This is part three of a post I made looking at every club that was relegated from the Austrian Bundesliga once and never returned, part of a larger series on clubs who only had one stint in their country’s top flight. Parts one and two are here in case you missed them.
Every Team that was Relegated from the Austrian Bundesliga Once and Never Came Back: Where Are They Now? (Part 3)
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Kremser SC
- Full Name: Kremser Sportclub
- Founded: 1919
- Time in the Ö. Bundesliga: 1989-1992 (Three seasons)
- Current Status: Regionalliga Ost (3rd Tier)
A quick 23 minute drive up the S33 brings us to the city of Krems an der Donau where we find the next entrant on this list: Kremser Sportclub. Founded in August 1919 as 1. Krems SC, the club joined the Lower Austrian Football Association a couple of months later, and after around a decade of play the club won its first regional title in 1930. In fact, the club went a step further that year and won the Austrian amateur championship, defeating Grazer AK and FA Turnerbund Lustenau en route. Kremser would win three more Landesliga titles between 1931 and 1954, and in 1956 the club won promotion to the Staatsliga A, where they managed to stay for four seasons. Following the dissolution of the Staatsliga B, Kremser played in the Regionalliga Ost for six seasons before dropping back to the Landesliga Niederösterreich in 1966. Kremser returned to the Regionalliga in 1974 (the same year the Bundesliga was formed) and won promotion again to the 2. Division in 1976, though they only lasted a season. The club bounced between the second tier and the regional leagues for the next few years, but following their promotion back to the 2. Division in 1983, the club would manage to build on their success. By two points the club missed out on promotion to the Bundesliga in 1985, and though in the following two seasons the club had to play in the relegation playoffs, they finished top of the table both times. The 1987-88 season saw Kremser qualify for the middle playoff for the first time, where they finished 6th, but even better was to come in the Austrian Cup. There Kremser managed to win the competition, defeating the likes of Wiener SC and VfB Mödling before earning the title by beating FC Swarovski Tirol 3-3 on away goals. This qualified Kremser for both the Austrian Supercup and the European Cup Winners’ Cup, though they didn’t have much success in either competition, losing the former to Rapid Vienna on penalties and getting eliminated in the first round of the latter to East German outfit Carl Zeiss Jena 5-1 on aggregate (though they did win the second leg). The 88/89 season was by no means a disaster, however. In the first stage of the league season, Kremser topped the 2. Division on goal difference, and a subsequent 4th place finish in the middle playoff secured their place in the Bundesliga.
Kremser opened the 1989-90 season with a 3-1 win over First Vienna, and while the club did had to contend with Austria Vienna and Salzburg (losing both those fixtures) in the first month, a 2-0 win over Wiener SC had them in midtable early on. A poor August that saw them pick up just two points from five games (1-1 draws against Sturm Graz and St. Pölten) saw them drop into the bottom four. Kremser managed to stop the slide with back-to-back wins over Grazer, but from that point on the name of the game for the Lower Austrians was inconsistency. The games against Grazer was the only time the club won two games in a row, and while the club did earn some emphatic victories such as 5-0 wins over Wiener SC and Admira/Wacker (as well as a comeback 3-3 draw with Rapid Vienna), they failed to capitalize on other games, including a 3-2 loss to Austria Vienna in October where they held the lead twice. They rounded out the Fall season with a 3-0 win over Swarovski Tirol, but thanks to St. Pölten winning their final game against Vorwärts Steyr, Kremser finished 9th and thus had to go to the middle playoff to try and stay in the Bundesliga. They managed to do just that, finishing 3rd on 15 points (5-5-4) despite failing to win any of their last five games. In the summer of 1990, Kremser managed to acquire the services of Mario Kempes, who remarkably makes a second appearance on this list. Having departed the previous entrants VSE St. Pölten that same year, the Argentine continued his foray in the region, but while still a big name, it became very clear that Kempes was nowhere near the peak of his powers. Kempes only managed to net five goals (including once against his former club) in a campaign that saw the Lower Austrians win just three times during the Fall season. Unsurprisingly the club fell into the middle playoff again, where once again they were more comfortable, finishing second.
