Austrian Cup

Prehistory - the Challenge Cup

As early as 1897, three years after a football match was first played in Vienna under British FA rules, the Vienna Cricket and Football Club announced a cup competition for clubs in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. This competition - the Challenge Cup - in which all the major teams of the Empire took part, was played until 1911. Today, this cup is often referred to as the forerunner of the ÖFB Cup, although it should be borne in mind that, from this point of view, Ferencvárosi TC from Budapest would also have to be described as Austrian Cup winners. The ÖFB Cup has its roots in the Lower Austrian Cup, the cup competition of the NFV. The NFV was the most important sub-association of the Austrian Football Association (ÖFB), which had already been entrusted with hosting the Austrian championship in 1911.

The Lower Austrian Cup was first held during the First World War, in 1915, but participation remained voluntary for the time being. The clubs had to register with the association, first-class clubs had to pay 30 crowns, second-class 20 crowns, third-class and all provincial clubs 10 crowns, lower-class clubs were exempt from a fee. The winner was the Floridsdorfer AC. In 1918 there was a new edition of this competition, in which numerous curiosities occurred. For example, after the match between SC Wacker Wien and SC Germania Schwechat had been drawn after 120 minutes, the game was simply played on until a decision was made. The 4:3 for Wacker was not scored until the 158th minute of the game. The final itself was not recognised as official by the NFV, as the finalists Floridsdorfer AC and Wiener Amateur-SV arbitrarily postponed the final match to another date due to heavy rain, whereupon it was decided not to award the cup. The background to this was the fact that although the referee declared the pitch fit for play, both clubs were counting on far more visitors on a sunny day and the additional revenue this would bring.

The first Cup years and the Second World War

Finally, the Austrian Men's Cup has been awarded since 1919. Again the NFV was entrusted with the organization by the ÖFB. This time all members of the NFV had to take part in the cup. The first winner was Rapid with a 3:0 victory over Sport-Club, one year later the Green-Whites successfully defended the double.

In 1921, Wiener Amateur-SV, behind which the later record winner FK Austria Wien was based, won its first Cup title, but failed to defend the title against WAF in the final. In 1923, after Wiener Sport-Club had already become the fourth club in five years to enter the winners' list, Austria finally claimed the title of Austria's record Cup winners with three titles in a row. Especially famous was the duel with Slovan 1924, which went into extra time with 4:4 goals and ended after a total of 14 goals with 8:6 in favour of the Violets. Since the competition was still played as a pure spring or autumn cup at that time, it came to the curious circumstance that Austria became Austrian Cup winner twice in 1924: in July for the season 1923/24, in November for the season 1924/25.

After Austria's title hat-trick, there were other premiere winners in the form of Admira and Vienna. Meanwhile, since the 1926/27 season, the Cup winner was also entitled to take part in the new Mitropapokal, the forerunner of the European Cup. Nevertheless, the competition was not spared experimentation: in 1931 it was played in a championship mode, with each first division team playing one match against each opponent on a neutral pitch. The choice of the I. Liga winter break for this experiment proved to be less than ideal, as weather conditions meant that numerous matches had to be postponed, in some cases several times, with the result that the Winter Cup dragged on until the end of May. In the end, the WAC was able to prevail with 16 points.

In 1932 the decision was made to return the ÖFB Cup to its original form, with Austria and Admira alternating as winners over the next five years. The latter also managed the highest ÖFB Cup final victory to date, beating Rapid 8-0 in 1934. The upswing in football in the provinces meant that in 1935 the Styrian and Upper Austrian associations entered their autumn champions for the first time to win the Cup. Earlier participations of provincial clubs in the Cup had mostly ended in a debacle (Tulln lost 0:22, St. Pölten 0:15), SK Sturm Graz managed to play its way into the quarter finals.

After the annexation of Austria by the German Reich in 1938 came the logical end of the Cup, the last Austrian Cup competition still had a surprise winner with the second division club Schwarz-Rot Vienna. From then on, the Austrian and "Eastern Austrian" clubs played for the German Football Club Cup. Rapid reached the final in Berlin in the 1938/39 season, where they defeated FSV Frankfurt 3:1. Vienna also reached the German Cup final in 1943, beating Luftwaffen-Sportverein Hamburg 3-2 in extra time to win the trophy officially known as the "Wanderpreis des Reichsportführers".

