Austria national football team

• 1. Introduction

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  The Austria national football team first took the field under an association founded on the 18th of March 1904, inside the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Within a generation, the team had earned one of football's most resonant nicknames: the Wunderteam, the Miracle Team. Why that golden era ended so abruptly is one of football's more striking political stories. One player's response to those events became a story in itself. How Austria rebuilt across the decades that followed is still unfolding.

• 2. The Wunderteam

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  Hugo Meisl guided the Austrian national side through 127 matches across his second term as head coach, a period that ran from 1919 to 1937. The core of his team was Matthias Sindelar, a forward who scored 26 goals across 43 appearances for his country. On the 16th of May 1931, this squad did something no continental European side had done before: they defeated Scotland.

  At the 1934 FIFA World Cup, Austria reached the semi-finals before losing to Italy by a single goal, 0-1. In the third-place play-off, they fell 2-3 to Germany, finishing fourth. Austria also won the Central European International Cup in 1931-32, and finished runners-up in both 1927-30 and 1933-35.

  The 1934 fourth place is one of only two occasions in history that Austria has finished in the top four at a World Cup.

• 3. The Berlin Controversy

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  At the 1936 Berlin Olympics, Austria opened their football tournament on the 5th of August with a 3-1 win over Egypt. The quarter-final that followed became one of the most disputed matches in Olympic history.

  Peru trailed Austria by two goals with fifteen minutes of normal time remaining. They drew level, the match went to extra time, and Peruvian supporters allegedly ran onto the pitch and attacked an Austrian player. In the chaos, Peru scored twice more and won 4-2.

  Adolf Hitler called for a rematch. The International Olympic Committee sided with Austria and ordered a replay with no spectators present. Peru's national Olympic team refused and withdrew from the Games entirely. The Peruvian government lodged a formal complaint, and the country's entire Olympic squad left Berlin in protest. Colombia withdrew as well.

  Austria advanced to the final, where they lost 2-1 to Italy after extra time. Within two years of Berlin, the Austrian Football Association itself would be dissolved, and the national team along with it.

• 4. The Anschluss and Dissolution

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  On the 12th of March 1938, Austria was annexed into Nazi Germany in the event known as the Anschluss. Sixteen days later, on the 28th of March, FIFA received formal notification that the Austrian Football Association had been abolished. Austria had qualified for the 1938 World Cup. That place was simply given up. Sweden, which had been scheduled to face Austria in the first round, advanced to the second round without playing a match.

  Matthias Sindelar, the forward around whom the Wunderteam had been built, refused to join the German national side. He was not selected for their squad. Most other Austrian players were absorbed into the German team for the tournament.

  Austria's slot in the 1938 bracket sat vacant, and it would be sixteen years before the team competed on the world stage again.

• 5. Postwar Resurrection

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  Austria re-established its national team in 1945 and returned to world football nine years later at the 1954 World Cup. The rebuilt squad finished third, the strongest result in the team's postwar history.

  In the group stage, Austria defeated Switzerland 7-5. No World Cup match before had produced twelve goals, and none has since. That scoreline remains the record for the highest-scoring game in the tournament's history.

  A victory over England at Wembley Stadium in 1965 was among the more significant results of the following decade. The years ahead would bring Austria back to the World Cup, and into one of the sport's most infamous group-stage matches.

• 6. The Pact of Gijón

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  At the 1982 World Cup in Spain, Austria and West Germany met in the final match of their group, played in Gijón. The other two teams in the group had already finished their games the previous day. Both sides knew the arithmetic: a West German victory by one goal would send both teams through. Any other result would eliminate one of them.

  After ten minutes of play, Horst Hrubesch scored for West Germany. Both teams then exchanged possession for eighty minutes with few attempts to attack. The match ended 1-0. It became known as the non-aggression pact of Gijón.

  Algeria had won two of their group matches, including a win over West Germany in the opening round. They had finished their group games the day before and could only wait. When the final score in Gijón was confirmed, Algeria were eliminated on goal difference despite two wins. The outrage from supporters across multiple countries was immediate and sustained. From the following World Cup onwards, all final group-stage matches were required to kick off simultaneously, a structural change that remains in force today.

  Austria and Northern Ireland both progressed from the group but were eliminated by France in the second round.

• 7. Modern Revival

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  Austria automatically qualified for UEFA Euro 2008 as co-hosts alongside Switzerland, the first time the team had played in the continental championship. Expectations among Austrian supporters were low. Ten thousand of them signed a petition calling for the team to withdraw from the tournament to avoid embarrassment. Austria managed a 1-1 draw with Poland before losing 1-0 to both Croatia and Germany, going out in the group stage.

  The genuine revival began in 2016, when Austria started qualifying consistently for major tournaments. At UEFA Euro 2016, despite a successful qualifying campaign, the tournament was difficult. Austria lost 0-2 to their neighbor Hungary in the opener, a match in which defender Aleksandar Dragović was sent off. A goalless draw followed against Portugal, during which Cristiano Ronaldo missed a penalty. Austria then lost 1-2 to debutant Iceland and exited the tournament with a single point.

  UEFA Euro 2020 was held in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Austria advanced to the knockout stage, the first time in their European Championship history. They finished second in Group C after wins over North Macedonia and Ukraine. In the Round of 16, they lost 2-1 to Italy after extra time.

  At UEFA Euro 2024, Austria finished top of Group D ahead of France and the Netherlands. The result was widely regarded as a historic achievement. They were eliminated in the Round of 16, losing 2-1 to Turkey.

  Under Ralf Rangnick, who took charge in April 2022, Austria qualified for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. It ended a twenty-eight-year absence from the tournament, their last appearance having been in 1998. The 26-player squad named for the competition prepared with friendlies against Tunisia on the 1st of June and Guatemala on the 10th before the tournament began.