Inconsistency would once again be the name of the game for the 91/92 campaign. After drawing First Vienna and defeating Vorwärts Steyr to start, Kremser could only manage two points from their next seven games (a 3-1 win over DSV Alpine), sending them from 3rd all the way down to 11th. The club managed to stop the slide somewhat with a 1-0 upset away to Rapid Vienna, and while the best Kremser could do in the next four games was manage two 0-0 draws, the losses at least were kept close. Kremser went unbeaten in October with a win against Sturm Graz and two draws Austria Vienna and DSV, and another draw against St. Pölten in November brought the Lower Austrians to 8th, giving them hope of avoiding the middle playoffs again. This did not come to pass, though, and Kremser proceeded to lose their final four games, including a 6-0 home loss to FC Stahl Linz and a 5-2 away loss to Austria Salzburg. Kremser finished the Fall season in 10th, and thus once again had to fight for their survival. The Spring season started slow with a loss and draw to First Vienna and Mödling respectively, though this was followed up by a 5-0 win over Grazer. By the halfway point of the season Kremser were 3rd on seven points, but after they failed to win any of their next three games (including a 5-1 loss at home to First Vienna), the club was struggling to maintain their hold. A 1-0 win over Grazer was subsequently followed by a narrow 4-3 loss to LASK, meaning that Kremser essentially had to win their last two games to stay up. Spoiler alert: they did not. They lost away to Wiener SC 3-1 and in the final game of the season they drew DSV 2-2. With that, the club finished 7th on 12 points and were relegated to the 2. Division.
Relegation from the Bundesliga hit Kremser incredibly hard. The club finished 12th in the 1992-93 2. Division Fall season, which saw them stay in the division following the restructuring of of the top two divisions. The following season was a disaster, however, as the club finished bottom with just two wins to their name, sending them down to the Regionalliga Ost, followed by a further relegation back to the Landesliga Niederösterreich. It took six seasons for Kremser to return to the third tier, where they would play for another six seasons before returning to the Landesliga in 2007. This relegation in particular marked arguably the lowest period in the club’s history as both Kremser’s coach and most of the club’s players departed. With the club now clearly struggling, after two seasons Kremser were relegated to the 2. Landesliga West - Austria’s 5th tier. They returned to the 1. NÖ in 2014 after going the entire 2013-14 campaign unbeaten, winning 23 and drawing 3 while scoring 88 goals and conceding just 15. Kremser barely missed out on back-to-back promotions after finishing one point behind ASK Ebreichsdorf in the 14/15 season, and it would take another seven attempts before the club would finally find its way back to the Regionalliga. In the 2021-22 season, they finished runners-up, which sent them to a promotion playoff against Landesliga Burgenland and Wiener Stadtliga runners-up SC/ESV Parndorf and SV Donau Wien respectively. Kremser dispatched Parndorf 7-1 and drew Donau 1-1, earning them promotion to the Regionalliga Ost.
Tirol Innsbruck
- Full Name: Fußballclub Tirol Innsbruck
- Founded: 1993
- Time in the Ö. Bundesliga: 1993-2002 (Nine seasons)
- Current Status: Extinct
One of the most successful clubs in Austrian football throughout the late 1960s and 70s was FC Wacker Innsbruck. Founded in 1919 and a founding member of the Tyrolean Football Association, most of the club’s pre-WWII history was confined in the Tiroler A-Klasse, and they wouldn’t become a part of the Austrian top flight until 1964. From there began the golden age for Wacker. The club won its first major honor in 1970 in the form of the Austrian Cup, qualifying them for their first foray into European competitions in the form of the 1970-71 European Cup Winner’s Cup. There they beat Albanian side Partizani before falling to eventual runners-up Real Madrid in the second round. That same season, however, the club won its first league title ahead of Austria Salzburg by a single point, qualifying them for their first European Cup. In July 1971, Wacker merged with WSG Wattens (today WSG Tirol) to form SSW Innsbruck. In the rest of the decade, the club went on to win another four Austrian league titles (including the inaugural Bundesliga title), four more Austrian Cups, and even back-to-back Mitropa Cups in 1975 and 1976, becoming a mainstay in continental tournaments, qualifying for a total of three UEFA Cup Winners’ Cups, two UEFA Cups, and five European Cups in that time span. Their European campaigns typically didn’t last long, however, often going out in the first round. The furthest SSW made it in any continental campaign was the 1977-78 European Cup, defeating FC Basel of Switzerland and Celtic FC of Scotland before falling to German side Borussia Mönchengladbach in the quarter-finals on away goals. However, not all was well with the club behind the scenes.
