Austria (AUT)

Team Honors Seventh World Cup appearance: 1934, 1954, 1958, 1978, 1982, 1990 and 1998 Third in the 1954 World Cup in Switzerland Fourth in the 1934 World Cup in Italy

Österreichischer Fussball-Bund

Football first appeared in Austria in 1875, but the first official match took place in 1895 between Vienna and Prague. The first international fixture went ahead on December 18 1898 in Vienna when a local side was beaten 4-1 by an English XI from the capital. In that game, the Austrians played in white, which was to become their international colours. Football became more and more popular in Austria and the national federation was founded in 1900. At the beginning of the 1930's, Austria, including Smistik, Bican, Sindelar and Schall, had superb international results. The "Wunderteam" as it was known, beat Germany, Scotland, Switzerland, Hungary and France, and lost only one match in 15 games -- 4-3 against England in London. After the Second World War, Austria had the best result of its history when they finished third in the 1954 World Cup in Switzerland thanks to players like Stojaspal, Ocwirk and particularly Hannapi (the record holder for Austria with appearances in 96 matches). Since then, the national side slowly lost its prestige, even though it qualified for another four World Cup finals (1978,82,90,98). In 1978, Hans Krankl was the best Austrian player in the finals and scored a goal in the 2-1 victory over Spain and the only goal of the game against Sweden in the first round. In the second round, Krankl's two goals against Germany for a 3-2 win was not enough to qualify, but knocked out the defending champions. At club level, Rapid Vienna (30 times national champion) and Austria Vienna (21 titles) share the majority of national trophies. Austria/WAC, in 1978, and Rapid, in 1996, reached the final of the European Cup Winners Cup and Austria Salzburg reached the UEFA Cup final in 1994. Austria qualified for the 1998 World Cup with experienced players like Anton Polster (Austria's top scorer with 41 goals), Heimo Pfeifenberger and Andreas Herzog. Supporters are hoping such players mean Austria will fare well during the finals in France.

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