the experienced coach Jimmy Hogan, who was working for the Austrian Football Association at the time, was hired by the club for the first time. He was succeeded by Hugo Meisl, who later became team manager.
The fruits of this labour were already evident in fourth place in the following 1912/13 season and victory in the 1913 Easter Cup. The first major international matches were also played in this season, and the club even came first in the Turin Grand Prix against Juventus, AC Torino and Étoile La Chaux de Fonds. In May 1914 the opening of the club's own stadium in Ober St. Veit could finally be reported, but the club's upswing was put a damper on by the First World War.
The majority of the players were called up for military service, nine of them were killed in action and several were taken prisoner of war. Captain Ludwig Hussak could only return home from Siberia in 1920. The club fell back to eighth out of ten places, but a rebuilding after the end of the war soon led the Veilchen back to the top. Hugo Meisl managed to sign the Hungarian international brother and sister team Jenő and Kálmán Konrád. This meant a sudden improvement in the amateur game, so that the Veilchen were already reaching for the championship title for the first time in 1919/20. A 2-2 draw on the last matchday against Wiener Sport-Club saw the club slip to second place, level on points with Rapid, and they also lost the Cup final to their district rivals (Hütteldorf was part of the 13th district at the time). But already in 1921 the amateurs won the "Häferl" for the first time with a double strike within one minute against the Sport-Klub with 2:1. Further reinforcements in the playing squad as well as investments in the infrastructure (in 1922 the Ober St. Veiter stadium could be opened for 25,000 spectators) consolidated the place among the leading clubs in Austria.
First titles, financial crash and the golden Mitropacup years
The reward for his work at the club was most evident in the 1923/24 to 1925/26 seasons, in which the Veilchen were twice champions and three times Cup winners. The team around the German goalkeeper Theodor Lohrmann, Johann Tandler, Karl Geyer, Wilhelm Morocutti, Viktor Hierländer, Gustav Wieser and the Konrád brothers wrote itself into the Violet club history as the "title hamster". The continuity was remarkable in that there was a fundamental change in 1924 with the switch to professionalism in the two highest Austrian leagues. This was somewhat belatedly taken into account by the Vienna Amateur Sports Club in that on 18 November 1926, at the general meeting in the Dom-Café, it was decided to change the now less appropriate club name to "Fußball-Klub Austria". However, this was soon followed by the end of their careers and the departure of some players to the financially more lucrative American Soccer League, so that the defending champions Austria slipped to seventh place under the new name and to eighth in the two following seasons.
In addition to the sporting relegation, there were acute financial problems. Even club trophies had to be sold to meet debt obligations. The Ober St. Veiter stadium fell into disrepair and was finally lost in 1930 and demolished when the club could no longer pay the rent. In the end, it was thanks to the board of directors of the friendly Grasshopper Club Zürich that Austria was able to survive, as they repaid the debts and granted the club an indefinitely repayable loan.
In these financially strained times, Austria relied on young talents who were to form the most famous Austria eleven in the club's history. Walter Nausch in defence, centrehalf Johann Mock and star striker Matthias Sindelar played big in the Wunderteam and excelled above all thanks to their technical skills. The new generation's first title win was the 1933 Cup victory over BAC by way of a less than glamorous game in which Austria were lucky with a missed penalty and eventually won itself thanks to a long-range shot by Viktor Spechtl, but which became the starting point of one of the greatest successes in the club's history. The Violets thus qualified for the Mitropapokal, the precursor competition to the European Cup, for the first time and promptly reached the final. In the quarter-finals, SK Slavia Prague were defeated 3-0 in the second leg after a 1:3 defeat. In the semi-finals, Austria knocked out Italian champions Juventus Torino 3-0 and 1-1. In the final, the Viennese once again faced an Italian team, Inter Milan, and after trailing 2-0 at the break, they managed to take a good 2-1 result from the San Siro to the sold-out Prater Stadium with 60,000 spectators, thanks to Viktor Spechtl. The final second leg turned out to be one of the most famous performances in the career of Matthias Sindelar, who scored both goals to give Austria a 2-0 lead before Inter star Giuseppe Meazza seemed to force a deciding match with a 2-1 goal just before the end of the game. But just before the final whistle Sindelar got on the ball again and scored the winning goal for Austria with the 3:1 and thus became the Mitropacup top scorer.
