The Austria national football team () represents Austria in men's international football competitions, and is controlled by the Austrian Football Association.

The Austrian Football Association (ÖFB) was founded on 18 March 1904, in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. During the 1930s, under coach Hugo Meisl, Austria's national team, known as the "Wunderteam" (literally "Miracle Team"), became a dominant force in European football. Notable achievements included a fourth-place finish in the 1934 FIFA World Cup and silver medal at the 1936 Olympic Games. The Anschluss in 1938, which annexed Austria into Nazi Germany, led to the dissolution of the ÖFB and the obligatory integration of Austrian players into the German national team for the 1938 World Cup.

After World War II, Austria reestablished its national team and achieved significant success in the 1954 World Cup, finishing third. The team continued to be competitive throughout the 1950s and 1960s, including a notable victory over England at Wembley Stadium in 1965. However, the following decades saw fluctuating fortunes, with the team failing to qualify for FIFA World Cup in the 1960s and narrowly missing out on the 1974 World Cup in a playoff against Sweden. The 1970s and 1980s marked a revival, with Austria reaching the second round in the 1978 and 1982 World Cup, highlighted by a famous victory over West Germany in 1978.

The 1990s and 2000s brought challenges and disappointments, such as a defeat to the Faroe Islands in UEFA Euro 1992 qualifying, and a group-stage exit in the 1998 World Cup, their seventh and until then, last World Cup appearance. Austria automatically qualified for UEFA Euro 2008 as co-hosts with Switzerland, the first time they played in the UEFA European Championship, but was eliminated in the group stage. The country entered a resurgence in 2016, beginning with a successful qualification campaigns for the UEFA Euro 2016, Euro 2020, Euro 2024; and after 28 years of absence in the tournament, the 2026 FIFA World Cup, with current head coach Ralf Rangnick.

History Pre-World War II The Austrian Football Association (ÖFB) was founded on 18 March 1904 in the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

The team enjoyed success in the 1930s under coach Hugo Meisl, becoming a dominant side in Europe and earning the nickname "Wunderteam". The team's star was Matthias Sindelar. On 16 May 1931, they were the first continental European side to defeat Scotland.

In the 1934 FIFA World Cup, Austria finished fourth after losing 0–1 to Italy in the semi-finals and 2–3 to Germany in the third-place play-off.

There was controversy at the Peru v Austria match at the Football tournament of the 1936 Berlin Olympics. On 5 August, Austria beat Egypt 3–1 in their opening match. In the quarter-finals, Peru beat Austria 4–2 in extra-time. Peru had rallied from a two-goal deficit in the final 15 minutes of normal time. During extra-time, Peruvian fans allegedly ran onto the field and attacked an Austrian player. In the chaos, Peru scored twice and won, 4–2. Hitler called for a rematch, Austria protested and the International Olympic Committee ordered a replay without any spectators. The Peruvian national Olympic team refused to play the match again and withdrew from the games. The Peruvian government complained and their entire Olympic squad left in protest as did Colombia. Austria reached the final but were beaten 2–1 by Italy after extra time.

The team then qualified for the 1938 World Cup finals. Austria was annexed to Germany in the Anschluss on 12 March of that year. On 28 March, FIFA was notified that the ÖFB had been abolished, resulting in the nation's withdrawal from the World Cup. The Anschluss led to the integration of Austrian players into the German national team for the 1938 World Cup, although not including Austrian star player Matthias Sindelar, who refused to play for the unified team. Austria's place remained empty and Sweden, which would have been Austria's initial opponent, progressed directly to the second-round by default.

After World War II

The team was re-established in 1945 and went on to achieve their best result at a World Cup in 1954, finishing third. Their 7-5 victory over Switzerland in the same tournament set a record for the most goals scored in a World Cup match.