After several key players left the club in 1978, Innsbruck fell into a steep decline, resulting in their relegation from the Bundesliga in 1979. They returned in 1981, but couldn’t recapture the success of the 70s, failing to win another Bundesliga title and losing consecutive cup finals in 1982 and 1983. They still managed to qualify for European competitions between 1983-1986, but each time they were met with early exits. After mounting financial pressure, it was decided in 1986 that Wacker and WSG would split, dissolving SSW Innsbruck. Around the same time, Gernot Langes-Swarovski, managing director of crystal manufacturer Swarovski founded FC Swarovski Tirol, which acquired SSW’s Bundesliga License as well as most of Innsbruck’s players. Conversely, Wacker Innsbruck were forced all the way down to the 2. Klasse Mitte - the 8th tier of Austrian Football at the time. Swarovski Tirol played in the Bundesliga for six seasons, winning the Bundesliga twice in 1989 and 1990 and the Austrian Cup in 1989, and qualifying for two UEFA Cups, two European Cups, and a European Cup Winners’ Cup. Their debut European campaign - the 1986-87 UEFA Cup - was their best, making it all the way to the semi-finals before losing to eventual winners IFK Göteborg of Sweden. Ultimately, however, continental success wouldn’t materialize, and Swarovski Tirol dissolved in 1992 with their Bundesliga license returning to Wacker Innsbruck (at the time in the 4th Tier Tiroler Liga). Wacker played in the 1992-93 Bundesliga season where they finished 5th, and in that same season they won the Austrian Cup 3-1 over Rapid Vienna, though they went out in the first round of the UEFA Cup to Italian side AS Roma. Along with the Bundesliga, Wacker were set to compete in the 1993-94 Cup Winners’ Cup and the Intertoto Cup, but due to political pressure from the state of Tyrol, the professional section of Wacker Innsbruck was split off, forming FC Innsbruck Tirol, with Wacker once again demoted to the lower leagues.
The 1993 Intertoto Cup would be the first real action for the spinoff club, ultimately finishing third their group ahead of Silkeborg of Denmark and VfL Bochum of Germany, but behind Slovak side Slovan Bratislava and Swiss side FC Zürich. In terms of meaningful European competitions, Innsbruck Tirol’s Cup Winners’ Cup campaign (which they participated in courtesy of the efforts of Wacker) was a near mimic of their predecessor’s first stint in the competition - defeating Hungarian club Ferencváros in the first round before falling in the second round to who else but Real Madrid. Back in the domestic league, given that Innsbruck Tirol maintained much of Wacker Innsbruck’s old squad, no surprise they remained very competitive in the division. Much of the early portion of the season saw the Tiroleans locked in a 4-way title race with Austria Salzburg, Austria Vienna, and Admira/Wacker. A couple of hiccups in form however saw Tirol fall away from rest, ultimately finishing 4th. This was still good enough to earn participation in the 1994-95 UEFA Cup, where they once again went out in the second round, once again to a Spanish side, this time being Deportivo la Coruña. That season’s Bundesliga campaign saw a dip in form, seeing the club (who by this time were renamed Tirol Innsbruck) finish 5th despite the efforts of Senegalese striker Souleyman Sané who finished as the league’s top scorer with 20 goals. 1995 saw the club once again compete in the Intertoto Cup, which at this point had been taken over by UEFA, now acting as a qualifier for the UEFA Cup. In contrast to their 1994 Intertoto campaign that saw Tirol Innsbruck finish bottom of their group with just a single point, the 1995 edition saw the Austrians nearly go all the way. Grouped alongside French side RC Strasbourg, Turkish side Gençerbirliği SK, Israeli outfit Hapoel Petah Tikva, and Maltese club Floriana FC, Tirol Innsbruck finished as one of the best runners-up, sending them through to the knockouts. There they defeated German clubs FC Köln and Bayer Leverkusen in the round of 16 and quarterfinals respectively, but lost to Strasbourg (again) in the semi-finals. Back in the league, the club managed to improve to a 3rd place finish, though over the next few seasons the club began to slide down the table: 4th in 96/97, 6th in 97/98, and 6th again in 98/99. European campaigns haven’t gone much better, with the club getting eliminated in the first round of the 96/97 UEFA Cup by FC Metz and getting dumped in the second qualifying round of the 97/98 UEFA Cup by Celtic.