In the following years the team had difficulties to qualify for the Mitropacup via the league, both in 1935 and 1936 they only managed to participate thanks to the victory in the ÖFB-Cup. In 1935 they failed in the semi-finals against Ferencváros, but already the round of 16 against Inter caused great excitement for president Michl Schwarz. After leading 5-0 in Milan, Austria had to concede two goals to avoid financial losses at home. In 1936, after a weak start against Grasshopper Club Zürich, home strength was the key to success. AGC Bologna were beaten 4-0 in Vienna, Slavia 3-0 and Újpest 5-2. Having only managed a 0-0 draw against last year's winners Sparta, the return leg looked an impossible task in front of a crowd of over 60,000 at Strahov Stadium. The team managed a surprising 1-0 away win, Camillo Jerusalem heading home the winning goal after a Riegler cross. After two Mitropacup victories within four years and with as many as seven players in the starting line-up for the national team, the team seemed overdue for the Austrian championship title. In 1936/37, Austria knew how to convince, especially against the big teams, but in contrast there were upsets against relegation candidates. A 1:2 against FavAC meant that the club finished second, level on points with champions Admira. In the Mitropacup that followed, Austria again made it to the semi-finals, where they were beaten by Ferencváros. It was to be the last major international appearance for a long time.
The National Socialist era and reconstruction
On 13 March 1938, Austria was annexed to the German Reich at Hitler's instigation, which almost meant the end of Austria. The club was under the presidency of Michl Schwarz, who was of the Jewish faith. In 1938, apart from founder Erwin Müller, the board consisted exclusively of Jewish members, who were now being persecuted by the National Socialists. Only four days later it was announced: "A ban has been imposed on Austria, which is under non-Aryan leadership, and the club's assets have been seized. The secretariat has been closed. All movable and immovable property located in the stadium has also been seized." Much of the Austria management fled to Switzerland and France. Numerous players, unwilling to come to terms with the new power structure, followed them. Eventually the club was able to continue under the new name "SC Ostmark".
The change of name was reversed in July 1938, and the club was once again able to compete as FK Austria in the 1938/39 season. The club's assets dwindled rapidly under the new management appointed by the NSRL, and so, with the golden Mitropapokal, Austria's most valuable possession also went to the leading club of the time, FC Schalke 04. Gold Cup matches were arranged in Gelsenkirchen and Vienna, with Austria officials stealing the trophy at the latter and having it buried in order to prevent its loss. However, these developments must also be contrasted with opportunistic attitudes on the part of individual members: Hans Mock, for example, soon used to wear the SA ribbon at matches instead of the captain's ribbon. Despite his age, he was then still called up to the national football team and was even appointed captain by Reich coach Sepp Herberger, while other Austria players initially resisted a call-up.
From 1938 to 1945, Austria did not enjoy any great success, finishing between 4th and 9th place. However, engagements of internationally experienced players such as Wudi Müller, Karl Sesta, Karl Andritz and Karl Adamek prevented a further decline, while young players were only able to develop after the end of the war due to constant transfers to the front. In addition, this period was overshadowed by several deaths, in particular the death of Matthias Sindelar on 23 January 1939, international Karl Gall died in a mine during the Russian campaign in 1943, and international Franz Riegler was killed in a bombing raid in 1944. This period was concluded with a 0:6 defeat against WAC on 2 April 1945 in the aborted 1944/45 championship. It was the last game under Nazi rule. Just six weeks later, on 13 May, the Violets, for the first time after the liberation of Vienna, again played a match. The Leopoldstädter Amateure were defeated 11:0.
After National Socialism, Michl Schwarz immediately returned to Austria and, with the support of numerous old-Austrians, managed a successful rebuilding. The team was initially coached briefly by Karl Geyer before Wudi Müller took over for just under a decade. With Adamek, Jerusalem, Stroh and Andritz the club could rely on several experienced Mitropacupsieger, in addition young Austrianer like Dolfi Huber and Fritz Kominek and last but not least still came by clever transfer policy the sizes Ernst Stojaspal, Ernst Melchior and Ernst Ocwirk to the club. Austria was thus quickly competitive on the international stage again. The success of the rebuilding work was initially evident in the championship, where the club, as league leader in 1946, only missed out on the title due to two defeats at the end of the season.
