The Most Successful Football Clubs In Austria

The first Austrian football champions were named in 1912. The topflight of the Austria football pyramid was renamed as the ‘Austrian Bundesliga’ in 1975.

A total of 15 different clubs have won at least one league title. Seventy-three have been won by the three most successful clubs, however, with Rapid Wien leading the way on 32 titles.

Rapid Wien

As 32-time Austrian champions, only a few clubs in world football have had more domestic success than Rapid Wien. Their current gap between league titles (their last was in 2008) is the longest in the club’s history, however.

Rapid, despite a historic drought, have remained competitive. They have only had two seasons without European football since 2006. The club has also registered four Austrian Cup final appearances since 2016 but has lost all four.

Finishing as runners-up in the Cup Winners’ Cup in 1996 is Rapid’s greatest achievement on the continental stage.

Austria Wien

Austria Wien have eight fewer league titles than their Vienna rivals Rapid. They also have 19 second-placed finishes compared with Rapid’s 29. The Austrian Cup is where Austria Wien have excelled, however, with 27 wins.

With only one top three finish since 2016/17, Austria Wien haven’t come close to adding to their tally of 24 league titles. The 21st century has brought some success on the field, but it has been accompanied by uncertainty and chaos at the boardroom level.

The Violets last made the Austrian Cup final in 2014/15, losing 2-0 to Salzburg in extra time. They failed to qualify for the Championship playoff round during the 2023/24 season.

Red Bull Salzburg

Favourites in sports betting throughout the 2010s and 2020s, the backing of energy-drinks giant Red Bull has powered Salzburg to dizzy heights in the Austrian Bundesliga. Sturm Graz’s title in 2023/24 ended a streak of 10 straight Austrian Bundesliga triumphs for Salzburg, following four in six seasons from 2006/07 to 2011/12.

UEFA Cup finalists in 1994, which ended in defeat to Inter, Salzburg were relevant before Red Bull’s investment. Their first three league titles were won in the 1990s.

Since the turn of the century, Salzburg have reached the last four of the Europa League, made the knockout round of the Champions League, and collected nine Austrian Cups.

Prioritising youth development, along with a widespread scouting network, has helped Salzburg sign some elite young talents, including Erling Haaland, Marcel Sabitzer, Dominik Szoboszlai, and Benjamin Šeško.

FC Wacker Innsbruck/FC Swarovski Tirol/FC Tirol Innsbruck

Playing under three different identities before the club was dissolved in 2002, the Innsbruck-based team are the fourth-most successful in the history of Austrian football with 10 league titles.

While Innsbruck are no longer a factor in football odds, the club has had a significant impact on Austrian football.

A number of world-renowned figures were associated with Wacker Innsbruck, Swarovski Tirol, and Tirol Innsbruck, including Joachim Löw and Ernst Happel.

SK Admira Wien/SC Wacker Wien/Admira Wacker Wien

Admira Wacker Wien is the legal successor to Admira Wien and Wacker Wien, with the two clubs merging in 1971. Admira contributed eight of the club’s Austrian titles, with Wacker Wien winning their lone championship in 1946/47. Wacker did the double in their only title-winning campaign.

Admira were five-time Austrian Cup winners. The club only reverted to its historic Admira Wacker Wien name in the summer of 2024.

Despite a complicated history on and off the field, the Admiraner qualified for European competition three times during the 2010s. They haven’t made the first round of a UEFA competition since reaching the third round of the UEFA Cup in 1994/95, however.