Extreme Football Tourism: AUSTRIA: Favoritner AC (1922-) / SC Wacker Wien (2024-)

FavAC-Platz an der Kennergasse "Sportplatz auf den Wagemannschen Gründen", Vienna = Wenen Favoriten (Favoritner AC = FavAC & SC Wacker Wien)

Austria, state: Vienna = Wenen

23 X 2024 / SC Wacker Wien - SV Donau 1-7 / Vienna State Cup R2

Timeline

1910 / Foundation of a football club in the Viennese district Favoriten, to the south of the city-centre, Favoritner Athletik-Sport-Club (ASC), in August 1910, being a breakaway of bowling club Kegelklub Favorit. Four months later, the club is admitted to the Austrian Football Association under the slightly amended name Favoritner Athletik-Club (AC) – often abbreviated subsequently as FavAC. Favoritner AC is not the oldest football club in Favoriten; there was at least one club founded previously, SK Favoritner Vorwärts, formed in 1906 – the future 1. FFC Vorwärts 06, which disbanded in 2014.
± 1912 / In 1911, or in 1912 at its latest, Favoritner AC obtains a pitch of its own, the so-called Steinmetzwiese, not far from the Eastern Railway Station (Ostbahnhof).
± 1914 / In 1914 or 1915, Favoritner AC has to give up its ground, the Steinmetzwiese, as it is commandeered by the Austro-Hungarian army, which uses it to train recruits for battle against the forces of Russia, Italy, and Serbia in World War I. Now without a pitch, FavAC goes through some difficult years.
1922 / By the intermediary of the VAS (Verband der Arbeiter- und Soldatenvereinigungen, an association of workers and soldiers), Favoritner AC is given the opportunity to lease a plot of land to lay out a pitch of its own – with the location being referred to initially as the Sportplatz auf den Wagemannschen Gründen, later commonly known as the FavAC-Platz or Sportplatz an der Kennergasse.
1924 / Favoritner AC becomes a professional league side, playing in the third tier of Austrian football at that time.
1926 / Finding itself in severe financial problems, FavAC withdraws from membership of Austria’s official FA, joining the socialist league association VAFÖ (Vereinigung der Amateur-Fussballvereine Österreichs).
1927 / FavAC wins VAFÖ’s cup tournament, the so-called VAFÖ Silberball-Turnier.
1934 / As the VAFÖ league association is banned following the short Austrian Civil War in February 1934, upon which the Socialist Party SDAPÖ and all organisations tied to the Labour Movement are banned, including football association VAFÖ. Favoritner AC re-joins the official Austrian FA, being placed in the northern branch of the second tier (II. Liga Gruppe Nord).
1935 / Clinching the title in II. Liga Gruppe Nord, 3 points ahead of runners-up Wiener SV, Favoritner AC qualifies for a promotion play-off against the winner in the southern branch of the second tier, SK Slovan Wien. Drawing the first tie 3-3, FavAC goes on to win the home game 1-0, with August Zopp scoring the decisive goal leading to the club acceding to the Staatsliga, the top flight of Austria’s league system, for the first time. As it happens, Favoritner AC thereby replaces its local rivals Favoritner SC, which drops down into the II. Liga after one year in the Staatsliga.
1936 / In the best season in club history, Favoritner AC finishes in eighth place in the Staatsliga, with figures of over 10,000 spectators for derby games at the FavAC-Platz against Viennese rival clubs being no exception. Also in 1936, Favoritner SC, which played in the Staatsliga in the 1934-35 season, folds, ceasing all activities.
1937 / In a repeat of the result of the previous season, Favoritner AC finishes in eighth place in the Staatsliga. That summer, the club undertakes a journey to Southern France, where it plays various gala matches against local clubs.
1938 / In the year of Austria being absorbed into the Third Reich in the infamous Anschluss in the spring of 1938, Favoritner AC finishes in second-last place in the Staatsliga, thus dropping back to the second tier of the Austrian football pyramid along with FC Wien, Florirdsdorfer AC, and bottom club 1. Simmeringer SC. For the new season, in which German authorities create a Gauliga Ostmark as the top level in Austria, FavAC is placed in Group A of the Viennese District League (Bezirksliga Wien Gruppe A).
1942 / With the German onslaught in World War II requiring more and more cannon fodder, an increasing number of clubs in Austria finds it impossible to field a representative team. As such, clubs are encouraged to form so-called Kriegsspielgemeinschaften (KSG) or War Association Agreements. Having avoided an unwished KSG with Rapid Oberlaa in October 1941, FavAC fields a combined team with FC Mars for the 1942-43 season.
