Austria. New championship format was started – in the fall the 12-team league played regular schedule and the top 8 teams continued in the fall the second phase, carrying over their full records from the fall. The last 4 in the fall plus the top 4 in the Second Division started promotion/relegation tournament – no earlier records were carried over – and the top 4 in it went to the top division the next season. The formula meant to make more competitve championship was far from perfect and the obvious problem showed up right away: namely, teams playing their best in the fall just to find secure place among the top 8 teams. In the spring they only went through the motions. Austria (Klagenfurt) and Admira/Wacker did precisely that. Meantime, other teams played just enough to qualify to the next phase and only stpped on the pedals in the spring – Wacker (Innsbruck) was the prime example. Such calculations did nothing to increase the quality of the championship – eventually, it was dominated by the 2 usual suspects Rapid and Austria from Vienna. It was the same as before the new formula was introduced: two strong teams and the rest quite weak.
In the fall First Vienna FC, Wiener Sportclub, SV Spittal an der Drau, and SK Vorwaerts Steyr topped the Second Division and qualified to the promotion/relegation tournament. Meantime, Salzburger AK 1914, Donawitzer SV Alpine, SC Eisenstadt, and SK VOEST Linz took the last 4 positions in the First Division and joined the Second-division best in the promotion/relegation phase. VOEST was really unlucky – they lost 3-team battle on worse goal-difference. Apart from that battle in mid-table, no drama in the top league: SK Austria Klagenfurt was surprise performer, ending 3rd with 23 points, but it was relative success – Klagenfurt, as it turned out later, was only trying to ensure security. They finished 3 points ahead of unfortunate VOEST and bested Grazer AK on goal-difference for the third place. Rapid and Austria fought between themselves away from the rest – Rapid lost only 1 match and finished the fall 14 points ahead of Klagenfurt. FK Austria Vienna was 1st, 2 points better than Rapid – the battle was not decided yet, but it was clear that no other team could come close, let alone joining the champiosnhip race.
Promotion/relegation tournament. Salzburger AK 1914 was the most terrible team this season: last in the fall, they were last in the spring too. In the fall they did not win even one game, finihsing far behind anybody else with 7 points. Now, they were outsiders again, only this time not able to compete even with second-division squads – 7 points again, finishing 6 points behind the next worst team and relegated to Second Division.
SK Vorwaerts Steyr took 7th place with 13 points and remained in Second Division.
SV Spittal an der Drau was 6th, also with 13 poinst – like Vorwaerts, they were not good enough to fight for promotion.
Donawitzer SV Alpine was the second First division team to go down this season – they finished 5th with 14 points. Front row from left: Schicker, Hobelleitner, Angerer, Paal, Erlsbacher.
Middle row: Untergrabner, Ivsic, Hofmann, Oliveira, Janjanin, Gregoritsch, Sabitzer, Mikscha.
Top row: Harrer, Auffinger, Crnjak, Stocker, Gruber, Koiner, Haberl, Meusburger, Pracher.
SC Eisenstadt managed to keep place in the top league – they clinched 4th place with 15 points.
Wiener Sportclub went up – 3rd with 15 points.
SC VOEST Linz also avoided relegation – they finished 2nd with 17 points.
First Vienna FC won the promotion/relegation tournament with 18 points. Like Wiener Sportclub, they were just returning to the top league – but also like Wiener Sportclub, they lost competitive edge long time ago and there was no return.
At the end, the promotion/relegation tournament proved to be unnecessary… the better top-division teams kept their place and the 2 best second-division teams were promoted. The same as in standard championship formula.
Nothing much happened in the championship tournament – Rapid and Austria competed between themselves, alone.
SK Austria Klagenfurt proved that their earlier ‘strenght’ was just about ensuring secure place in the league – in the second phase they dropped from 3rd to last, earning only 5 points in the spring.
FC Admira/Wacker was pretty much the same as Klagenfurt and finished 7th with 29 points. 9 points in the spring…
Grazer AK played as much as they could and finished with 35 points. Took 6th position only because their city rivals had better goal-difference.
SK Sturm Graz bested Grazer AK on goal-difference and ended 5th with 35 points.
Linzer ASK was nothing special, but at least steady – 5th in the fall, not 4th with total of 38 points.
FC Wacker Inssbruck apparently saved its strenght for the spring, but after barely qualified to the final group, they had no way to join the championship battle. Yet, they were strong in the spring adding 19 points to their fall record of 20 points. They were also the prime example of the general weakness of the Austrian clubs: if Austria and Rapid did not play at all in the spring, Wacker’s total record would have been 2-point better than Rapid and still not good enough for 1st place.
Rapid and Austria continued head-to-head to the end, Austria maintaining leadership and eventually preserving its advantage of 2 points. Rapid finished 2nd with 56 points, scoring 101 goals!
Austria Vienna won one more title with 58 points from 26 wins, 6 ties, and 4 lost games. 99-28 goal-difference – missing 100-mark by a goal, but having the best defensive record this season
The same teams met again in the Cup final and at least the rivalry between them was strong. There was hardly any difference between the rivals and the final went to extra time. Only then Austria prevailed 6-4.
Twice unlucky, Rapid. May be next year will be better.
Austria Vienna finished with a double. Strong season, no doubt. To a point, it was also an individual battle between the greatest Austrian players at that time – Prohaska prevaile over Krankl. A sign of the times, to a point… the constructive midfielder won over the great goalscorer: midfield commanded in the 1980s and scorers… well, they needed somebody to feed them with sharp balls. Krankl needed Prohaska to shine, but Prohaska did not need a Krankl. Yet, something else was more important and alarming: both great stars were getting quite old. And so were some of the best players around them – the Hungarian Nyilasi, in Austria’s case. There were no younger players at similar level…