This is the fourth and final part 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, two, and three are here if you missed them.
Every Team that was Relegated from the Austrian Bundesliga Once and Never Came Back: Where Are They Now? (Part 4)
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Kapfenberger SV
- Full Name: Kapfenberger Sportvereiningung
- Founded: 1919
- Time in the Ö. Bundesliga: 2008-2012 (Four seasons)
- Current Status: 2. Liga (2nd tier)
Keeping with the trend of Austrian clubs founded in 1919 and slightly changing their name post World War II, Kapfenberg were originally founded as Kapfenberger Sports Club, and by 1923 had found themselves in the top division of the state of Styria. Kapfenberg were decently competitive, winning their first state title in 1942 and again in 1943, though in the latter they failed to win promotion to the Gauliga. KSV's first entry into national level football came in 1950 with their promotion to the Staatsliga B, needing only one season to win promotion to Staatsliga A. The Styrians would enjoy several stints in the old top flight between the 50s and 60s, the longest of which lasted from 1954-1959. That period gave birth to the phrase "Simmering – Kapfenberg, das nenn i Brutalität" ("Simmeringer – Kapfenberg, that's called brutality") due to an incident in a game between the two clubs in 1958 where KSV striker Helmut Hauberger collided with Simmering keeper Bruno Engelmaier, ending the former's professional career. The Falken had the chance to win promotion for the Bundesliga's inaugural season, but lost the promotion playoffs in the first round to SV Heid Stockerau. Most of the club's time over the next decade was spent in the second tier (with a brief foray in the third tier in 76/77), but following relegation from the 2. Division in 1985 the club spent most of next two decades in the Regionalliga Mitte and even the 4th tier Styrian League. The club would finally return to the second tier in 2002 after a 14 year absence. In their first three seasons back, KSV made notable progress, finishing 6th in 02/03, 3rd in 03/04, and 2nd in 04/05 just six points off from SV Ried. After a few seasons of success, Kapfenberg began to struggle, finishing 8th in 05/06 and 11th in 06/07 - a result that should have relegated them were it not for the revocation of Grazer AK and Admira Wacker Mödling's professional licenses that season. Seizing this opportunity, KSV made the most of the 2007-08 season, virtually clinching promotion to the Bundesliga with three games to go following a 4-0 win over the Red Bull Salzburg's second team, ultimately finishing with an 11 point gap over second.
An overhaul to the playing squad was in order, with the club bringing in 17 new players, but the return of top flight football to the Franz Fekete Stadion proved to be a formidable challenge for Kapfenberg as they lost their opening game of the 2008-09 season 1-0 to LASK. Die Falken did manage to hold Austria Vienna to a 2-2 draw, later that month drawing Red Bull Salzburg 1-1. However, three successive defeats saw the Styrians fall to the bottom of the table by matchday seven. A 3-2 win over SCR Altach rescued KSV from the drop zone, and even though Kapfenberg's results were middling for the rest of the fall season, including 6-0 and 7-3 drubbings from Austria Kärnten and Salzburg respectively, they managed to keep themselves from 10th the entire time. They even managed to pull off an upset over the energy drink club, winning 5-2 at the Red Bull Arena in November. By the start of the spring season, KSV were in 8th and would pretty much stay there for most of the rest of the season. Heavy defeats would still follow, including a 6-0 loss to Rapid Vienna in March and a 5-1 loss to Altach (who ended up getting relegated this season) in May, but the club were much more consistent, earning as many wins in their last 14 games than in their first 22. KSV finished 08/09 with a record of ten wins, six draws, and 20 losses, enough for 8th. While the 2009-10 campaign went slightly worse for KSV, finishing in 9th on 33 points as opposed to the 36 from the previous season, this time around there weren't any matches where the club was steamrolled. On the contrary, it was KSV who were on the giving end of a thrashing, embarrassing LASK 7-2. Despite the lowly position, the club were comfortably clear of relegation, finishing 18 points ahead of relegated Kärnten.