Re-introduction after the end of the war and abolition

After the end of the war in 1945, the ÖFB Cup was again announced. In the duel between the two German Cup winners Rapid and Vienna, the former narrowly prevailed 2-1 in front of a record crowd of 50,000 spectators, which still exists today. The Cup itself, however, was up for discussion soon after its introduction. In 1946/47 there was a disgruntlement about the draw made by the Viennese association in the Football Cup, after there had been an arbitrary composition of the match pairings (all clubs outside Vienna against the Viennese clubs). It
was initially transformed
 into a kind of competition between the provinces, the so-called Bundesländer-Cup. Each of the nine provincial associations sent a representative for the final Bundesländer-Cup. This new mode was clearly dominated by the Vienna Austria, which represented Vienna in both cases, in the semi-final 1948 there was even a 15:0 against the 1st Salzburger SK 1919 on 27 June 1948. So the ÖFB decided not to announce another Cup from the season 1949/50 for the time being.

The quarterfinal match 1947/48 between Wiener Sportclub and Admira Wien needed three matches, because both on 30 November 1947 and 4 January 1948 there was a 2:2 n. V., so that a third match was necessary. This was played on 11 January (again at the Sportclub pitch in Dornbach) and resulted in a 2-1 win for Admira.
In the 1948/49 season, Austria's round of 16 match against Rapid on 23 January 1949 ended 1-1 n. V., so a replay was played on 19 February, which was won 3-2
by Austria. This match had originally been scheduled for 20 February, but was brought forward by one day by the Austrian Football Association (ÖFB) following an appeal by Vienna, who played their quarter-final against Admira Wien (5-1) on that day.

Introduction with mode change and the history until today

Soon after the abolition of the ÖFB Cup, initiatives were launched, especially by smaller clubs, to bring it back to life. Alfred Frey, president of SC Wacker Wien, proposed the introduction of a European Cup Winners' Cup at UEFA as an incentive. This was to be modelled on the European Champion Clubs' Cup introduced in 1955. The proposal initially met with scepticism within UEFA. Although the ÖFB Cup was reintroduced in 1958/59 and also saw a surprise winner in the shape of WAC, the latter was unable to take part in an international tournament. So the ÖFB took the creation of the European Cup Winners' Cup into its own hands with the Mitropacup Committee. Just one year later, the competition was taken over by UEFA. This international qualification made the ÖFB Cup more attractive again.

While the Cup remained firmly in the hands of the big Viennese clubs Austria, Rapid and Admira until 1964, a sensation occurred in 1965: LASK became the first Austrian champion from outside Vienna and was also the first "provincial club" to win the Cup. In the following years, victories by Austria and Rapid brought the trophy permanently back to Vienna.

Referee Heribert Schram made a mistake in the first main round of 1967/68 on 12 August when he stopped Wacker Wien's match against Austria Klagenfurt after normal time despite the final score being 2-2, but there should have been extra time. The replay on 23 September was won by the Viennese 2:1 n. V. at their Meidling facility.

Due to the option of deciding cup matches in a penalty shootout in the event of a draw, which had been in place since the summer of 1970, the regulations were adapted: Although for the time being there was still a replay if a match ended in a draw despite extra time, the rule here was that a penalty shootout had to be held if the match ended in a draw again. In the 1970/71 season there were three replays, but no penalty shootout. From 1971/72 onwards there was a penalty shootout if necessary, which was the case six times in total. There was one drawback, however, in that if the match was abandoned during the penalty shoot-out (especially because of natural forces such as darkness or weather), the entire match had to be replayed - there was only an ÖFB recommendation that matches should be scheduled 20 minutes earlier in view of the possibility of the aforementioned decision, but no binding instruction.

1970s

In the seventies, a duel developed between Innsbruck and Vienna for the silver cup - similar to the championship. Wacker Innsbruck won the trophy five times on the River Inn, while Rapid and Austria brought it back to the Danube.

1980s

Due to the economic decline of Wacker Innsbruck, the duel in the eighties was consequently reduced to Rapid against Austria. The only exception was the victory of Grazer AK in 1981. Especially in the middle of the decade there was the famous clash of the two Viennese clubs in the final. After a 3:3 on 13 June 1985, Rapid won 6:5 in a penalty shootout. Only one year later, after a 3:3, Austria took revenge with a 6:4 on 6 May 1986 in extra time.