In 1948/49, however, Rapid was put in its place; a historic title, as it was the first under the name "Austria", which was won with a 5:3 in the new "Vienna Derby" in front of almost 60,000 spectators in the Prater Stadium. The duel with Rapid, at times a three-way battle with Wacker, which was now being increasingly fanned in the media, was also decided in favour of Violett in the championship in the 1950 and 1953 seasons. In 1949/50 Violett managed the feat of overturning a 1:4 deficit in the "Rapid quarter hour" of all things. They also won the ÖFB Cup in 1948 and 1949 and had numerous international successes. The club, which was soon regarded as one of the strongest European teams, achieved several remarkable results in international tournaments. On 7 May 1951, Austria faced Tottenham Hotspur in London, who had just won the English championship. An Ocwirk goal gave the Veilchen a much acclaimed 1:0 victory.
On 30 June 1951, the opening match of the Copa Rio Club World Cup was played at the Maracanã against NacionalMontevideo. The world champions, who had five players from the victorious 1950 World Cup team in their ranks, were beaten 4-0. Austria reached the semifinals later in the tournament, just as they did in 1952 as Europe's best representatives. On 9 September 1953, German champions 1. FC Kaiserslautern even lost 9:2 to Austria in the Vienna stadium. But it was not only at the club, but also in the national team and in world selections that the leading Austria players attracted international attention, so that, especially after Austria's third place in the 1954 World Cup, they were successively poached by far more financially powerful clubs in the French Division 1 and the Italian Serie A respectively.
Beginning of the Joschi Walter era
The departure of the leading players had a strong impact on Austria's playing strength: "From then on we played at a different level", it was said. However, a direct decline in the championship was only noticeable to a limited extent, because other clubs had similar problems, but major international matches became rarer. A minor crisis ensued, with disagreements over financial matters even leading to a players' strike in 1955. Another heavy blow was a disgraceful championship defeat against Kremser SC, after which the Austria identification figure Walter Nausch suffered a heart attack, from the consequences of which he died. Many expensive transfers within the league and also from Hungary failed to live up to expectations, and to top it all off, the club lost no less than three players on a tour of Australia in 1958 who signed for clubs there - without transfer fees, which ultimately led to Australia's exclusion from FIFA. The same year, 1957/58, also saw a major setback in the league with an eighth-place finish. In 1956 Norbert Lopper took up the post of club secretary, a position comparable to that of sporting director by today's standards, which he held until 1983.
In 1959, Joschi Walter took over the club's fortunes, initially officially as vice-president, and led it with shorter interruptions until his death in 1992. The manager focused above all on a successful economic basis for the club and led the club along the lines of a company. His reforms soon took effect not only in the economic sphere, but also in the sporting one. The squad was reduced in size and young players in particular were brought into the fighting team. The youth section, then coached by Leopold Stroh and Tscharry Vogl, produced numerous future national players; the new Austria generation around Horst Hirnschrodt, Ernst Fiala and Horst Nemec secured their first title as early as 1960 with a 4:2 victory in the Cup against Rapid and subsequently rose to become the undisputed number one in Austrian football.
In 1960/61, the club became Austrian champions again after eight years, and did so with a new nine-point record lead. No less than six players in the championship team had been Austrian junior champions with Austria two years earlier. The dominance was continued in the following years, the championships in 1962 and 1963 completed the title hat-trick, whereby in these years, too, celebrations could be held several rounds before the end of the game. The Cup was also won two more times, and Horst Nemec completed the Violette title collection of this era as a three-time top scorer.
Internationally, although the club easily knocked out IFK Helsinki and CCA Bucharest in the National Champions Cup during this period, they were unlucky in the further draw on both occasions. Performances in the home games of 1-1 against Benfica Lisbon - winners in 1961 and 1962 - and Stade Reims, the 1959 finalists with a 3-2, showed the international potential of the team, but they remained lifeless due to heavy defeats in the away second legs. Joschi Walter, meanwhile, was appointed Austrian team manager, while Austria even dropped to seventh place in 1965, losing out to lowly SC Marchegg in the Cup. However, the team soon returned to the top of the national league, and the returning Joschi Walter hired Ernst Ocwirk as the new coach in 1965. Talents like Josef Hickersberger, Helmut Köglberger, Thomas Parits, Alfred Riedl and Robert Sara found their way into the team, already in 1966 the club was back in third place and in 1967 again cup winner.