The 1999-2000 Bundesliga campaign would see a massive turnaround for Tirol Innsbruck. The club won its first seven games straight. A 1-0 loss to Austria Salzburg broke the streak, and the excellent form did falter in the second half of the fall season, winning just two of their last nine games prior to the winter break (including a 5-0 loss to SV Ried), but a strong spring season saw the club clinch their first league title with a record of 24 wins, 5 draws, and 7 losses, beating out Sturm Graz after defeating Austria Vienna 2-1 on the final matchday. This triumph would finally see Champion’s League football return to Innsbruck for the first time in a decade, albeit they would have to start in the third qualifying round. The club unfortunately failed to reach the group stage, falling to Valencia 4-1 agg. and sending them down to the first round of the UEFA Cup. There they defeated Fiorentina before falling to VfB Stuttgart in the second round. Despite the lacking European success, Tirol Innsbruck would go on to dominate the Austrian league. The Tiroleans won a second consecutive league title in 00/01, this time doing so on the penultimate matchday with a 2-0 win over Sturm Graz. Polish international Radosław Gilewicz finished as the league’s top scorer with 21 goals. Europe still proved to be a challenge, though, and in the third qualifying round of the 2001-02 Champion’s League season, Tirol Innsbruck once again were eliminated, this time at the hands of Russian side Lokomotiv Moscow. They dropped again into the UEFA Cup, where they defeated Czech side Viktoria Žižkov before succumbing to the revenge of Fiorentina. Once again they were as strong as ever in the domestic league, and under the reigns of future Germany national team head coach Joachim Löw for much of the campaign, Tirol Innsbruck won a third consecutive Bundesliga title - a feat only achieved by Austria Vienna (and technically Wacker Innsbruck) prior and Red Bull Salzburg since - in dominant fashion, clinching the title four games early and finishing 10 points ahead of second place Sturm Graz. In terms of league play, it seemed like the only one who could stop Tirol Innsbruck would be themselves, and as it happened, that’s exactly what transpired. See, achieving all of this success required heavy spending, and by 2002, that spending had finally caught up. The club’s wage bill had grown to ~€10 million, and €30 million was put into the construction of the 17,000 seater Tivoli-Neu (now Tivoli Stadion Tirol), which saw an average home attendance of just 10,000. In June 2002, the club failed to post a bond of €4.5 million with the league, and with debts of up to €50 million, Tirol Innsbruck had to try to sell of much of its assets (namely their high profile players) to salvage what they can. This proved to be futile, however, and the club had to file for the largest bankruptcy in the history of Austrian football. The club’s Bundesliga lice was revoked, but this time it would be revoked for good, bringing period of 21 consecutive seasons of top-flight football in Tyrol to an end.
But what became of Wacker Innsbruck, you may ask? Well, when we last left Wacker, they had been demoted to the Regionalliga Tyrol - the third tier at the time (the Regionalliga West at this time was a playoff division for clubs from the regional leagues of Salzburg, Tyrol, and Vorarlberg). The goal was to try to earn promotion to the 2. Division, but while the club managed to reach the Regionalliga West playoffs in the 1995-96 season, they finished bottom of the eight team group. This wouldn’t be a problem, however, as a league restructuring saw the return of a fully-fledged Regionalliga West for the 96/97 season, which Wacker took part in. Given, however, that Wacker was basically a squad full of amateurs, they performed very poorly, finishing bottom of the table with just five points and were relegated to the Tiroler Liga. By this point, Wacker’s president Fritz Schwab, Jr. gave up any ambitions of reaching the second division, and after the 97/98 season the club voluntarily relegated all the way down to the 2. Klasse Mitte. With the sporting and financial condition of Wacker at its breaking point, it was decided in 1999 to merge the club with Tirol Innsbruck’s amateur division, seeing the club officially dissolve in May of that year. With Tirol Innsbruck’s dissolution in 2002, the Tyrolean government collaborated with Tyrolean businesses to form a new local team, this coming in the form of FC Wacker Tirol. The new club formed a syndicate with WSG Wattens, allowing them to begin life in the Regionalliga West and even win promotion to the Erste Liga that season. Wacker Tirol split from the syndicate following promotion, and in the 03/04 season they won promotion to the Bundesliga. the club changed its name to FC Wacker Innsbruck in 2007 as an homage to its predecessor, though it’s important to note that legally they are not a continuation of the old Wacker, and thus do not inherit any of its honors. Wacker were relegated from the Bundesliga in 2008 and have since had two more stints in the top flight: 2010-2014 and 2018-2019. Today Wacker Innsbruck play in the fourth-tier Tiroler Liga following a voluntary relegation from the 2. Liga in 2022. Top flight football wouldn’t escape Tyrol forever, though, as WSG Tirol are now the state’s representative in the Bundesliga, having been playing there since 2019.
