FRANCE 98 – Team Detail

Since the 1930’s, Austria has produced a host of world class players. Legends such as Mathias Sindelar, Gerhard Hannapi and Hans Krankl. For France ’98, Austria’s hopes of success will ride on the shoulders of Anton Polster – the country’s record-holding goalscorer.

Austria’s greatest World Cup success came in 1954 in Switzerland when they finished third. For ’98 the fans know that while they may not be able to match the style of Brazil they have their strongest team for years and more importantly a prolific scorer in Polster.

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.

Since the 1954 World Cup, 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), Heimo Pfeifenberger and Andreas Herzog. Supporters are hoping such players mean Austria fare well during next year’s finals in France.