Austria at the FIFA World Cup

This is a record of Austria's results at the FIFA World Cup. Austria has played at seven World Cup finals tournaments, most recently in 1998. They also qualified for the tournament in 1938, but withdrew after the annexation of Austria by the Third Reich, with some of its team members joining the German team.

Summary

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1930 World Cup in Uruguay

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The first edition of the FIFA World Cup in Uruguay was the only one without qualifiers. However, the Austrian Football Association chose not to participate.

1934 World Cup in Italy

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After defeating France and Hungary on their way into the semi-finals, the strong Austrian squad lost 0–1 to hosts and eventual champions Italy. In the Third Place Match against Germany, Austria conceded a goal after 25 seconds by Ernst Lehner - the fastest goal in World Cup history until 1962.

1938 World Cup in France

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After qualifying by defeating Latvia in the qualifiers, Austria was drawn against Sweden in the first round. However, after the Anschluss in March 1938, the Austrian Football Association was incorporated into the German system. Nine Austrian players were called up for the Germany national squad instead. After being fielded in the opening match against Switzerland, Willibald Schmaus and goalkeeper Rudolf Raftl were the first players ever to represent two different nations at the FIFA World Cup. The match ended 1-1. In the decisive rematch, Austrian striker Wilfried Hahnemann scored the opening goal, but the final score was 2-4 and Germany eliminated from the tournament.

1950 World Cup in Brazil

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Austria initially registered to participate and was supposed to play Turkey in the qualifications, but withdrew. At a later stage, Turkey also withdrew.

1982 World Cup in Spain

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Drawn in Group 2 alongside Algeria, Chile, and the Federal Republic of (West) Germany, Austria gained traction by defeating the South Americans 1–0 in the first group match. Austria later won 2–0 over the Algerians that saw them at a comfortable position in the group stage; however, Algeria, having already beaten West Germany in an upset, found themselves victorious against an already-eliminated Chile, and thus were all-but guaranteed to proceed to the next round alongside Germany, potentially leaving Austria out.

Austria played their decisive final group stage encounter against neighbors West Germany in Gijón, Spain, in one of the most controversial matches in World Cup history. Nicknamed "the Disgrace of Gijón, the match saw West Germany scoring once against Austria before both teams and players deliberately played underwhelmingly, wasting the clock and mathematically having both European teams of the group qualify at the expense of Africa's Algeria, the latter whom had defeated the Chileans a day prior to conclude their part of the group stage. Outrage from Algerian fans and Spanish spectators ensued, and both the German and Austrian media condemned the underhanded tactics of both teams' method of subversive "boring" football, with the German commentary team constantly apologizing to viewers for the sub-par action. Algerian football fans dubbed the match "the Anschluss", a reference to Austria being annexed by Germany under the Nazi regime. Austria saw themselves bowing out in a three-team group of the second stage, losing to France and drawing with Northern Ireland. Meanwhile, West Germany reached the final, losing 3–1 to European rivals Italy.

Record at the FIFA World Cup

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FIFA World Cup record
Year Round Position Pld W D* L GF GA
  1930 Did not enter
  1934 Fourth place 4th 4 2 0 2 7 7
  1938 Withdrew
  1950
  1954 Third place 3rd 5 4 0 1 17 12
  1958 Group stage 15th 3 0 1 2 2 7
  1962 Withdrew
  1966 Did not qualify
  1970
  1974
  1978 Second round 7th 6 3 0 3 7 10
  1982 Second round 8th 5 2 1 2 5 4
  1986 Did not qualify
  1990 Group stage 18th 3 1 0 2 2 3
  1994 Did not qualify
  1998 Group stage 23rd 3 0 2 1 3 4
    2002 Did not qualify
  2006
  2010
  2014
  2018
  2022
      2026 To be determined
      2030
  2034
Total Third place 7/25 29 12 4 13 43 47
*Draws include knockout matches decided via penalty shoot-out.