At the end of the 1980s, a new club, the newly founded FC Swarovski Tirol, entered the title race for Cup and championship. The 1988 Cup final saw Kremser SC, the first second division club since the Cup was reintroduced, as winners, surprisingly beating the "most expensive team in Austria". Swarovski, however, finally managed to win the next year.

1990s until today

In the 1989/90 season there was a rule change: The Cup competition in Austria is played in one match. The first winner in this cup match was the Bundesliga team FK Austria Wien. Already in 1991 there was another sensation in the cup final: This time the second league team SV Stockerau won against Rapid. After further victories by Austria and Rapid and the last Innsbruck title in 1993, the two Graz clubs GAK and Sturm were particularly successful in the ÖFB Cup from the end of the 1990s onwards. From 1996 to 1999, Sturm won three titles in four successive finals, beaten only by first-time winners SV Ried in 1998. GAK also brought the cup trophy to the Mur three more times from 2000 to 2004. This series was interrupted by FC Kärnten's Cup victory in 2001, when they became the fourth second-division team to enter the winners' list.

In the following years, the Cup was once again in the hands of Wiener Austria; in six final appearances from 2003 to 2009, they won five times.

In the 2007/08 season, the cup competition was played as an amateur cup only with amateur teams from the third performance level, from the three regional leagues. The final was played with a first leg that ended in a 1-1 draw and a second leg that SV Horn won 2-1.

In 2010 Sturm Graz won the Cup for the first time since 1999, in 2011 SV Ried achieved their second Cup triumph. In the 2012 Cup final, Ried were beaten by FC Red Bull Salzburg. This was the first Cup victory for the seven-time champions. In 2013, FC Pasching achieved the biggest Cup sensation to date when they not only became the first third division team to reach the final, but also won it. Since 2014, the team from Mozartstadt has won the Cup a total of seven times, a streak that was only interrupted by SK Sturm Graz in the 2017/18 season.

International qualification

From 1927 until participation was banned by the National Socialist Reichsbund für Leibesübungen, the ÖFB Cup winner qualified to take part in the Mitropapokal. In addition to the cup winner, the champion was also entitled to take part and, due to the success of the Austrian team in later editions, the runner-up as well. If the ÖFB Cup winner was also champion, the runner-up was entitled to take part. This was the case in 1928, 1932 and 1934, which led to the curious circumstance that the respective fans of the runners-up actively supported the champions in the ÖFB Cup final.

Austrian clubs who qualified for the Mitropapokal via the Cup were very successful in the following. Four times they reached the final, two times they won the title. Austrian clubs who had qualified via the championship also reached the final four times and won the title twice. In 1931 there was even a duel between the Austrian champion and cup winner in the final of the Mitropapokal, which went in favour of the champion Vienna. The following list gives an overview of the final appearances of the ÖFB Cup winners in the Mitropapokal:

European finals

From 1960 onwards, the winner of the ÖFB Cup qualified for the European Cup Winners' Cup, which was introduced in the 1960/61 season. If the national cup winner qualified for the European Champion Clubs' Cup or the UEFA Champions League, which replaced it in 1991, the losing cup finalist took his place in the European Cup Winners' Cup. This was the case in the 1963, 1964, 1966, 1967, 1969, 1974, 1976, 1981, 1984, 1987, 1988, 1990 and 1993 seasons, so it happened quite frequently. Austrian clubs reached the final of the European Cup Winners' Cup a total of three times:

Since the abolition of the Cup Winners' Cup competition at European level after the 1998/99 season, the winner of the ÖFB Cup has been allowed to compete in the UEFA Cup (UEFA Europa League since the 2008/2009 season) the following season. If the winner qualified for the Champions League via the Bundesliga or participated in Champions League qualifying, the right to participate in the UEFA Europa League automatically passed to the loser of the final until 2015. Since 2015, the right to participate in the UEFA Europa League no longer goes to the loser of the CUP final, but to the highest-ranked Bundesliga club not already qualified for the UEFA Europa League.