For the first time in the 2010-11 season, Kapfenberg managed to avoid starting a Bundesliga campaign with a loss, drawing their opener against RB Salzburg 0-0. With two draws and two wins from their first five games, had to date their best start to a Bundesliga campaign, seeing them sitting at 6th. After a 1-0 loss to SV Ried, however, KSV dropped down to 8th, where they stayed for the rest of the season, finishing with 38 points. Three matches into the 2011-12 season saw Die Falken briefly climb up to 3rd in the table, but a 5-0 loss to Austria Vienna quickly dashed any chance of a title charge (however slim that was to begin with). That loss to Vienna was the start of a five game losing streak, sending the Styrians all the way down to 10th. A narrow 1-0 win over Mattersburg took them up to 9th, but they immediately dropped back down to 10th as that win would be the last Kapfenberg would earn for the rest of the Fall season. Over the past couple of seasons, Kapfenberg seemed to have become the footballing manifestation of inertia, rarely ever budging from a position once they've settled there for a time. With the club heading into the spring season bottom of the table, the club were sure to prevent this campaign to continue the trend. A 1-0 win over Austria Vienna at the start of the second half seemed to provide some hope in that quest, but victories once again were hard to come by. It took four matchdays to secure another three points (1-0 over Wiener Neustadt) and another seven to do so again (1-0 over Austria Vienna). This entire time KSV didn't budge from the foot of the table, and with five games left and nine points to make up, it was looking ever the more unlikely that the Styrians could change their fortunes. After losing 2-1 to Sturm Graz, KSV managed a draw against SV Ried, but thanks to Wiener Neustadt also drawing their game, Kapfenberg had practically no chance of avoiding relegation due to their vastly inferior goal difference. Their demotion to the 1. Liga was officially confirmed on matchday 34 with a 2-0 loss away to Mattersburg.
Kapfenberg nearly made it two for two upon their return to the second tier, finding themselves in a relegation scrap for much of the season. A strong second half (including a 7-1 trouncing of SKN St. Pölten) saw them finish the season in 5th, a position they matched in the 13/14 season. For most of its time in the second tier, KSV mostly managed mid- to upper table finishes, with the best performances up to this point coming in the 14/15 and 18/19 campaigns where they finished 4th. That's not to say that all was going well for Die Falken during this time. After the conclusion of the 2017-18 season (where Kapfenberg finished 8th), the club were initially denied a license by the Bundesliga's Senate 5 to play in the 2. Liga due to the club's poor finances, which would have seen them relegating to the Regionalliga. Kapfenberg lodged an appeal to the Bundesliga's protest committee which turned out to be successful, allowing the club to remain in the division. The 2019-20 season also proved to be a difficult one for the Styrians. After having come off their joint-best season back in the second tier, KSV had a torrid 19/20 campaign, earning just two points from their first nine games. They managed to score some victories prior to the winter break, but by that point the damage had already been done and the club were stuck in 16th. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, league play was paused in March and didn't resume until June, where KSV proceeded to win one and lose ten of their final 11 games. This should have seen the club relegated, but because the Regionalliga decided to cancel the season midway, no teams were relegated from the 2. Liga that season. The club has since had a modest rebound, mainly lingering around mid- to lower table, though it is highly uncertain how close the club are to making a top flight return in the near future.
Wiener Neustadt
- Full Name: 1. Wiener Neustädter Sportclub
- Founded: 2008
- Time in the Ö. Bundesliga: 2009-2015 (Six seasons)
- as SC Wiener Neustadt
- Current Status: 1-NÖN Landesliga (4th Tier)
In 1908, 1. Wiener Neustädter SC was founded by students from Vienna, with fellow clubs SC Edelweiß and FC Graphia later merging witht he club. Wiener Neustadt became eight time Lower Austrian champions between 1923 and 1950, with that last championship granting the club promotion to the Staatsliga A after winning the promotion playoffs over Styrian Champions Austria Graz and Burgenland champions ASV Siegendorf. The club only lasted a season, and it took eight years for WN to return to the top flight. This time their stay in the division lasted three seasons, during which they participated in the 1961 Mitropa Cup, where they finished last behind fellow Austrians LASK, Czechoslovak side SONP Kladno (now SK Kladno), and Italian side Udinese. In their third stint in the Staatsliga, Wiener Neustadt qualified for the 1965-66 European Cup Winner's Cup after finishing runners-up in the Austrian Cup to league champions LASK. The club's European adventures were short lived, going out in the first round of the competition after losing to Romanian side Știința Cluj (now FC Universitatea Cluj). Following a third relegation from the top flight in 1967, WN would never return, spending the next two decades wading between the second and third tiers before experiencing a steep decline by the turn of the millennium and ultimately ending up in the lower state leagues.