In 1968/69 Rapid were dethroned as champions, and after trailing by six points at one stage, the Violets ended up eight points in front. The club was able to carry this momentum into the next year, defending the championship with a similarly clear seven-point lead and celebrating the double thanks to the Cup victory. In the direct duel, Rapid was defeated 6-0, with Hickersberger scoring a hat-trick. Nevertheless, the club failed to live up to high expectations with a second-round exit against Atlético Madrid after beating Spartak Sofia.
A merger with Admira was supposed to produce a major club that could compete internationally, but the plan failed after fan protests, the board resigned and the main sponsor, the Schwechater brewery, also withdrew. As a result, the club, as defending champions, set a new negative sporting record with a final tenth place finish. There followed a rapid up and down at Austria. Hickersberger and Parits left for the German Bundesliga, Riedl moved to Belgium. In turn, Julio César Morales, who had just won the World Cup with Nacional Montevideo and had been in the semi-finals of the World Cup two years earlier, and Alberto Martínez were brought to the club as Uruguay had payment problems. Initially, Austria managed to qualify for the UEFA Cup again as runners-up, although they were "wiped out" by Beroe Stara Sagora 0:7. In the championship, too, the team dropped back to tenth place. It was not until the provisional joint venture with the second division club WAC as Austria/WAC, which lasted from 1973 to 1977, that the necessary underpinnings were restored, as this meant that the Elementar insurance company, which had previously supported WAC, could be won over as a sponsor for the joint venture.
The great European Cup years
The upswing of the 70s was marked by the breakthrough of the young talents Herbert Prohaska, Erich Obermayer, Felix Gasselich, Ernst Baumeister and newcomer Hans Pirkner. After winning the Cup in 1974, SSW Innsbruck, who had dominated the championship until then, were surprisingly put in their place in 1975/76. When the club fell behind Innsbruck again in the following year, but managed to win the cup, the course was finally set anew. A long-term sponsorship agreement was signed with Austria Tabakwerke, which secured the club's economic foundations. Parits, who could be brought back to the club, completed the "centenary Sturm" with Pirkner and Morales.
With six rounds to go, they were already the new title holders in the championship. However, special attention was paid to the European Cup Winners' Cup, where, after successful duels against Cardiff City and Lokomotíva Košice, they met Hajduk Split in the quarter-finals. After a 1-1 draw in Vienna, Hubert Baumgartner kept the score at 1-1 in Yugoslavia, saving a penalty among other things. In the following penalty shootout he did not let a single penalty pass either, so that Austria met Dynamo Moscow in the semi-finals. A 1-2 draw was followed by the second leg in Vienna at the Praterstadion, where a crowd of over 72,000 squeezed in. Pirkner and Morales fired Austria into the lead, but Andrei Jakubik forced another penalty shootout. After Baumgartner had saved from Aleksandr Bubnov and Martínez had converted, the Violets were through to the European Cup final in Paris. However, they fell behind early against RSC Anderlecht at the Prinzenparkstadion and were subsequently outplayed. Two goals in the last minute before the half-time break brought the preliminary decision, in the end the club lost 0:4.
In 1979, Austria seamlessly continued their achievements both nationally and internationally. With the new acquisition Walter Schachner from the Second League, they won the championship single-handedly with a 14-point lead, the Styrian immediately secured the goalscorer's crown. In the European Champions Cup, they got off to a weak start against KS Vllaznia Shkodra with a 2-0 defeat in Albania, but after a 4-1 win in the return leg in Vienna, they also had no problem overcoming their next opponents, Lillestrøm SK. The first test came in the quarter-finals against GDR champions Dynamo Dresden, who were beaten 3-2 on aggregate after a defensive battle. This put Austria in the semi-finals of the European Cup and gave them the opportunity to reach the European Cup final for the second time in a row.