SW Bregenz
- Full Name: Sportclub Schwarz-Weiß Bregenz
- Founded: 1919 (re-founded in 2005)
- Time in the Ö. Bundesliga: 1999-2005 (Six seasons)
- Current Status: 2. Liga (2nd tier)
The fourth-oldest club from the state of Vorarlberg, Schwarz-Weiß Bregenz were founded in 1919 orignally as FC Bregenz, carrying that name until 1945 when they were force to change it due to the intervention of the French occupying forces following World War II. Bregenz’ first dip into top-flight football came in the 1954-55 Staatsliga A season, where they finished bottom with just two wins to their name. The club would enjoy two more stints in the top flight prior to the creation of the Bundesliga, the longest of which lasted between 1966 and 1969 with their highest finish being 6th. The 1970s would see SWB enter into a couple of mergers, the first of which came in 1973, collaborating with FC Rätia Bludenz (who had been promoted to the Nationalliga that year) to form FC Vorarlberg. The new club were immediately relegated and lasted for just another season before disbanding. The second merger came in 1979 when Bregenz (at this point playing in the 2. Division) merged with FC Dorbirn 1913 to form IG Bregenz/Dornbirn. Despite lasting for eight years, however, this new merger was not nearly as successful as the previous one, with the club never reaching the Bundesliga (the closest coming in the 1983-84 season where they missed out on the promotion playoffs on goal difference), and by the end of the collaboration the club were in the 4th tier Landesliga Vorarlberg. Following the end of the syndicate, Bregenz continued on in the Landesliga, earning promotion to the Regionalliga West in 1988. The club played between the third and fourth tiers before finally winning promotion to the 2. Division in 1996. In their first season back in the second division they finished 8th, improving to 5th in the 97/98 season. Then in the 1998-99 season, SWB had an excellent Erste Liga campaign even despite a somewhat shaky start. A 21 match unbeaten streak saw the club move to first in the table by matchday 15, at one point even holding a 14 point lead over the next closest club. Even despite losing on matchday 33, a draw from FCN St. Pölten was enough to see Bregenz clinch the league title and promotion to the Bundesliga with three matches to spare.
The first season in the Bundesliga for SWB was a difficult affair. The state capital side lost their first four games, putting them at the foot of the table. The streak was broken on matchday five with a 1-0 away upset over Austria Salzburg, followed by a 2-1 win at home to LASK. Those results brought them up to 9th, but this would not mean the end for Bregenz’ struggles. Between the victory over LASK and the end of the Fall season, Bregenz only managed one more win: 2-0 over Austria Lustenau in October, picking up just four points from the other 14 matches. It took the entirety of march to lift the club from the foot of the table once again, and while the results overall were mixed, Bregenz didn’t fall down to 10th again largely due to the utter collapse of Austria Lustenau. The club did go on an impressive four game win streak between April and May with 5-2, 1-0, 4-0, and 5-1 wins over Austria Vienna, Sturm Graz, Lustenau, and Austria Salzburg respectively - results good enough to temporarily get them up to 8th. They ultimately finished 9th on 35 points, 16 ahead of Lustenau. SWB managed to go one better in the 2000-01 season, moving up to 8th, and again in 01/02, finishing 7th and qualifying for the UEFA Intertoto Cup as well as offering a chance to qualify for the 2002-03 UEFA Cup. A UEFA Cup birth would not be in the cards for SWB, though, as after defeating Cypriot side Enosis Neon Paralimni 5-1 agg. in the first round, they were knocked out in the second round by Italian side Torino. The 02/03 league campaign nearly ended in disaster for the Black and White, but 14 points from their last seven games saw the club finish just one point above the relegation zone over SV Ried. The club’s fifth season in the Bundesliga would be their best, never finding themselves below 6th in the table at any time. While at tiems struggling for consistency, Bregenz did just enough to finish 5th, qualifying them once again for the UEFA Intertoto Cup.
