The Austria national football team represents Austria in international football and is governed by the Austria Football Association. Josef Hickersberger had guided the team since 2006 till 2008. The team’s home stadium is a famous Ernst Happel Stadion.
Austria made its debut in international competition in 1902 by defeating Hungary 5-0. The team became world famous in 1930’s under Hugo Meisl’s guidance when the victory over Scotland brought Austria fame. It was the first European team to defeat Scotland.
After the World Cup championships in Spain and Argentina the team’s top players left and the squad’s performance became poor. Austria failed to qualify for Euro 1984 and the 1986 World Cup. The team’s head coaches shifted after each failure until Josef Hickersberger, who had been at the helm of the youth team, took over in 1988. He asked the experienced players, who had left the team earlier, to come back and supervise young footballers. Those innovations provided benefits and in 1990 Austria participated in the World Cup in Italy as they celebrated a decisive victory against GDR 3-0 in the qualifying round. Having defeated the USA and lost to Italy and Czechoslovakia Austria was eliminated from the group.
The unexpected loss to the Faroe Islands 0-1 during the qualifying campaign for the European Championship brought shame on Austria and Josef Hickersberger resigned after that. Until 1998 the team couldn’t qualify for the World Cup championship. In 1998 World Cup qualifying campaign Austria won 8 out of 10 games but didn’t manage to make it out from the group. Since that the team hasn’t qualified for the World Cup championships.
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