1943 / Finishing bottom of the table in Vienna’s 1. Division Group A, the second tier of the Austrian pyramid, Favoritner AC descends into the Viennese 2. Division along with the club finishing in second-last place, Reichsbahn SG II Wien.
1948 / In spite of winning one of the groups of Vienna’s 2. Division, Favoritner AC misses out on promotion to the Viennese 1. Division, probably due to suffering defeat in a promotion play-off. Wiener Liga 2.
1949 / Clinching the title in Vienna’s 2. Division Group A, Favoritner AC goes on to win promotion to Vienna’s 1. Division, the second tier of the Austrian league pyramid – but the third level from 1950 onwards, when a Staatsliga B is formed as the new (near-)nationwide second division. The club’s fate in the following 25 odd years has not been recorded properly, but it is clear that it found itself in Vienna’s local divisions – mostly in the Wiener Liga or Viennese League, the third (and later fourth) level of the Austrian pyramid.
1977 / Clinching the title in the Wiener Liga, 3 points ahead of closest rivals SK Slovan-HAC, Favoritner AC wins promotion to the Regionalliga, the third level of Austria’s league system.
1978 / Clinching the title in Regionalliga Ost, 6 points ahead of closest followers SC Neusiedl am See, Favoritner AC wins promotion to the 2. Bundesliga – a return of the club to the second tier of Austrian football for the first time in 28 years.
1980 / Finishing bottom of the table in the 2. Bundesliga, Favoritner AC drops back to the third level of Austrian football along with SK Vorwärts Steyr and SV Heid Stockerau.
1981 / Winning the title in the third-tier Wiener Liga, 4 points ahead of runners-up SR Donaufeld, Favoritner AC qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which it has the better of SV Stockerau (2-0 aggr.), thus managing an immediate return to the 2. Bundesliga.
1982 / Youth academy player Andreas ‘Andy’ Ogris, aged seventeen, joins city rivals FK Austria Wien, where he breaks into the first team one year later, going on to defend the colours of RCD Español, LASK, and VfB Admira Wacker Mödling before hanging up his boots in 1998.
1983 / Finishing in joint first position in the 2. Bundesliga with SV St. Veit/Glan, only having to leave the title to St. Veit on goal difference (+16 vs. +12), Favoritner AC wins promotion to the 1. Bundesliga – a return of the club to the top flight of Austrian football after an absence of 45 years.
1985 / After two seasons of fighting against the drop, Favoritner AC now finishes in fourteenth place in the 1. Bundesliga, being retrograded to the second tier along with Wiener SC, SV Spittal an der Drau, SV Austria Salzburg, and bottom club First Vienna FC 1894.
1986 / Finishing in second-last place in the Relegation Group of the 2. Bundesliga, Favoritner AC drops back into the third tier of the Austrian football pyramid, the Regionalliga, along with 1. FC Schwechater SC and bottom club Villacher SV. Also in 1986, 20-year-old midfielder Peter Stöger, who broke into FavAC’s first team the previous year after ten years in the club’s youth academy, earns himself a transfer to SK Vorwärts Steyr, going on to defend the colours of First Vienna FC 1894, FK Austria Wien, FC Tirol Innsbruck, SK Rapid (Vienna), LASK, VfB Admira Wacker Mödling, and SC Untersiebenbrunn until hanging up his boots in 2004. After ending his playing career, Stöger went on to a career as a football manager at FK Austria Wien, 1. FC Köln, Borussia Dortmund, and various other clubs.
1990 / Former FavAC player Andreas Ogris is part of the Austrian squad in the 1990 World Cup finals in Italy, in which the country bows out after the group stage. Ogris scores the only goal in Austria’s only win in the tournament, against the United States. In total, Ogris would go on to earn 63 caps between 1986 and 1997.
1991 / Champions in Regionalliga Ost, 1 point ahead of closest followers SV Oberwart, Favoritner AC wins promotion to the 2. Bundesliga.
1992 / FavAC reaches the semifinals of the Austrian Cup, sensationally knocking out SK Rapid (Vienna) in the round of last 16 (2-0), and with Union Vöcklamarkt and FC Stahl Linz being among the other victims. Eventually, FC Admira/Wacker puts an end to FavAC’s remarkable cup run in the semis (1-2). Also in 1992, former Austrian international player Reinhard Kienast joins FavAC from SK Rapid – only to hang up his boots one year later at the age of 33.
