SCHWARZ-WEISS BREGENZ (Casino Stadion)

VORARLBERGLIGA, SCHWARZ-WEISS BREGENZ 2-0 BLAU-WEISS FELDKIRCH, ATTENDANCE: 450 

Thanks in no small part to the Groundhopper app on my, Sunday morning began with a train journey from Winterthur, via St Gallen and St Margrethen, to Bregenz in Austria.

Bregenz is a city on the east of Lake Constance, so with the train arriving on time, despite the warnings of delays due to engineering works, there was plenty of time to have a stroll down by the lake. Considering it was 9.30 in the morning it was a hive of activity with people sailing, swimming and soaking up the early sunshine.

 

Schwarz-Weiss Bregenz play at the Casino Stadion, which is a brisk 5 minute stroll from the lake. The ground was originally constructed between 1950 and 1951 but was effectively rebuilt in the mid-nineties, with the addition of the athletics track and seated stand. The ground is also known as the Bodenseestadion, Bodensee being the German name for Lake Constance.

The original Schwarz-Weiss Bregenz was formed in 1919 and, after spending many years in lower leagues, the club reached the Austrian Bundesliga in 1999. The club even played in Europe, through the Intertoto Cup, but financial problems began to mount and, after finishing bottom of the Bundesliga in 2005 the relegated club failed to receive a licence to play in the first division. The club tried to fight for their future but were eventually liquidated in 2007.

With the problems that were ongoing off the field, a new club was formed in 2005 under the name SC Bregenz, in order to continue the youth set up of the stricken Schwarz-Weiss Bregenz. The club joined the Aufstieg Landesliga and were champions in 2006. That earned the club promotion to the Vorarlbergliga (the 4th level of Austrian football) where they are still playing to this day. They did win the title in 2007 and 2015.

In 2013 the SC Bregenz reverted back to the name Schwarz-Weiss Bregenz and continue to wear the traditional colours and badge of the former Bundesliga club.

The game kicked off in blazing hot sunshine but the action on the pitch never got above tepid. It was a pretty drab affair with little in the way of goalmouth action. The points were secured in favour of Bregenz thanks to two second half goals from Thomas Pineiro Dos Santos (69 & 88).

Blau-Weiss Feldkirch offered little as an attacking force though they did miss the best chance of the game when they broke two-against-one. Necip Bekleyen squared the ball to Jakob Lorenz, as the Bregenz 'keeper Florian Eres came rushing out, giving Lorenz the supposedly simple task of rolling the ball into the net. He missed.

Incidentally, the referee was a female official, Cindy Zeferino de Oliveira, and I must say she had a very good game and kept the action flowing. It was noticable that the players didn't seem to give the referee verbals either.

From the stadium it was an easy walk back to the train station, ensuring that the 1310 connenction to Feldkirch was easily reached. It was now time for the main attraction of this particular weekend...

BLAU WEISS LINZ (Linzer Stadion)

ÖSTERREICH ERSTE LIGA, BLAU WEISS LINZ 2-3 FC LIEFERING,
ATTENDANCE: 1,114

After my brief stay in Slovakia, Friday took me across the border into Austria for the beginning of a weekend of groundhopping across three levels of Austrian football.

For the evenings entertainment I headed west from Vienna to the city of Linz. Blau Weiss Linz were hosting FC Liefering in a First Division game. The club play their home games at the 21,000 capacity Linzer Stadium, which is a lovely uphill walk from the city centre!

Blau Weiss are celebrating their 20th anniversary this year after being officially founded on 1st August 1997.  The club was founded as a joint venture between supporters of two old clubs. 

The original FC Linz club was founded in 1946 as the football team of the local steel factory going under the name SV Eisen und Stahl until 1949 when the club changed it's name to SK VÖEST Linz. The club won the Bundesliga title in 1974 and qualified for the European Cup, where they lost to Barcelona.

The club were relegated in 1988 but won promotion back to the top flight in 1991, however by this time the steel works had withdrawn funding and the club was now called FC Stahl Linz. They dropped the Stahl in 1993 but by 1997 FC Linz was merged with and dissolved by local rivals LASK Linz.

Another factory club, SV Austria Tabak, who were founded in 1934 as the works team of the Linz tobacco factory, were also facing the prospect of an uncertain future. The grants given to the club were set to be withdrawn after the privatisation of the tobacco industry and there was also the prospect of the Linz factory being closed down (it eventually did in 2009).

Both sets of supporters came together under the Blau Weiss name, representing the colours of both clubs. The "new" club did not start at the bottom and began again in the Landesliga by taking over the licence of SV Austria Tabak.

The club are now in the second tier of Austrian football and tonight were taking on Salzburg based FC Liefering. If you are unaware, Liefering are a feeder club for Red Bull Salzburg and it was a rather youthful looking side that took to the field for the visitors.

Blau Weiss Linz took the lead just before half time when they were awarded a penalty and Thomas Hinum made no mistake with the spot kick (pictured left).

Liefering were fastest out of the block in the second and two quick fire goals from Enock Mwepu (51 & 54) put them in control. Dominik Szoboszlai (66) made it 3-1 and it was comfortable for the visitors. Blau Weiss applied some very late pressure but Tobias Pellegrini's 90th minute goal was mere consolation.

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.