In the meantime, a club by the name of SC Schwanenstadt had been making a rapid ascent up the divisions, winning promotion to the 1. Liga in 2005. By 2008, however, the club was suffering heavily from financial difficulties, and in January of that year they announced that they would be moving form Upper Austria to Lower Austria, changing their name to FC Magna Wiener Neustadt. Magna, a Canadian-Austrian automotives supplier, was the clubs sponsor, and in 2008 the company's founder Frank Stronach was elected club president. FC Magna took over Schwanenstadt's league license, allowing them to play in the 2008-09 1. Liga. At the end of 2008, it was decided that FC Magna would take over 1. Wiener Neustädter SC (who at the time were playing in the 5th-tier 2. Landesliga) after the 08/09 season. FC Magna was renamed to SC Wiener Neustadt, and during the 08/09 season the club experienced tremendous success. In the Austrian Cup, the club reached the semi-finals, defeating top flight side Kapfenberg before falling to eventual winners Austria Vienna. In the league, after a hard fought battle against Admira and Wacker Innsbruck, Wiener Neustadt managed to secure promotion to the Bundesliga with a game in hand following a 4-1 win over SNK St. Pölten.
The 2009-10 season opened with Wiener Neustadt with a 3-1 come from behind win against Austria Kärnten, followed by a loss to Sturm Graz and a win over SV Ried. A poor run of form following that victory that saw WN earn just one win from their next ten games brought the club down to 8th in the table. After a 4-3 thriller over Austria Vienna, Wiener Neustadt's results became much more consistent, and by the winter break the Lower Austrians had risen up to 6th. Despite losing away to Mattersburg upon the resumption of league play, Wiener Neustadt went on their best run of form in the season, going the next six games unbeaten including draws against Rapid Vienna, RB Salzburg, and Sturm Graz, climbing up to 5th. The club stumbled a bit come the end of the season losing against the traditionally big clubs, but results against the rest of the league saw WN hold their position on 47 points. Greater success was found in the cup. After their semi-final finish in 08/09, Wiener Neustadt took it one stage further, reaching the final where they were deadlocked against Sturm Graz until the 81st minute when Slovenian striker Klemen Lavrič gave Graz the victory. Wiener Neustadt improved their points haul to 50 in the 10/11 season, but this time around that was only enough for a 7th place finish. Behind the scenes there were a lot of shakeups. In September, Magna announced that it would end its sponsorship of the club at the end of the 2010-11 season, and while Stronach initially stated that he would continue supporting the club as a private sponsor, but in February 2011 he announced that he would be stepping away from the club. With the loss of Magna, many had tipped Wiener Neustadt as favorites for relegation in the 11/12 season, and while the club certainly did struggle (failing to win any of their last 13 games for instance), the club never entered the relegation zone thanks to the poor form of Kapfenberg, finishing the season 9th and ten points clear of the drop.
The 2012-13 and 2013-14 campaigns were a similar story - strings of poor results bad enough to keep the club low in the table, but so bad as to result in relegation. WN managed to guarantee safety on the final day of the 12/13 season, beating Sturm Graz away 3-0 to finish one point above the relegation zone. 13/14 was more comfortable on paper finishing ten points clear of the drop, but their 8th place finish was merely due to Admira's points deduction due to violating license regulations. In the 2014-15 season, however, Wiener Neustadt's luck began to run out. 3-1 and 5-0 losses to Ried and Salzburg respectively saw the Lower Austrians enter the relegation zone for the first time, and after five games WN only had a single point to their name from a 2-2 draw with Austria Vienna. Back-to-back victories including a 5-4 thriller against Admira brought the club up to 8th. Those wins turned out to be a false dawn, though, and the club proceeded to fail to win any of their next eight games. Wiener Neustadt closed out the fall season with a 6-0 loss to Ried, but upon the resumption of league play in February the club once again dragged itself up to 9th thanks to wins over Austria Vienna and SV Grödig and a draw against relegation rivals Admira. But like the last time, Wiener Neustadt could not maintain their form, losing their next five games (with a 6-0 loss to RB Salzburg sending them back down to 10th) and failing to win and of their next nine. After beating Wolfsberg and drawing Rapid Vienna, Wiener Neustadt went into the final matchday needing a win over SRC Altach and for Admira to lose against Grödig to stay up. Ultimately, however, Admira's result wouldn't matter as WN lost at home to Altach 1-0, sending them down to the 1. Liga.
