ADMIRA WACKER MÖDLING (Bundesstadion Südstadt)

ÖSTERREICHISCHE FUßBALL BUNDESLIGA,
ADMIRA WACKER MÖDLING 1-1 SC RHEINDORF ALTACH, ATTENDANCE: 2,007

This weekend I found myself in the Austrian capital, so it would have been churlish not to seek out at least one game to go and watch. I was drawn to the current league leaders, SC Altach, and their trip to Mödling to face Admira Wacker (another great football name).







After landing at the airport, I headed to my hotel and dumped my bag before catching the metro train south of the city to the Bundesstadion Südstadt (currently known as the BSFZ Arena under a sponsorship arrangement).

The ground is about a 20 minute walk from Mödling Banhof and, to be frank, there isn't a lot to see or do around the stadium. Tickets were obtained online a few days before the match and they were print at home, so that saved a euro on the matchday entry.

Most of the crowd were in the large main stand, with of pocket of Ultras from each club on the terraces either side of this stand. The bulk of the terraces were covered up so the supporters were basically standing in the gangways that used to lead onto the terraces. The side opposite the main stand was closed to supporters.

Admira Wacker was founded in 1971 when Admira Vienna (originally founded in 1905) and Wacker Vienna (originally founded in 1908) merged after financial difficulties for both clubs. The current club was founded in 1997 after Admira Wacker merged with VfB Mödling (originally founded in 1911) again after a financial crisis.

The club have won the Austrian Bundesliga on 9 occasions, Admira Vienna 8 times and Wacker Vienna once. The majority of these successes were pre-World War Two and the clubs last title was in 1966. The club reached the Europa League in 2013 and 2017 but failed to make it past the qualifying rounds.

The match was an insipid affair and did nothing to warm one with excitement on a bitterly cold afternoon. Altach were top of the table going into the match, with Admira down in 7th, and it was league leaders who had most of the possession but created little in terms of goal threat.

The first goal arrived though on 41 minutes when substitute Nikola Zivotic was felled in the box and Moumi Ngamaleu dispatched the resulting spot kick, celebrating with a Peter Beagrie-esque back flip.

Surprisingly though the game was all square two minute later when Altach goalkeeper Andreas Lukse could only parry an attempt at goal into the path of Christoph Monschein, whose overhead kick found the back of the net.

In the 80th minute, just moments after coming on as a subsitute, Dominik Starkl missed a glorious chance to steal the points for Admira, when one-on-one at goal, but Lukse saved the day. A draw was a fair result and neither side did enough to justify a win.