But against Malmö FF, after a 0:0 in the Prater, there was a close 0:1 in wintry Sweden. Several players were poached afterwards, the most prominent transfer being Herbert Prohaska to Inter Milan, and so attempts were made to bring in replacements. Goalkeeper Friedl Koncilia - Baumgartner by now playing in the Primera División - was brought back to Austria as a new signing from Anderlecht, but Gerhard Steinkogler also arrived from Werder Bremen. In the championship, Austria remained the clear number one for the time being, winning the title in 1980 and 1981 as well, but in the last season there was already an exchange of blows with Sturm. In the following two seasons they were narrowly beaten by Rapid as runners-up, and there were no major international appearances after their elimination against Aberdeen FC and, a year later, a controversial penalty against Dynamo Kiev in the round of 16.
In the meantime, new players had played their way into Austria's regular line-up. Josef Degeorgi, Alfred Drabits and Toni Polster were the new mainstays who, together with the European Cup routiniers, were able to re-establish themselves among the strongest teams. Back in 1983, when the championship was still missed by the same number of points, the Veilchen played themselves into the limelight with victories over several big European clubs. First, they beat Panathinaikos Athens, then eliminated Galatasaray in the following round of 16. Trailing 2-0 in Istanbul, Austria turned the game around to win 4-2, with Felix Gasselich scoring the goal of the year - a few months later he was already in Ajax Amsterdam's kit - and Koncilia saving a penalty. The next opponent was Maradona's FC Barcelona. After Steinkogler had scored the decisive goal at the Camp Nou after a 0-0 draw in the first leg, this seemingly insurmountable hurdle was overcome and the coach there, Udo Lattek, was sacked. In the European Cup semi-final, the opponents were Real Madrid, and the two-time lead in Vienna was not enough; after a 2-2 draw, the dream of the final in Gothenburg was shattered with a 0-2 defeat at the Santiago Bernabéu.
The last decade of national dominance
The great international successes continued in 1984. A 5:0 and 10:0 against Aris Bonneweg meant a high-scoring start, against France's Stade Laval came the first test. With a 2-0 score they travelled to Laval, where they quickly fell into a 0-3 deficit, but in the end clearly reached the round of 16 with a 3-3 score. There Austria faced Inter Milan, who also took the lead in Vienna as expected. Hungarian new acquisition Tibor Nyilasi turned things around when he scored a brace in five minutes in the closing stages to give Austria a 2-1 win. When István Magyar made it 1-0 in front of 80,000 at the San Siro with fifteen minutes remaining, the sensation was complete; heavy rioting followed in Milan, with one Austria fan stabbed and in a coma for several days.
In the quarter-finals, the opponents were TottenhamHotspur, who were held to a 2:2 draw in the first leg, but were eventually beaten 0:2. The championship became a neck-and-neck race with Rapid, a hard-fought 3:0 in Graz against Sturm tipped the scales. Erich Obermayer scored the redeeming 1:0 after 70 minutes, Nyilasi claimed the goalscorer's crown. In 1984/85 Austria were again the sole leaders in Austria - nine points ahead and only one defeat spoke for themselves. In the European Cup of the national champions, there were two victories against the GDR series champion Dynamo Berlin at the start, followed by the duel with FRG champion FC Bayern Munich. Austria sold itself dearly, but lost by a total score of 5:7, which even more than 20,000 Austria fans in the Olympic Stadium in Munich could not change.
The 1985/86 season was dominated by the duel with Rapid. In the championship, Austria maintained a narrow lead and defended it with a 1:0 win at LASK on the last matchday. In the Cup there was a dramatic final at the Gerhard-Hanappi-Stadion, from which Austria emerged as the winner with 6:4 after extra time. Internationally, the club earned another meeting with Bayern Munich with two clear 3-0 wins against Avenir Beggen, but again Austria could not go beyond a draw at home, losing 3-1 on aggregate. The following season, with Andreas Ogris in the regular squad for the first time, Austria played at Sturm on the final matchday with a one-point lead over Rapid, but only managed a 2-2 draw. From the point of view of Austria fans and many journalists, a regulation goal was disallowed and an opponent's forward foul was penalised with a penalty whistle against Austria.