Designation (sponsor)

For a long time, the ÖFB Cup was played without its own name. So the name after the association, the ÖFB, became established. Since 1989, the Cup has been marketed and named after the current main sponsor. After the Austrian tobacco company (Memphis), the French computer manufacturer Bull, the confectionery producer Masterfood (Snickers), Meda Pharma (Magnofit) and the Stieglbrauerei zu Salzburg appeared as sponsors, it was the electronics company Samsung that gave the competition its name from 2011 to 2017. Since the 2017/18 season, Uniqa has been the name sponsor. However, due to the changing designations, these are only used in media reports and hardly by the football public.

Game mode

All matches in the ÖFB Cup are played over a regular playing time of 2 × 45 minutes. The winner of a match advances to the next round. If the score is tied after normal time, the match is extended by 2 × 15 minutes. If the match is still tied after extra time, the winner has been determined in a penalty shoot-out since the 1971/72 season.

Before 1971, a draw after extra time was followed by a replay in which home advantage was reversed. Finals were exempt from this rule, and were decided by lot if necessary, which was indeed used to determine the winner in the 1966/67 season. Replays that ended in a draw were also decided by drawing lots since 1959, a rule that had to be applied twice (quarter-finals in 1965 and semi-finals in 1970). This was intended to prevent "double replays", which had occurred in isolated cases in previous years.

There was a rule in 1974/75 to play first and second legs from the quarter-finals onwards, but according to the decisions of the ÖFB Executive Committee meeting on 18 July 1975, only the final was to be played in this way from 1975/76 onwards (there was also a decision that a goalkeeper could be substituted for a penalty shoot-out if only one substitution had been made up to that point). Another error was discovered in the interpretation of the regulations, as they should have been applied in 1974/75.

Participants and draw

Participation in the ÖFB Cup is compulsory; in the 2006/07 season, this obligation applied to the members of the Austrian Football League (22) as well as the best-placed clubs from the nine provincial associations. However, the number of clubs per provincial association varies:

• 15 Lower Austria
• 13 Upper Austria
• 13 Styria
• 9 Vienna
• 7 Burgenland
• 7 Carinthia
• 6 Salzburg
• 6 Tyrol
• 4 Vorarlberg

Participants from the national associations, however, first compete in an intra-regional preliminary round, while Bundesliga clubs advance directly to the first of the six main rounds. Clubs participating in UEFA tournaments do not enter the current competition until the third round.

The draws for the matches are made at a meeting of the Cup and Schedule Committee or also during a television broadcast in which the Committee is represented by the Chairman and another member. In the first two rounds, amateur teams from the first pot are drawn with professional teams from the second pot, with the amateurs always having home advantage. From the round of 16 onwards, the teams are drawn from only one draw pot, but the preference for amateur teams remains, otherwise the first drawn team enjoys this advantage.

The sixth main round is the final, which is played between the two semifinal winners at a neutral venue. So far, Vienna has been chosen 48 times as the venue for the final, with a total of six different Viennese stadiums being used. In addition, the final was held four times in Klagenfurt, twice in Graz, and once each in Maria Enzersdorf, Wals-Siezenheim and Mattersburg. It should be noted that in the years 1965, 1967, 1972 to 1984 and 1987 to 1989 there was no actual final, this was played as a first and second leg in the home stadiums of the respective finalists.

Trophies and medals

In the Cup final, played for the first time in 1919, the winner was presented for the first time with the winner's trophy, described at the time as a "large, beautifully crafted silver cup", by ÖFV president Ignaz Abeles. The filigree and richly decorated silver cup, also affectionately called Häferl, soon became the flagship of the Cup and was presented for the first time in 1925 by Federal President Michael Hainisch to the winning amateur eleven. In 1986 the historic silver cup was replaced by a much larger, massive gold cup in rectangular shape. It measured over 60 cm and weighed 17 kg. The new trophy was presented for the first time to Wiener Austria, followed by 16 more winners until the ÖFB presented another new trophy, which was awarded from 2004 to 2008. The new, simpler trophy was designed by Silvio Gazzaniga, creator of the World Cup trophy. From 2009, a new significantly larger - now 70 cm tall and weighing 16.45 kilograms - version of the 2004 trophy will be awarded.

In addition to the presentation of the winner's trophy, the players of both teams are traditionally honoured by the presentation of medals at final matches. At present, the ÖFB regulations stipulate that 25 medals with the inscription "winner" and 25 with the inscription "finalist" are available for each club. The Cup medals have been issued in an almost unchanged form since 1919 - initially the names of each player were engraved - and are modelled on the Austrian championship medals.