Bregenz’ second and final attempt at a UEFA Cup spot was immediately cut short by a 5-1 agg. loss to Azerbaijani side Khazar Universiteti (today Shamakhi FK) in the first round. This somewhat surprising upset basically set the tone for Bregenz’ domestic campaign. Things got off to a torrid start when the club lost their opener 5-1 at home to Rapid Vienna. SWB only earned their first point on matchday four with a 1-1 draw against Wacker Tirol, but not long after the club suffered an embarrassing 9-0 thrashing at home to Austria Vienna - to date the joint-3rd heaviest Bundesliga defeat in history. Bregenz’ first win came in September in a 2-1 victory over SV Mattersburg, but victories would become a rarity. The cup didn’t fare much better. After needing extra time to fend off FC Kärntern’s amateur team, the club were dumped in the second round by third tier side SNK St. Pölten. In the rest of the Fall season, Bregenz did manage to pick up three more wins: 3-2 over Wacker Tirol, 2-1 vs Sturm Graz, and 1-0 over Admira Wacker Mödling. This meant little in the overall picture, however, as with 12 losses already under their belt, Bregenz hadn’t left the foot of the table the entire time. That wasn’t going to change anytime soon either, as come the Spring portion of the campaign, Bregenz failed to register a single win from 15 games. The club could only manage four measly draws against ASKÖ Pasching, Austria Vienna, and twice against Mattersburg. There wouldn’t be any more demolition jobs, but the consistent lack of quality ultimately saw Bregenz’ fate sealed on matchday 33 with a 4-1 loss to Rapid Vienna. Bregenz’ misfortunes didn’t end there, however. Due to the club’s increasingly deteriorating finances, the Bundesliga’s protest committee revoked Bregenz’ license, forbidding them from playing in the top two divisions and forcing them down to the 5th-tier Landesliga. Bregenz challenged the decision in Austria’s Permanent Neutral Arbitration Court, but lost. Following the defeat, Bregenz’ main sponsor Casinos Austria decided not to extend their contract, and with a failed takeover from Austrian entrepreneur Gerhard Ströhle and debts mounting to upwards of €6.3 million, Bregenz ultimately filed for bankruptcy in June 2005, stating that they had not received expected contributions from the Bundesliga. The proceedings lasted until December 2007, which saw the club dissolve.
In the meantime, however, efforts were made to preserve the club’s legacy. In late June 2005, Sportclub Bregenz was founded, taking over the old SWB’s amateur and youth teams. Normally a new club would have to start out at the bottom of the Austrian pyramid, but an exception was made by the Vorarlberg Football Association and the club were allowed to begin play in the Landesliga. Starting with a squad mostly made up of 17 and 18 year olds, Bregenz impressed in their first two seasons, winning back-to-back promotions to reach the Regionalliga West in 2007. For the 2009-10 season, Bregenz changed their team colors to black and white from the original blue and white they had donned since the club’s creation, and in 2013 the club changed its name to Schwarz-Weiß Bregenz, taking both the name and the badge of its predecessor. The timing of this change could have been better, though, as SWB were relegated from the Regionalliga in the 13/14 season. They returned to the third tier in 2015, only to be immediately relegated that season. It took another three seasons to get the Black and White back to the Regionalliga, but from that point on the club’s trajectory was only upwards. With the Regionalliga West having become further regionalized starting in the 2019-20 season, the goal for Bregenz was to find a way to qualify for the Regionalliga West playoffs, which they did in the 2022-23 season after topping the Eliteliga Vorarlberg. After engaging in a tight three-way promotion race with SK Bischofshofen and VfB Hohenems, Bregenz managed to pull ahead and manage to clinch the division title, earning promotion to the 2. Liga for the 2023-24 season.
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This concludes part three. The fourth and final part will be out shortly.