During the 1982 World Cup in Spain, Austria and West Germany met again, in the last match of the group stage. Because the other two teams in the group had played their last match the previous day, both teams knew that a West German win by one goal would see both through, while all other results would eliminate one team or the other. After ten minutes of furious attack, Horst Hrubesch scored for West Germany, and the two teams mainly kicked the ball around for 80 minutes with few attempts to attack. The match became known as the "non-aggression pact of Gijón". Algeria had also won two matches, including a surprise victory over West Germany in the opener. However, among the three teams that had won two matches, Algeria was eliminated due to having an inferior goal difference, having conceded two late goals in their 3–2 win over Chile. This match caused outrage between supporters of multiple national teams; as a result, all future tournaments would see the last group matches played simultaneously. Austria was then eliminated from the tournament in the second round group stage, following a draw with Northern Ireland and loss against France.

21st century 2000s: Decline

Austria qualified automatically for Euro 2008 as co-hosts. Their first major tournament in a decade, most commentators regarded them as outsiders for Germany, Croatia and Poland in the group stage. Many of their home supporters were in agreement and 10,000 Austrians signed a petition demanding Austria withdraw from the tournament to spare the nation's embarrassment. However, Austria managed a 1–1 draw with Poland and lost 1–0 to both Croatia and Germany.

2010s: Revival and setbacks

Despite their successful performance in Euro 2016 qualifying campaign, the tournament itself turned out to be a nightmare for the Austrians. Placed in group F with Hungary, Portugal and Iceland, Austria opened their campaign with a 0–2 loss to neighbour Hungary, in which defender Aleksandar Dragović was sent off. This was followed up by a goalless draw with Portugal, in which Cristiano Ronaldo missed a penalty. Nonetheless, Austria ended up losing 1–2 to debutant Iceland and were eliminated with just a point.

2020s: Tournament breakthroughs and continued growth

At UEFA Euro 2020 (held in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic), Austria advanced to the knockout stage of the European Championship for the first time in their history. They finished second in Group C after defeating North Macedonia and Ukraine, and narrowly lost to Italy 2–1 after extra time in the Round of 16.

Austria also qualified for UEFA Euro 2024 in Germany. As of June 2024, the team was drawn into Group D alongside France, the Netherlands, and Poland. Austria finished first in their group, topping France and the Netherlands, which was considered a historic achievement. However, they were eliminated in the Round of 16 after a 2–1 loss to Turkey.

Rivalry

Although the match-up between Austria and Hungary is the second most-played international match in football (only Argentina and Uruguay, another two neighboring countries, have met each other in more matches), Germany has been Austria's arch-rival since the Second World War.

Kits and crest

The national team's home kit has traditionally been a white shirt, black shorts, and white socks. The colours are derived from the Teutonic Order. Their traditional away kit is the flag color: red shirt, white shorts, and red socks. In 2004, Hans Krankl, Austria’s coach and legendary former striker, made the decision to switch the kits around so that red was first choice. This was so that the kit would match the Austrian flag (red-white-red) and also distinguish them from their neighbours. The away shirt colour has changed several times since then. The rotation starts with an all-white uniform, then black uniforms with light blue shorts and socks, and then all black.

Results and fixtures

The following is a list of match results in the last 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.

2025

2026

Coaching staff

As of April 2024. PositionNameHead coach Ralf RangnickAssistant coaches Lars Kornetka Peter Perchtold Onur CinelGoalkeeping coach Michael GspurningMatch analyst Stefan Oesen

Manager history

, after the match against Algeria.