Wiener Neustadt struggled in their first couple of seasons back in the second tier. The club finished 7th in the 2015-16 season, dropping down to 8th in the 16/17 season. The 2017-18 season, however, presented WN with an opportunity. That season, the ÖFB decided to change the Bundesliga's format, expanding the league from 10 to 12 teams and awarding the second division two promotion spots as opposed to one, with a promotion/relegation playoff offered for the team that finishes third. As it happened, Wiener Neustadt finished third despite leading the league table for much of the early part of the season, sending them to a playoff against 10th-placed Bundesliga side St. Pölten. In the ensuing playoff, WN lost the first leg at home 2-0, and a 1-1 draw in the reverse fixture saw the tie end 3-1, thus keeping WN in the second tier. Wieneer Neustadt however filed a protest against the result, accusing St. Pölten of fielding an ineligible player in the second leg. The player in question was David Atanga, who had previously played for RB Salzburg and FC Liefering (Salzburg's reserve side). Under FIFA regulations, a player can be registered with three clubs in a season, but can only play for two. However, under Austrian regulations, youth players (like David) were allowed to play for three clubs so long as one of them was for a reserve side, a rule that Wiener Neustadt themselves made use of in the 17/18 season as St. Pölten pointed out. Ultimately, the challenge was unsuccessful. After finishing 6th in the 2018-19 season, Wiener Neustadt initially had their application for their league license approved, but a subsequent investigation into the licensing process by the Bundesliga's Senate 5 revealed that Wiener Neustadt made several misrepresentations in their application, resulting in the club's license being retroactively revoked and the club being demoted to the Regionalliga. In the summer of 2019 the club changed its name to 1. Wiener Neustädter SC as an homage to the traditional club, and continued playing in the Regionalliga Ost until 2023 when they were relegated to the Landesliga.
SV Grödig
- Full Name: Sportverein Grödig
- Founded: 1948
- Time in the Ö. Bundesliga: 2013-2016 (Three seasons)
- Current Status: Salzburger Liga (4th Tier)
The Danube Swabians are groups of ethnic German-speaking peoples who for most of their history resided in central and eastern Europe, including in what was once northern Yugoslavia. During the end of World War II and in the post-war period, around 32,000 ethnic Germans either fled or were expelled from Yugoslavia with many of the ones that remained either being executed or confined to labor camps as they were blamed by the Yugoslav government for the actions of the Nazis while under occupation. Over 500 of them would settle in Schwabenlager Grödig, a former Russian WWI POW camp just outside the Austrian town of Grödig. It was here in 1948 that saw the founding of Union Sportklub Grödig, who went by that name until 1955. For most of its early existence, Grödig were relegated to playing in the lower levels of the Salzburg league system, with a big reason for that (at least in the early seasons) being that the Danube Swabians who made up the club's roster were considered foreigners, and thus did not comply with ÖFB regulations regarding foreign players. From here, Grödig embarked in a steady rise through the ranks, reaching the then 3rd tier Salzburger Landesliga in 1967 and qualifying for the Alpenliga in 1977. Not long after, though, Grödig experienced a dramatic decline, finding themselves by the mid 1980s as low as the 2. Klasse Nord - the 7th tier of Austrian football. The club wouldn't return to the Regionalliga again until 2006, but after just two seasons they managed promotion to the 1. Liga - the first time the club had ever reached the second tier. The Blau-Weißen's stay in the division wasn't long, lasting just a season, but neither was their absence, returning in 2010 thanks in large part to top-flight side Austria Kärnten having their Bundesliga license revoked. Grödig managed to establish themselves in the 1. Liga for a couple of seasons, but after the appointment of former Austrian international Adi Hütter as head coach in 2012, the club saw themselves become candidates for promotion. Despite trailing Austria Lustenau for most of season, a run of poor form Lustenau, combined with an excellent run from Grödig who had just one defeat in their last 16 games saw the Salzburg side steal top spot in the spring and clinch promotion to the Bundesliga with four games to spare.