At the same time Rapid won against Sport-Club and benefited from a penalty, so that the term "stolen championship" was established. The match was also the last appearance of Toni Polster, who became top scorer for the third time in a row and left the club for Italy. In the years that followed, Austria fell back again somewhat, as a far more financially powerful club entered the stage in the form of the newly founded FC Swarovski, which established itself as the clear number one, but qualification for the UEFA Cup was always achieved as second or third.
In 1988, the famous clash with Žalgiris took place in the UEFA Cup. The first leg was a 2-0 defeat, but the return match in Vienna turned into an exchange of blows, with Austria still managing to win 5-2. However, a 0:1 defeat against Heart of Midlothian was followed by a great performance in 1989, when the Violets met Ajax Amsterdam. The first leg was won 1-0, the return match in Amsterdam went into extra time with the same result. Here, the Violets were able to improve, so that Hannes Pleva scored the decisive 1:1. There followed serious riots in which goalkeeper Franz Wohlfahrt was struck down with an iron bar, which was punished with a two-year UEFA Cup ban for Ajax - the so-called Staafincident.
They could not repeat this performance against SV Werder Bremen and the club was eliminated with 2:5. In time for the 1990/91 season, Austria got reinforcements with the transfer of Arminas Narbekovas and Valdas Ivanauskas from the disintegrating Soviet Union, the two Lithuanians became important parts of the team. For the first time, the Prohaska team was able to challenge the financially stronger Swarovski Tirol and in the end, somewhat fortunately - Swarovski made three slip-ups in a row in the last rounds - reached the top of the table before the last matchday, on which, however, a difficult task awaited them with an away match at Admira/Wacker. After a 0:2 score, Christian Prosenik managed to equalize, which was crucial for the championship.
In 1991/92 Swarovski surprisingly announced the dissolution of the club, but with Salzburg Austria a new rival for the title appeared on the scene. Before the last matchday they were two points behind, but there was still the direct duel in the Praterstadion in front of more than 40,000 spectators. Andreas Ogris and Anton Pfeffer scored the goals in a tightly contested match to make it 2-1 and thus the title once again, which became a double thanks to the Cup victory. Mastermind Herbert Prohaska then took over the national team. His successor Hermann Stessl was not so lucky at first. After they even lost to bottom of the table SK Vorwärts Steyr, he was sacked but allowed to stay until the end of the season. What followed was one of the most famous comebacks in the club's history, with Austria needing to win all of their last six games to be crowned champions. In fact, the Violets managed to do so; the series included an away win at direct rivals Salzburg - Narbekovas and Ivanauskas scored twice in a 3-1 win - and the decisive match on the final matchday against Rapid. Ivanauskaus put his team in front with a sideways strike that was later voted goal of the year, and the 4-0 derby win was enough to secure a third successive championship. The past two seasons have also seen Austria make their first appearances in the newly-named UEFA Champions League, reaching the last 16 on both occasions, with only the away goals rule deciding a 3-3 draw with FC Brugge in 1992.
Selling out the stars and a new beginning under Frank Stronach
The mid-nineties saw the club's gradual sporting decline, in the context of which the "selling out of the stars" became a common phrase. In 1994, the club still finished second; however, SV Austria Salzburg was out of reach at the latest since a 0:6. Internationally, after a clear promotion against Branik Maribor, two good games against FC Chelsea succeeded, who progressed thanks to the away goals rule with a total score of 1:1. For Austria, however, the trend was clearly downwards. A large number of players were poached, Ivanauskaus and Wohlfahrt made the jump to the German Bundesliga, others found employment with direct league rivals - Hasenhüttl, Kogler and Prosenik alone moved directly to SV Austria Salzburg.
As a result, Wiener Austria gradually fell behind. Several coaches failed. The young team, supported by Thomas Flögel and Toni Pfeffer, finished fifth in 1996. After that, the sobering results were sixth and the next two years only seventh among ten teams. In 1999 the financial basis was greatly improved, because with Magna under Frank Stronach a new main sponsor was brought in; and so it was possible, with reinforcements - the first step was the signing of Michael Wagner - to bring Austria back to the UEFA Cup. In 2002, Austria finished fourth in the table, beating Shakhtar Donetsk 5-1 to start the campaign strongly, before falling to FC Porto.