By Match

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World Cup Round Opponent Score Result Venue Scorers
1934 Round of 16   France 3–2 (a.e.t.) W Turin M. Sindelar, A. Schall, J. Bican
Quarter-finals   Hungary 2–1 W Bologna J. Horvath, K. Zischek
Semi-finals   Italy 0–1 L Milan
Third place play-off   Germany 2–3 L Naples J. Horvath, K. Sesta
1954 Group stage   Scotland 1–0 W Zürich E. Probst
  Czechoslovakia 5–0 W Zürich E. Probst (3), E. Stojaspal (2)
Quarter-finals    Switzerland 7–5 W Lausanne T. Wagner (3), A. Körner (2), E. Ocwirk, E. Probst
Semi-finals   West Germany 1–6 L Basel E. Probst
Third place play-off   Uruguay 3–1 W Zürich E. Stojaspal, L. Cruz (o.g.), E. Ocwirk
1958 Group stage   Brazil 0–3 L Uddevalla
  Soviet Union 0–2 L Borås
  England 2–2 D Borås K. Koller, A. Körner
1978 Group stage   Spain 2–1 W Buenos Aires W. Schachner, H. Krankl
  Sweden 1–0 W Buenos Aires H. Krankl
  Brazil 0–1 L Mar del Plata
Second round   Netherlands 1–5 L Córdoba E. Obermayer
  Italy 0–1 L Buenos Aires
  West Germany 3–2 W Córdoba H. Krankl (2), B. Vogts (o.g.)
1982 Group stage   Chile 1–0 W Oviedo W. Schachner
  Algeria 2–0 W Oviedo W. Schachner, H. Krankl
  West Germany 0–1 L Gijón
Second round   France 0–1 L Madrid
  Northern Ireland 2–2 D Madrid B. Pezzey, R. Hintermaier
1990 Group stage   Italy 0–1 L Rome
  Czechoslovakia 0–1 L Florence
  United States 2–1 W Florence A. Ogris, G. Rodax
1998 Group stage   Cameroon 1–1 D Toulouse A. Polster
  Chile 1–1 D Saint-Étienne I. Vastić
  Italy 1–2 L Saint-Denis A. Herzog

Record by Opponent

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FIFA World Cup matches (by team)
Opponent Wins Draws Losses Total Goals Scored Goals Conceded
  Algeria 1 0 0 1 2 0
  Brazil 0 0 2 2 0 4
  Cameroon 0 1 0 1 1 1
  Chile 1 1 0 2 2 1
  Czechoslovakia 1 0 1 2 5 1
  England 0 1 0 1 2 2
  France 1 0 1 2 3 3
  Germany 0 0 1 1 2 3
  Hungary 1 0 0 1 2 1
  Italy 0 0 4 4 1 5
  Netherlands 0 0 1 1 1 5
  Northern Ireland 0 1 0 1 2 2
  Scotland 1 0 0 1 1 0
  Soviet Union 0 0 1 1 0 2
  Spain 1 0 0 1 2 1
  Sweden 1 0 0 1 1 0
   Switzerland 1 0 0 1 7 5
  United States 1 0 0 1 2 1
  Uruguay 1 0 0 1 3 1
  West Germany 1 0 2 3 4 9

Record players

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Defender Bruno Pezzey is Austria's joint record player at FIFA World Cups. He played all eleven matches at the 1978 and 1982 tournaments, reaching the second group stage both times.
Rank Player Matches World Cups
1 Friedrich Koncilia 11 1978 and 1982
Erich Obermayer 11 1978 and 1982
Bruno Pezzey 11 1978 and 1982
Herbert Prohaska 11 1978 and 1982
5 Hans Krankl 10 1978 and 1982
6 Gerhard Hanappi 8 1954 and 1958
Karl Koller 8 1954 and 1958
Walter Schachner 8 1978 and 1982
9 Alfred Körner 7 1954 and 1958

Top goalscorers

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Rank Player Goals World Cups
1 Erich Probst 6 1954
2 Hans Krankl 5 1978 (4) and 1982 (1)
3 Ernst Stojaspal 3 1954
Theodor Wagner 3 1954
Alfred Körner 3 1954 (2) and 1958 (1)
Walter Schachner 3 1978 (1) and 1982 (2)

Awards

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Team awards

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  • Third Place 1954

Individual awards

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Ernst Happel has won 2nd Place as a coach with the Netherlands in 1978 after losing the final 3-1 a.e.t. to Argentina

See also

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