1912–1999 NameNationalityFromToPWDLGFGAWin%Notes Hugo Meisl22 December 19123 October 1914 6 3 1 2 11 9 50.00 Heinrich Retschury4 October 19141 August 1919 22 8 3 11 45 47 Hugo Meisl 1 August 191917 February 1937 127 68 29 30 326 206 4th place at the 1934 World Cup.Silver medal at the 1936 Summer Olympic. Heinrich Retschury22 May 193724 October 1937 5 2 1 2 10 10 40.00 Qualified for the 1938 World Cup.From 1938 to 1945, Austria was part of Nazi Germany. Karl Zankl19 August 19453 October 1945 2 0 0 2 2 7 0.00 Died while in the position of national coach. Edi Bauer3 October 19454 March 1948 11 4 0 7 26 28 Eduard Frühwirth4 March 19481 September 1948 5 3 0 2 9 9 60.00 Walter Nausch1 September 194815 November 1954 47 21 10 16 119 87 3rd place at the 1954 World Cup. Hans Kaulich15 November 195428 March 1955 1 0 0 1 2 3 0.00 Josef Molzer29 March 19553 September 1955 3 1 1 1 6 8 Karl Geyer3 September 195521 April 1956 5 2 0 3 8 14 40.00 Josef ArgauerJosef Molzer21 April 19569 August 1958 18 7 6 5 37 27 Qualified for the 1958 World Cup. Alfred FreyFranz PutzendoplerEgon SelzerJosef Molzer9 August 195815 October 1958 2 0 0 2 4 6 0.00 Karl Decker16 October 195828 February 1964 36 16 3 17 60 67 Josef WalterBéla Guttmann7 March 196411 October 1964 5 3 1 1 6 5 60.00 Eduard Frühwirth20 November 196413 January 1967 15 4 3 8 12 23 Erwin AlgeHans Pesser13 January 196724 June 1968 10 3 2 5 18 19 Leopold Šťastný1 July 196830 September 1975 49 15 16 18 58 62 Branko Elsner6 October 197519 November 1975 2 1 0 1 6 3 50.00 Helmut Senekowitsch1 March 197630 June 1978 26 14 4 8 40 26 Qualified for the 1978 World Cup. Karl Stotz1 August 197814 December 1981 24 13 6 5 43 25 Qualified for the 1982 World Cup. Georg SchmidtFelix Latzke5 February 19822 July 1982 8 5 1 2 11 7 Erich Hof7 September 198221 November 1984 15 6 3 6 22 20 Branko Elsner15 January 198518 November 1987 18 5 5 8 20 28 Josef Hickersberger1 January 198814 September 1990 29 10 7 12 36 39 Qualified for the 1990 World Cup. Alfred Riedl15 September 199010 October 1991 8 1 3 4 6 16 Dietmar Constantini10 October 199113 November 1991 2 0 0 2 1 4 0.00 Ernst Happel1 January 199214 November 1992 9 2 3 4 18 17 Died while in the position of national coach. Dietmar Constantini15 November 199218 November 1992 1 0 1 0 0 0 0.00 Herbert Prohaska8 January 199329 March 1999 51 25 9 17 96 73 Qualified for the 1998 World Cup.

2000–present NameNationalityFromToPWDLGFGAWin%Notes Otto Barić / 13 April 199921 November 2001 22 7 6 9 31 35 Hans Krankl21 January 200228 September 2005 31 10 10 11 47 46 Willibald Ruttensteiner (caretaker)31 September 200431 December 2005 2 1 0 1 2 1 50.00 Josef Hickersberger1 January 200623 June 2008 27 5 9 13 29 39 Austria co-hosted the UEFA Euro 2008 Karel Brückner25 July 20082 March 2009 7 1 2 4 9 15 Dietmar Constantini4 March 200913 September 2011 23 7 3 13 29 42 Willibald Ruttensteiner13 September 201111 October 2011 2 1 1 0 4 1 50.00 Marcel Koller1 November 20111 November 2017 54 25 13 16 81 58 Qualified for the UEFA Euro 2016 Franco Foda1 January 201830 March 2022 48 27 6 15 77 52 Qualified for the UEFA Euro 2020 Ralf Rangnick29 April 2022 49 29 9 11 93 45 Qualified for the UEFA Euro 2024 Qualified for the 2026 FIFA World Cup

Players Current squad