This was followed by a further expansion of Magna's involvement. Between 2002 and 2005, Vladimír Janočko, Filip Šebo, Sigurd Rushfeldt, Joseph Anthony Didulica, Jocelyn Blanchard, Libor Sionko and Štěpán Vachoušek, among others, were signed as legionnaires. To this end, a training facility for young talent was built, following the example of top European clubs. Despite these investments, internal unrest continued to occur under Frank Stronach, both among players and the management staff.
In the 2002/03 season, the first league title in ten years and the Cup victory brought the long-awaited success. Champion coach Christoph Daum left for Fenerbahçe Istanbul and was succeeded by another German, Joachim Löw. Internationally, the club suffered a heavy defeat against Borussia Dortmund in the UEFA Cup. The club was successful again in the 2004/05 UEFA Cup season. The qualification for the reformed group stage was achieved in two matches against Legia Warszawa. There, the club picked up the necessary points and reached the knockout stage, defeating Athletic Bilbao and Real Zaragoza. It was only in the quarter-finals that they were defeated by FC Parma (1-1, 0-0) due to the away goals rule. Despite this success, coach Lars Søndergaard was suspended due to mixed results in the domestic championship, with Austria finishing in third place.
After winning the Cup in 2005, the club beat the new financially stronger FC Red Bull Salzburg in the 2005/06 season to become Austrian champions for the 23rd time and Cup winners once again. However, Frank Stronach had already announced on 21 November 2005 that he would gradually withdraw from the club. After that, a radical change took place in the team. Many top players who had been signed in the previous seasons were sold to other clubs in order not to burden the budget. As a result, the club was unable to build on its sporting successes.
The 2006/07 season started with many defeats in the championship and the elimination in the Champions League qualifier against Benfica Lisbon. Then it came to another knockout duel against Legia Warszawa. Although the Viennese prevailed and qualified for the group stage of the UEFA Cup, they were eliminated there with four defeats from four matches. The opponents in the group stage were Espanyol Barcelona, Ajax Amsterdam, SV Zulte Waregem and Sparta Prague.
After the 1:4 home defeat against SV Zulte-Waregem in the UEFA Cup, Thomas Parits was presented as the new general manager. Shortly afterwards, coach Frenk Schinkels and sporting director Peter Stöger were suspended. Georg Zellhofer was hired as the new coach to lead the club out of the relegation zone. Nevertheless, Austria finished the first half of the season at the bottom of the table. During the winter break, the seriousness of the situation was recognized and the squad was strengthened with Ronald Gërçaliu and Joachim Standfest, and Austrian players were brought back in. On 1 May 2007, the team won the ÖFB Cup with a 2-1 victory over SV Mattersburg, its 26th cup title. This success secured a starting berth for the 2007/08 UEFA Cup season and provided a conciliatory end to a weak championship season. The management contract with Magna has now been terminated, but the company has remained as the main sponsor. In the 2007/08 UEFA Cup, the Veilchen once again reached the group stage, having eliminated FK Jablonec 97 in qualifying and Vålerenga IF in the first main round.
Waiting for the "big" title
FK Austria Wien AG has been in existence since 1 July 2008; the club name was changed back to FK Austria Wien following the exit of Magna. In qualifying for the 2008/09 UEFA Cup, Tobol Qostanai and WIT Georgia Tbilisi were defeated, with Lech Poznan drawn as the final hurdle before the group stage. Despite winning 2-1 with a missed penalty in Vienna, Austria were eliminated in the second leg after conceding a goal in the 121st minute with an aggregate score of 5-4. They finished the first leg of the 2008/09 championship in 4th place with 42 points, level on points with second-placed SK Rapid. On 24 May, they won the ÖFB Cup for the fourth time in a row with a 3:1 victory over Admira, which was a first in Austrian football history. The win also marked the eighth time in a row that the club has earned an international berth. In the championship, Admira finished third with a 4:1 victory over SK Austria Kärnten on the final matchday, as direct rivals SK Sturm Graz were beaten by fifth-placed SV Ried at the same time.