Grödig were the fairytale story of the 2013-14 Bundesliga season. The club opened their first ever top flight campaign with a 0-0 draw vs SV Ried, but after defeating Sturm Graz 2-0 away and thrashing Admira 7-1 at home, Grödig had already risen to 2nd in the table. Of course, given that this came during the time of Red Bull Salzburg's dominance over the division, any chance of sneaking into first was a pipe dream, demonstrated by their 4-1 loss to Salzburg in game four. Grödig continued bouncing between 2nd and 3rd for a time, though a slight hiccup in form saw them drop to 5th in November. The club were certainly no strangers to high scoring fixtures, with over half of the games involving them featuring four goals or more. That's not to say that Grödig were on the winning end of most of those affairs, however, as the club would suffer heavy defeats including 6-0 losses to Salzburg and Sturm Graz in the spring season. The loss to Sturm Graz did have a notable impact, however, as Grödig (who had managed to hold on to 2nd place since matchday 19) had dropped to 4th on matchday 29. Grödig thus had to battle against Austria Vienna for a chance to secure a European spot. Subsequent losses to Admira and Salzburg certainly didn't help, but those were the last times the club would suffer defeat this season. With three wins from their next four, including a crucial 2-1 win over Austria Vienna, Grödig went into the final matchday needing to better Vienna's result to finish 3rd. They did just that, drawing away to Wacker Innsbruck 3-3 while Austria Vienna lost 1-2 at home to Sturm Graz. Therefore, Grödig finished 3rd and qualified for the Europa League second qualifying round. Impressive for a club hailing from a town of fewer than 7,000 people at the time.
Adi Hütter departed the club at the end of the season to take the Salzburg job, with fellow former Austrian international Michael Baur taking over. Under Baur, Grödig made it to the Europa league third qualifying round after defeating Serbian side FK Čukarički 5-2 on aggregate, but a 2-2 agg. draw with Moldovan outfit Zimbru Chișinău saw the Austrians fail to advance further due to away goals. Back in the league, Grödig were unable to replicate the excellent form they demonstrated in the 13/14 campaign. They started decently enough, drawing Austria Vienna and beating Sturm Graz to climb up to 3rd, but a 8-0 demolition at the hands of RB more or less set the tone for the season. Only once were the club able to manage two victories in a row, and with the poor runs the club would go on, including a six game losing streak between February and March ultimately saw them finish 8th. While the league was a disappointment, the 2014-15 season wasn't all doom and gloom. After being eliminated in the first round of the Austrian Cup in 13/14, Grödig were markedly improved, making it all the way to the semi-finals in 14/15, only stopped by the unstoppable force that is RB Salzburg. The 2015-16 was already off to a bad start when they were once again eliminated in the first round of the Austrian Cup, but a win and a draw from their first league games made it look as if they had put it past them. This turned out no to be the case, however, as a win and a draw from their next seven games saw Grödig slide down to 8th. Things went from bad to worse when Grödig lost the Brazilian forward Lucas Venuto to Austria Vienna in the winter transfer window, causing their results to fall off a cliff. Having finished the fall campaign with two straight defeats, Grödig extended their winless run to 11, with their only points coming from draws against Ried and Admira, dragging them to 10th. The final two months of the campaign did see Grödig pull of some impressive results, including 2-0 wins over Rapid and Austria Vienna, but it simply wasn't enough. With a 2-1 loss to Salzburg on the penultimate matchday, Grödig's relegation from the Bundesliga was confirmed.
Originally, Grödig were set to compete in the 1. Liga following relegation, but due to financial constraints, the club voluntarily withdrew their application for a Erste Liga license, opting instead to be demoted to the Regionalliga West for the 2016-17 season. In the club's first two seasons back in the third tier, they went on remarkably good starts, topping the division for most of the campaigns. However, both times they were unable to maintain that good form, ultimately losing the Regionalliga titles to USK Anif on both occasions. The 2018-19 season saw the club take a massive step backwards, dropping all the way down to 10th. Grödig were never able to mount another serious title charge, failing to qualify for the 2019-20 Eliteliga after finishing 7th in the Regionalliga Salzburg, and were 5th in the division in the 2020-21 season before the competition was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2021-22 season once again saw Grödig fail to qualify for the Eliteliga, and with the Regionalliga West coming back for the 2023-24 season, Grödig needed to finish 7th in the Regionalliga Salzburg's first phase to have a chance of remaining in the third tier. Unfortunately, the club finished 11th, and though they managed to avoid relegation to the 1. Landesliga after finishing comfortably ahead of UFC Hallein, their participation in the relegation playoffs meant that for the 2023-24 season the club had to drop down to the Salzburger Liga.
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Summary
| League | Tier | Club | No. of Clubs |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2. Liga | 2nd | SW Bregenz, Kapfenberger SV | 2 |
| Regionalliga | 3rd | SC Neusiedl am See, Favoritner AC, Kremser SC | 3 |
| Landesliga | 4th | 1. Simmeringer SC, SV Spittal/Drau, Salzburger AK 1914, Wiener Neustadt, SV Grödig | 5 |
| Extinct | - | FC Union Wels, SV St. Veit/Glan, VSE St. Pölten, Tirol Innsbruck | 4 |