1993 / Managing a respectable fourth place in the 2. Bundesliga, Favoritner AC qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which it finishes in last place. FavAC reaches the semifinals of the Austrian Cup for the second year running, following a relatively easy run in which the club successively eliminates Floridsdorfer AC, ASK Ybbs, SC Fürstenfeld, and WSG Swarovski Wattens. The road to the final is barred by SK Rapid (Vienna), with FavAC suffering a 2-1 defeat.
1994 / Having managed mid-table positions in the previous two seasons, Favoritner AC now finishes in fourteenth place in the 2. Bundesliga, thus descending into the Regionalliga along with WSG Swarovski Wattens and bottom club Kremser SC.
1995 / Clinching the title in Regionalliga Ost, 5 points ahead of closest rivals SV Mattersburg, Favoritner AC manages an immediate return to the 2. Bundesliga.
1996 / Favoritner AC manages a respectable sixth place in the 2. Bundesliga. However, due to grave financial problems, the club has to cease all activities for the duration of the 1996-97 season in the fall of 1996.
1997 / Being retrograded to the Regionalliga due to its being unable to finish the 1996-97 season in the 2. Bundesliga, Favoritner AC now concludes an association agreement or Spielgemeinschaft with Simmeringer SC, a club from the Wiener Stadtliga (Viennese City League), the fourth level of the Austrian football pyramid. The new Spielgemeinschaft (SG) FavAC/Simmering is placed in Regionalliga Ost, with FavAC itself continuing as the association’s reserves’ team in the Wiener Stadtliga. It is unclear if SG FavAC/Simmering played its football at Simmering’s ground, Simmeringer Had, or at the FavAC-Platz in Favoriten.
1998 / SG FavAC/Simmering finishes in thirteenth place in the Regionalliga Ost, thus dropping back to the fourth tier of Austrian football along with SV Oberwart, Wiener SC, and bottom club 1. Wiener Neustädter SC. Meanwhile, Favoritner AC also suffers relegation, in this case from the fourth-tier Wiener Stadtliga to the fifth-tier Oberliga A. Following the 1997-98 season, the association agreement between FavAC and Simmeringer SC is discontinued. Also in 1998, former FavAC’s youth academy player Peter Stöger is part of the Austrian squad for the 1998 World Cup; in total, Stöger won 65 caps for Austria between 1988 and 1999.
2002 / Winning the title in Vienna’s Oberliga A, FavAC wins promotion to the Wiener Stadtliga, the fourth tier of Austria’s league pyramid – due to be its home in the following 21 years.
2018 / Foundation of SC Wacker Wien – a historic name in Austrian football, given that the former SC Wacker Wien, a club from the neighbourhood of Meidling, founded in 1907, played in the top flight for many years and even won the Austrian title in 1947. After it had merged with ESV Admira Energie to form FC Admira/Wacker in 1971, thus moving away from its ground at Rosasgasse and settling at Admira’s Bundesstadion Südstadt in Maria Enzersdorf, various refoundations had been attempted – all of those proving unviable, with Wacker 72 being absorbed into ASK Liesing only several years after its foundation; and SC Wacker Wien, founded in the 1980s, concluding a merger with ASK Lichtenwörth and moving away from Vienna proper in 1999; and a new SC Wacker Wien, founded in 2005 and playing its football at the Wiener-Viktoria-Platz, being absorbed into Borussia Hetzendorf in 2012. With the club founded in 2018 thus being the fifth incarnation of SC Wacker Wien, it has to start its life in Vienna’s 2. Division, the eighth and lowest level of Austria’s league pyramid. The club settles at Bundesspielplatz Wienerberg.
2019 / Runners-up in Vienna’s 2. Division A, SC Wacker Wien wins promotion to the seventh tier of Austrian football, the Viennese 1. Division. Also in 2019, moving away from Bundesspielplatz Wienerberg, SC Wacker Wien settles for a groundshare with SC Ostbahn XI at the Ostbahn-Platz in Vienna-Simmering.
2022 / A synthetic surface is put in place on the main pitch of the FavAC-Platz an der Kennergasse; for the duration of the building works, Favoritner AC has to play its home games elsewhere. Also in 2022, SC Wacker Wien wins promotion from the Viennese 1. Division to the Oberliga, the sixth tier of Austria’s league pyramid.
2023 / Clinching the title in the Wiener Stadtliga, Favoritner AC manages a return to Regionalliga Ost after an absence of 25 years.
2024 / In its first season back in the Regionalliga Ost, Favoritner AC just manages to stave off relegation, finishing just 1 point above the drop zone. Also in 2024, after five years at the Ostbahn-Platz, SC Wacker Wien moves to a groundshare with Favoritner AC at Kennergasse; Wacker is not the only groundsharer at the ground, with other non-league clubs playing their football there including FC Kurd Wien, SV Rojava, and FC Polska.