Austria national football team

The Austrian national team has yet to win a world championship title, but has had some fine successes, finishing third in the 1954 World Cup and fourth in the 1934 World Cup. They beat Italy to the European Cup title in 1932 and were narrowly beaten by Italy in 1930 and 1935. Their best result at a UEFA European Championship was a quarter-final in 1960, while Austria qualified for a finals as one of the hosts in 2008 and for the first time in 2016.

Participation in world championships

1. ↑ Austria appeared together with Germany as the Greater German national team, FIFA nevertheless held a tournament place for Austria as it did not recognise the dissolution of the ÖFB.

Participation in European Cups

1. The competition was cancelled due to the annexation of Austria to the German Reich.

Participation in European Championships

1. ↑ ^{a b} The final round did not begin until the semi-finals.

Participation in Olympic Games

Honors

In 1999, on the occasion of the turn of the century, the Kronen Zeitung called an election for the national team of the (20th) century. In the same procedure, Austria's footballer of the year is determined every year. The winning team presents itself as follows:

• Walter Zeman: The leaping 1953 World Cup goalkeeper earned the nicknames Tiger of Glasgow and Panther of Budapest among others during his career. The Rapid man played for Austria in the 1950s and was a 1954 World Cup participant, finishing ahead of Rudi Hiden, the Wunderteam goalkeeper, who was, however, rated better by the IFFHS international experts.
• Robert Sara: The Austria defender was captain of the Córdoba team, prepared among other things Krankl's famous goal for the 3:2 with a 40-metre pass and was also selected for the All-Star team of the World Cup.
• Ernst Happel: The Rapidler Ernst Happel ordered the defense with Austria's 54er team, made himself internationally, however, above all as a coach a name. He won the European Cup with Feyenoord Rotterdam and Hamburger SV and was runner-up in the 1978 World Cup with the Netherlands.
• Bruno Pezzey: The Vorarlberg player played together with Robert Sara in the defence of the Córdoba team and also took part in the 1982 World Cup. He is best remembered for his tragic early death.
• Gerhard Hanappi: The Wacker star and later Rapid player Gerhard Hanappi was the Austrian record national player for a long time with 93 team appearances, with the team he reached among other things the third place in 1954 in Switzerland.
• Herbert Prohaska: The Austrian is another player of the Córdoba team and World Cup participant in 1982. Herbert Prohaska also led the team as coach to the 1998 World Cup in France.
• Ernst Ocwirk: The Austria star of the 1950s was a centre half and a source of ideas for the '54 team. He himself was captain of the world team twice.
• Andreas Herzog: Rapid's record international took part in two World Cups for Austria in 1990 and 1998, contributing in particular to qualification for France 1998 with his decisive goals against Sweden.
• Hans Krankl: Hans Krankl was the star from Austria's point of view at the 1978 World Cup in Argentina, and was also named Europe's top goalscorer in the same year. However, the Rapid player had less success as national coach in the early 2000s.
• Matthias Sindelar: The "paper man" is still considered the greatest player in Austrian football history. He was the centre-forward of the Wunderteam and helped Wiener Austria to two Mitropacup victories.
• Toni Polster: The Austria striker is Austria's record goalscorer with 44 goals and a two-time World Cup participant in 1990 and 1998. In 1987 he was named Europe's top goalscorer.

Record players and scorers

In Austria, the titles of record player and record scorer have always been highly coveted, although it must be remembered that nowadays there are far more international matches played each year than in the early years of football. Both records were long held by Jan Studnicka, who scored 18 goals in 28 games up to 1918. The first to reach the 40-mark was Josef Brandstätter with 42 games in 1924, Josef Blum improved to 51 games in 1932. Since 1962 Gerhard Hanappi's record of 93 games for Austria was considered unattainable for a long time, only in 1998 Toni Polster overtook him. Polster's record of 95 games was finally beaten by Andreas Herzog in 2002.

According to Studnicka, a new record was set by Hans Horvath in 1934 with 29 goals, which also lasted until Hans Krankl's best performance in the 1980s, after which it was surpassed once again by Toni Polster. A well-known anecdote in Austria tells how Hans Krankl is said to have said to his son in the stands at an international match when he found the record list of ÖFB goal scorers in the programme booklet, which he topped with 34 goals: "Look here, Bua! Horvath - dead, Hof - spüüt nimma, Schall - dead, Sindelar - dead, Zischek - dead, Schachner - trifft nix mehr, Polster - trifft nix mehr. Who's going to overtake me?

Note: A full list of national players can be found here.

Other national players with 50 or more caps

Status: 21 June 2021

• 83 games: Herbert Prohaska
• 78 games: Christian Fuchs (active, Charlotte FC)
• 73 games: Sebastian Prödl (active, Udinese Calcio)
• 70 games: Marc Janko
• 69 games: Andreas Ivanschitz, Hans Krankl
• 68 games: Martin Harnik (active, TuS Dassendorf), Heribert Weber
• 65 games: Peter Stöger
• 64 games: Walter Schachner
• 63 games: Andreas Ogris, Toni Pfeffer, Peter Schöttel
• 62 games: Ernst Ocwirk (†)
• 61 games: Emanuel Pogatetz
• 59 games: Kurt Jara, Franz Wohlfahrt
• 58 games: René Aufhauser, Martin Hinteregger (active, Eintracht Frankfurt)
• 56 games: Willi Kreuz, Markus Schopp, Martin Stranzl
• 55 games: Peter Artner, Zlatko Junuzović (active, FC Red Bull Salzburg), Dietmar Kühbauer, Robert Sara
• 53 games: Stefan Ilsanker (active, Eintracht Frankfurt), Marcel Sabitzer (active, RB Leipzig).
• 51 games: Josef Blum (†), Ernst Happel (†), Roland Hattenberger
• 50 games: Martin Hiden, Erich Obermayer, Ivica Vastić

Trainer

The team manager of the Austrian national football team is appointed by the ÖFB. He trains and coaches the team in international matches, and the team manager also decides on the call-up of players to the national team. This was originally done by the Austrian Football Association or its predecessors from 12 October 1902 to 14 June 1913. The current coaching staff is as follows:

Current squad

Team boss Franco Foda nominated the following players on 24 May 2021 for the squad for Euro 2021 and the international matches preparing for it against England on 2 and Slovakia on 6 June 2021. For Daniel Bachmann it was his first nomination.

Enlarged squad

The following players are not part of the current squad, but were used in or nominated for the national team between 2019 and 2021. Heinz Lindner, Phillipp Mwene, Husein Balić and Adrian Grbić are on the call-up list for Euro 2021.

List of national players

For a list of all national players as well as a list of Austrians in other national teams, see List of Austrian national football players.