The Austrian Football Association (ÖFB) (German: Österreichischer Fußball-Bund) is the governing body of football in Austria. It organizes the football league, Austrian Bundesliga, the Austrian Cup and the Austrian national team, as well as its female equivalent. It is based in Vienna.
Since 1905, it has been a FIFA member, and since 1954, a UEFA member. Since 7 April 2002, Friedrich Stickler (Dipl. Eng.), the director of executive committee of the Austrian lottery, has been the President of the Austrian Football Association. Supporting him is its President, Kurt Ehrenberger, Frank Stronach, Dr. Gerhard Kapl, and Dr. Leo Windtner. In 2004, it was announced there are 285,000 players (both sexes) in Austria playing for 2,309 teams in the federation, although many more players play informally or for non-recognised teams. Thus the federation is the largest sporting organization the country. Football is, perhaps with the exception of skiing, the most popular sport in Austria. Football possesses a large value, and has a rich history and tradition in Austria.
Each year the Austrian championship in the Bundesliga and the Cup winner are decided. Further the Austrian national soccer team plays several international friendly matches and participates in matches to qualify for international tournaments, such as the World Cup and the European Championship.
Read more about Austrian Football Association: History, Regional Organizations, Performance, Former Presidents
Famous quotes containing the words austrian, football and/or association:
“An Austrian army, awfully array’d,
Boldly by battery besiege Belgrade;
Cossack commanders cannonading come,
Deal devastation’s dire destructive doom;”
—Alaric Alexander Watts (1797–1864)
“You can’t be a Real Country unless you have A BEER and an airline—it helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a BEER.”
—Frank Zappa (1940–1993)
“In this great association we know no North, no South, no East, no West. This has been our pride for all these years. We have no political party. We never have inquired what anybody’s religion is. All we ever have asked is simply, “Do you believe in perfect equality for women?” This is the one article in our creed.”
—Susan B. Anthony (1820–1906)