The Österreichische Fußball-Bundesliga, literally ''Austrian Federal Football League'', is the body that manages the most important

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

championships in

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

. It was founded in 1991 and is headquartered in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

. It is a founding member of

European Leagues European Leagues (EL) is a sports organisation within association football created for growth of professional football in Europe. Its members are the professional football leagues organisations of 31 countries: Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bu ...

. It has 27 member clubs and organizes the two professional championships of

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

and 2nd Liga, where

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players who are under contract to a club but who do not regularly play in matches for the club's primary team. Reserve teams usually include players who are part of the larger first-team squad but ...

s are welcome.

History

Professionalism in football arrived in Austria with the

Wiener Fußball-Verband Wiener (from German: "Viennese") may refer to: Food * A Vienna sausage of German origin, in German ''Wiener'', named after the capital of Austria * A hot dog, a cooked sausage, traditionally grilled or steamed and served in a sliced bun * A Po ...

, in 1924. But it was only after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, in 1949, that an organization bringing together the country's professional clubs was born: it was the '' Österreichische Fußball-Staatsliga'', which governed the first (''Staatsliga A'') and second ('' Staatsliga B'') division championships. In 1974, however, the

Austrian Football Federation Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ** Austria-Hungary ** Austria ...

officially dissolved the league and took over the organization of the championships. Only in 1991 did the clubs form an autonomous association again, the Österreichische Fußball-Bundesliga, operational from 1 December of that year. Formally it is a ''

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

'' association.OEFBL
/ref> It is constituted in the form of ''

eingetragener Verein An (; "registered association" or "incorporated association"), abbreviated (), is a legal status for a civil registration, registered voluntary association in Germany. While any group may be called a , registration as confers many legal bene ...

'' and is one of the 10 members of the association, together with the 9 football associations of

land Land, also known as dry land, ground, or earth, is the solid terrestrial surface of Earth not submerged by the ocean or another body of water. It makes up 29.2% of Earth's surface and includes all continents and islands. Earth's land sur ...

References

Links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Osterreichische Fussball Bundesliga Football in Austria Football leagues in Austria 1974 establishments in Austria Professional sports leagues in Austria