The Austrian Regionalliga East (), is a men's football league in Austria. It covers Vienna, Lower Austria and Burgenland, and its clubs are registered with the football associations of those three states. The league is the oldest of the four Regionalligen, having been founded in 1959 alongside the Regionalliga Central.

From 1959 to 1974 the league formed part of the second tier of the Austrian football league system. A reorganisation in 1974 created a national second division and abolished the Central and West divisions, but the Regionalliga East survived and became a third tier competition. It was not contested between 1980 and 1985. Since its return it has run continuously apart from two seasons lost to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Regionalliga East was the only division left untouched by the reform that took the third tier from three groups to four in 2026. Parndorf, First Vienna and Wacker Wien share the record with four titles each.

History Second tier (1959–1974) The Regionalliga East was introduced for the 1959–60 season together with the Regionalliga Central. The two replaced the Staatsliga B as the second level of Austrian football, and a third division, the Regionalliga West, followed a year later. The champions of each division were promoted directly to the top flight, which was called the Staatsliga until 1965 and the Nationalliga thereafter. 1. Schwechater SC won the first title.

Survival and interruption (1974–1985) The reorganisation of 1974–75 created a ten-club Bundesliga and a national second division. The Regionalliga West and the Regionalliga Central were both abolished. The Regionalliga East was not, and it continued as a third tier competition whose champion went up directly, while promotion from the west and centre of the country was decided by play-offs between state league champions.

That arrangement lasted six seasons. The Regionalliga East was then suspended in turn and was not contested from 1980–81 to 1984–85, a period in which promotion from the east was also settled by play-offs. The division returned for the 1985–86 season, won by VfB Mödling.

Since 1985 Promotion arrangements have changed repeatedly. The East champion generally went up directly until 1995–96. Between 1996–97 and 2003–04 the three Regionalliga champions contested play-offs with the second-last club of the First League for two places. Direct promotion returned from 2005–06, play-offs came back in 2009–10, and from 2014–15 one division took a direct place on rotation while the other two met in a play-off.

Promotion has also depended on a club obtaining a licence for the second tier, and champions have repeatedly stayed put. Donaufeld won the title in 2024–25 but the promotion place went to the runners-up, Young Violets Austria Wien. Stripfing reached the 2. Liga after the 2022–23 title only following legal action.

No champions were declared in 2019–20 or 2020–21. Both seasons were abandoned because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Match-fixing case The division was at the centre of what prosecutors described as the largest known organised match manipulation in Austrian football for a decade. The federal criminal police opened an investigation in November 2021, carrying out searches and arrests. The indictment covered nineteen matches played between March 2019 and November 2021, most of them in the Regionalliga East but also including fixtures in the Wiener Liga, the Burgenland Cup, two Austrian Cup ties and a friendly. Losses to bookmakers were put at just under 200,000 euros, of which about 88,000 euros was treated as attempted fraud.

The Austrian Football Association provisionally suspended nine players in March 2022 while the criminal inquiry continued. The trial opened at the regional criminal court in Graz in September 2022 with fifteen defendants, most of them former players at clubs in Vienna, Lower Austria and Burgenland. On 1 February 2023 nine of the ten remaining defendants were convicted and one was acquitted. Sentences ranged from a fine of 4,000 euros to twenty-four months partly suspended imprisonment.

Format Sixteen clubs play each other home and away over 30 matchdays. No champion is promoted automatically. The four Regionalliga winners contest two-legged ties for two places in the 2. Liga, and the pairings are drawn each year. The Regionalliga East champion was drawn against the Regionalliga South champion for 2026–27, with the first legs set for 1 and 2 June 2027 and the return matches for 4 and 5 June. A club must hold a 2. Liga licence before it can go up.

2025–26 season Seventeen clubs contested the 2025–26 season over 34 matchdays. Gloggnitz took the title on 22 May 2026 after defeats for Kremser SC and Leobendorf, having survived relegation on the final day of the previous campaign. The club had come up through five divisions in six years. Gloggnitz did not take up the promotion place, which the club said was beyond it on financial and infrastructure grounds.

Pos Club Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts 1 SV Gloggnitz 32 18 8 6 58 45 +13 62 2 SC/ESV Parndorf 32 18 8 6 58 34 +24 62 3 Kremser SC 32 17 7 8 61 33 +28 58 4 SV Leobendorf 32 18 3 11 48 34 +14 57 5 SV Oberwart 32 17 5 10 73 42 +31 56 6 SV Horn 32 14 9 9 57 35 +22 51 7 FCM Traiskirchen 32 14 8 10 70 52 +18 50 8 FC Marchfeld Donauauen 32 13 10 9 55 37 +18 49 9 SR Donaufeld 32 13 8 11 51 44 +7 47 10 Wiener Sport-Club 32 13 7 12 54 52 +2 46 11 SC Wiener Viktoria 32 13 6 13 50 51 −1 45 12 SV Donau Wien 32 12 8 12 50 57 −7 44 13 Favoritner AC 32 12 3 17 44 52 −8 39 14 Sportunion Mauer 32 10 7 15 32 47 −15 37 15 SC Neusiedl/See 1919 32 8 5 19 46 72 −26 29 16 SC Retz 32 4 8 20 25 64 −39 20 17 TWL Elektra 32 2 2 28 21 102 −81 8 Source:

Champions Second tier champions (1959–1974) + Regionalliga East champions 1959–60 to 1973–74 Club Titles Winning seasons SC Wacker Wien 1961–62, 1963–64, 1965–66, 1967–68 1. Simmeringer SC 1964–65, 1969–70, 1972–73 SC Eisenstadt 1966–67, 1970–71 1. Schwechater SC 1959–60 SK Admira Wien 1960–61 1. Wiener Neustädter SC 1962–63 First Vienna FC 1968–69 SV Admira Wiener Neustadt 1971–72 SV Stockerau 1973–74

Third tier champions (1974–present) The league was not staged between 1980 and 1985. + Regionalliga Ost champions 1974–75 to 2025–26 Club Titles Winning seasons SC/ESV Parndorf 2003–04, 2005–06, 2010–11, 2012–13 Favoritner AC 1977–78, 1990–91, 1994–95 First Vienna FC 2008–09, 2016–17, 2021–22 SV Horn 2011–12, 2015–16, 2017–18 SV Stockerau 1978–79, 1995–96 ASK Kottingbrunn 1996–97, 2000–01 SC Untersiebenbrunn 1997–98, 1998–99 SR Donaufeld 1989–90, 2024–25 SC Tulln 1974–75 Kremser SC 1975–76 ASV Kittsee 1976–77 SC Neusiedl am See 1979–80 VfB Mödling 1985–86 VSE St. Pölten 1986–87 SK Slovan Wien 1987–88 ASV Austria Vösendorf 1988–89 SV Oberwart 1991–92 1. Wiener Neustädter SC 1992–93 ASKÖ Klingenbach 1993–94 SV Mattersburg 1999–2000 Wiener Sportklub 2001–02 SV Schwechat 2002–03 Austria Wien II 2004–05 ASK Schwadorf 2006–07 SKN St. Pölten 2007–08 FC Waidhofen an der Ybbs 2009–10 FAC Team für Wien 2013–14 SC Ritzing 2014–15 ASK Ebreichsdorf 2018–19 SV Stripfing 2022–23 Rapid Wien II 2023–24 SV Gloggnitz 2025–26

See also Austrian Regionalliga Austrian football league system

References

External links Regionalliga Ost at Ligaportal