Austria is a fascinating country that is located in Central Europe and borders Germany, Switzerland, Slovakia, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Italy and Liechtenstein. An integral cog in the European system, the country joined the EU in 1995 and adopted the Euro as the official currency soon after it was introduced. The capital is Vienna, and a high percentage of the 8 million total population live there. However, there are four common languages spoken there. Although German is the official language, Hungarian, Croatian and Slovenian are spoken in different areas as well. This makes for a fascinating culture and history that attracts tourism to the area.

In terms of sports, skiing is the most popular sport and is considered the national sport as a result. However, football is the most popular team sport out there. That is not to say that the national team is successful though because they have been anonymous on the world scene for some time. They currently stand at 88th in the FIFA world rankings at the moment, just two places above their lowest position ever. They sank to 90th in September 2004. However, their highest ranking was 17th in May 1999.

On the world stage, Austria has attended the World Cup a total of 7 times, with the first appearance being in 1934. Their highest placing actually came in 1954 when they came third. As of yet, Austria has never actually qualified for the European Championship on merit. Their first appearance will be in 2008 but they qualified automatically because they are co-hosts. Austria’s greatest success came in Berlin in 1936. They achieved silver in the Olympic’s men’s football.

The Austrian domestic football league is called the Bundesliga. It was founded in 1974 and currently has 10 teams. There had been previous leagues in operation since the early 20th Century, but the Bundesliga is a relatively new and improved version of them. However, it has yet to attract that much interest, if the level of interest is compared with other European countries. There is also the Austrian Cup competition, a knockout competition that a number of teams take part in every year. However, in 2008 only amateur teams will compete as a result of the European Championships being held there.

The most prominent teams that play in Austria are FC Red Bull Salzburg and FK Austria Wein. The rest of the teams that make up the division are SV Ried, SV Mattersburg, SK Rapid Wein, SK Austria Karten, SK Sturm Graz, SC Rheindorf Altach, FC Wacker Innsbruck and LASK Linz.