Austria entered the 3rd qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League in the 2009/10 season and qualified for the group stage with wins over FK Vojvodina Novi Sad (1:1/4:2) and Metalurg Donetsk (2:2/3:2 n.V). In addition to Austria, Werder Bremen, Athletic Bilbao and Nacional Funchal were also drawn in Group L. Austria was eliminated from the group without a win with only two draws and clear defeats. In 2009/10, the club finished runners-up, one point behind Red Bull Salzburg. In 2010/11 they finished third after a strong season but weaknesses in April. In the ÖFB Cup, they were eliminated in the quarter-finals against SC Austria Lustenau after an embarrassing 0:4 home defeat.
At least the club qualified for the Europa League in the 2011/12 season after wins against three preliminary round opponents, but was eliminated there in third place, ahead of Malmö but behind Kharkiv and Alkmaar. The replacement of coach Karl Daxbacher with Ivica Vastić did not have the desired effect. The traditional Viennese club finished a disappointing fourth in the Bundesliga, 14 points behind champions FC Red Bull Salzburg, and failed to qualify for the European Cup for the first time since the 2000/2001 season. Coach Vastic's contract was not renewed, preferred coach Franco Foda cancelled and signed a contract with German second division club 1. FC Kaiserslautern. Shortly afterwards, Peter Stöger returned as the new coach.
Record season and a reinvigorated Austria
Although the 2012/13 season had already begun, top talent Philipp Hosiner, who had already scored five goals for his old club Admira Wacker Mödling this season, was signed on the last transfer day. With a total of 32 goals, Hosiner played a major role in Austria's 24th league title in 2012/13. Austria became autumn champions and started the second half of the season with good performances. After a short dry spell, Red Bull Salzburg were able to close the gap to four points. Nevertheless, a 4-0 win over SV Mattersburg on the penultimate matchday brought the championship trophy back to Favoriten after seven years, and the 82 points at the end of the season set a new record, which was surpassed by Red Bull Salzburg in the 2017/18 season.
In the Cup Final 12/13, the club lost 0:1 against the regional league team FC Pasching. Around 16,500 spectators saw one of the biggest sensations in Austrian football. Austria's good season drew the attention of major football clubs from Germany in particular to master coach Peter Stöger, including Werder Bremen expressing interest. After lengthy and difficult negotiations between Austria and 1. FC Köln, the two clubs agreed on Stöger's move to Cologne on 12 June 2013, a transfer fee of 700,000 euros was rumoured; in addition, Austria was to receive the revenue from a friendly match. Nenad Bjelica was hired as his successor.
A 2-0 away win over Dinamo Zagreb in the first leg of the 2013/14 Champions League play-off round was enough for Austria to qualify for the UEFA Champions League for the first time despite a 3-2 defeat in front of their home crowd. In Group G, a total of five points were earned through one win, two draws and three defeats; however, this was only enough for last place in the table. The 4-1 home win against Zenit St. Petersburg on 11 December 2013 was the highest win by an Austrian team in the Champions League. In the domestic championship, however, Austria was less successful. On 16 February 2014, coach Nenad Bjelica and co-coach Rene Poms were suspended as the Veilchen were only in a disappointing fifth place with a meagre 31 points from 23 games. He was succeeded on the same day by Herbert Gager, the coach of the amateurs. However, Austria finished 4th in the final standings in the 2013/14 season, meaning that the Violets were not represented in any international competitions in the 2014/15 season.
In order to reach the European Cup qualification again in the following season, Gerald Baumgartner was hired as the new head coach. Baumgartner's involvement lasted until 22 March 2015, when he was replaced by amateur coach Andreas Ogris due to a lack of success. However, even with interim coach Ogris, Austria fell short of expectations. In the summer of 2015, German Thorsten Fink was hired as head coach. After his dismissal in February 2018, his compatriot Thomas Letsch took over. When he was sacked in March the following year, interim co-coach Robert Ibertsberger took over until the end of the season. At the beginning of the 2019/20 season, Christian Ilzer took over. When Ilzer moved to league rivals Sturm Graz a year later, former sporting director and 2013 championship coach Peter Stöger took over as coach again. In April 2021, Stöger announced that he would not renew his contract, which expired at the end of the season.
