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Austrian Football Bundesliga
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Austrian Football Bundesliga | |
|---|---|
 T-Mobile Bundesliga 2007-08 |
|
 |
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| Sport | Football |
| Founded | 1974 |
| No. of teams | 10 |
| Country(ies) |  Austria |
| Most recent champion(s) | Red Bull Salzburg |
The Austrian Football Bundesliga (in German, the Österreichische Fußball-Bundesliga) is the highest-ranking national league club competition in Austrian football. It is the competition which decides the Austrian national football (soccer) champions, as well the country's entrants for the various European cups run by UEFA.
The Austrian Bundesliga, which began in the 1974-75 season, has been a separate registered association since December 1, 1991. At present it is composed of two divisions - the "T-Mobile Bundesliga" and the "Red Zac 1st league".
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Football has been played in Austria since around 1890. Around the turn of the twentieth century two attempts were made to start a national championship; these efforts succeeded in 1911, with the introduction of the first Austrian football championship.
The competition for this championship was created and organized by the Niederösterreichischer Fußball-Verband (the Lower Austrian Football Federation), and the participants played for the title of Niederösterreichische Landesmeister (Lower Austrian National Champion). Teams from the other states of Austria were first allowed to join the highest division with the introduction of the (first) Nationalliga in the season of 1937 / 38. After Austria's annexation by Germany during World War II the country's teams were immediately integrated into the German Gauliga; they were, however, excluded again after the war.
Only upon the introduction of the all-Austrian Staatsliga A in 1949 did teams from the whole federal territory finally play for the Austrian Championship. However, the road to organising the Staatsliga proved difficult. A conflict between the representatives of the amateur and the professional aspects of the sport led to the separation of the Viennese league from the football federation, and to the establishment of its own competition on June 30, 1949. At the statutory Presidential Election Council of the Austrian Football Association only a few days later a surprising turn took place - upon the request of Lower Austria, the introduction of the Staatsliga was finally and unanimously confirmed. The organization was in the hands of the Fußballstaatsliga Österreich, created for this purpose.
In 1965, however, the Austrian Football Association again took over the organization of the top division, with the (second) introduction of the Nationalliga. In the 1974/75 season the Bundesliga was introduced which, still led by the Austrian Football Association, aligned both of the highest divisions in Austria.
26 years after dissolution of the independent Staatsliga on 17 November 1991, the Austrian Football Bundesliga was reconstituted as a federation and admitted on 1 December 1991 to the Austrian Football Association as its 10th member.
Since 1991 the Bundesliga has carried its own responsibility as a separate association, and organises the championships of the two highest divisions in Austria. Both are named after their sponsors; at present, T-Mobile for the Bundesliga and Red Zac for the first division. In addition the Bundesliga is responsible for the Toto Jugendliga and represents professional football in Austria, in co-operation with the football clubs themselves.
The Bundesliga is legally a non-profit organisation. The twenty teams of the T-Mobile Bundesliga and the Red Zac first division constitute the members of the Bundesliga. The Bundesliga is represented by an acting executive committee, which supports a supervisory board. Each association of the two professional leagues is represented in presidential conferences; these have advisory function in all affairs concerning the Bundesliga.
The 'senates' are organising committees which consist of honorary and committee-members independent of the clubs. The first senate is responsible for suspensions and for the running of championship games. The second senate functions as an arbitration board for financial disagreements, the third senate is responsible for all financial concerns and the fourth senate is the panel of referees for the Bundesliga.
The evaluation of a club's economic competency which is required in order to obtain a playing license for the two professional leagues takes place at the fifth senate, the Bundesliga license committee.
The Austrian Bundesliga carries the obligation for a positive development of football as a sport at the élite level, as well as for the advancement of the next generation of players in co-operation with the teams at the junior levels of the sport. To accomplish this, the Bundesliga requires economic audits of the teams, the introduction of laws particular to professional football, TV marketing, centralised sponsorship and collective marketing for all teams.
In the T-Mobile Bundesliga, 10 teams play a "double championship" with each team playing every other twice at home and twice away during a championship year which is divided into an autumn and a spring season. The season typically lasts from July to June of the following year. During a year in the T-Mobile Bundesliga, 180 matches are played altogether, which last for a combined total of 16,200 minutes (or 270 hours), which played end-to-end would add up to 11 days of continuously played football.
At the end of the season, the team finishing in last place in the table is relegated to the Red Zac Erste Liga, the champion of which is promoted to the T-Mobile Bundesliga.
The ten teams competing in the 2007-08 Bundesliga season are:
- FC Red Bull Salzburg
- SV Ried
- SV Mattersburg
- SK Rapid Wien
- SK Austria Kärnten
- FK Austria Wien
- SK Sturm Graz
- SC Rheindorf Altach
- FC Wacker Innsbruck
- LASK Linz*
* Promoted from the First League as champions, LASK Linz replace Grazer AK, who went into administration and were relegated two tiers to the Regional League Central.
The Bundesliga champion qualifies for the UEFA Champions League, and the clubs at positions 2 and 3, as well as the Austrian Cup winner, enter the qualification rounds for the UEFA Cup. The team at position 4 enters the qualification for the UEFA Intertoto Cup. In case Bundesliga champion is equal to the Austrian Cup winner the team in 4th position enters the qualification for the UEFA Cup and the 5th position team can qualify for the UEFA Intertoto Cup.
- Bundesliga site (in German only)
- OEFB (in English)