Austria was clearly at its best, and it was also the country’s undoing to a point: international success brought closer attention to the top players from foreign clubs. Exodus of talent was nothing new, but it was affecting negatively domestic football. Two of the three greatest Austrian players moved to other countries right after the 1978 World Cup – Hans Krankl to Barcelona and Bruno Pezzey to Eintracht Frankfurt. There was nobody capable of replacing them in Rapid and Wacker (Innsburck). The other big change occurred in Austria (Vienna), but without getting much journalistic hype: the long-lasting Uruguayans, instrumental in the rise of the club, moved away – Julio Morales returned to his homeland and joined Nacional (Montevideo); Alberto Martinez stayed in Austria and Vienna, but in another club – Wiener Sport-Club. Austria tried to replace the Uruguayans with another Uruguayan: Carlos Alberto Sintas, 26-years old striker was brought from Nublense (Chile).
Sintas was not famous at all, but his career was solid – he was champion of Chile with Huachipato a few years back (and the picture here is from this season). It was hoped that he will be suitable replacement of Moralez and Martinez, but, in general, he was typical foreigner playing in Austria: not a star at all. Foreign coaches were another matter: two former coaches of the Hungarian national team were now working with Austrian clubs – Rudolf Illovszky coached Admira Wacker (Vienna), and Lajos Baroti took charge of Wacker (Innsbruck) for this season. As a whole, the foreign legion in Austrian football was modest: Yugoslavians, West Germans, Danes. One Argentinian arrived in Wiener Sport-Club (Jorge Doval, b. 1949), one Mexican in Admira Wacker (Juan Carlos Lasanta), one French in Sturm (Marcel Boyron, b. 1951)… the best known names were: Zenon Kasztelan, b. 1946, who played a few times for Poland – he moved from Pogon (Szczecin) to Admira Wacker; Bernd Lorenz, b.1947, who was part of the strong Eintracht (Frankfurt) of the mid-1970s, but he arrived to First Vienna from lowly Augsburg (West Germany); and Franz Roth, b. 1946, who was no longer needed by Bayern (Munich) and joined Austria (Salzburg). That was all the buzz…
The standard sized Second Division was nothing to talk about – three anonymous clubs ended in the relegation zone: FC Dornbirn (14th), ASV Kittsee (15th), and USV Anif (16th). At the top, practically without opposition finished familiar name: Linzer ASK.
LASK finished 5 points ahead of Austria (Klagenfurt) and secured the single promotional spot. The club returned to first division – and at least judging by the squad, it was a team more suitable for top flight than second tier – four foreigners: two West Germans, Wolfgang Gayer and Raimund Bincsik; two Yugoslavians, Nebojsa Vuckovic and Miroslav Vukasinovic; and two Austrian stars, the veteran Helmut Koglberger and the rapidly rising young goalkeeper Klaus Linderberger. Half of the top league was of similar make.