Today is match between regio West winner Wattens and regio East winner Schwechat for going up to the Austrian Erste Division. Return match will be next Thrusday in Schwechat. I think Wattens have the better team and some players already know the taste of deciding games like these. More experience. Also, there will be epxected 12.000 spectators in the stadion of Austria champion two years ago who had to go down to amateurs for finacial reasons only. Schwechat plays in front of 400 visitors averagly, and will be shocked by such a huge crowd. Try 1.55 from Betandwin! Greetings, Schwarzenegger
I'd say Wacker/Wattens is the better team, has got the better stadium and fans, and will go to Division 1.
Though they apparently controlled the match, Wacker/Wattens could only get a 0-0 at home against Schwechat. An away goal in Schwechat could do the trick for them. Looks like a toss-up. In the other promotion battle, Blau Weiß Linz won 2-0 at Bad Bleiberg and seems to be on its way up. Return legs are on Thursday. By the way, is there any news regarding those two Erste Division teams whose licenses for next year were in jeopardy? Thought a decision was to be reached by the end of May, but I haven't seen anything.
Those teams (LASK, DSV Leoben) both got the license for 2003/04. The T-Mobile-Liga teams Salzburg and Bregenz also got their licenses. I hope Wacker and BW Linz will go up. Both got very good squads, the best fans in their current leagues and also big Austrian soccer tradition.
Nice to see LASK and Leoben will be around next year. I remember two teams from Linz used to be in the Bundesliga, LASK and VOEST Linz. Did VOEST become Blau Weiß Linz?
Yeah, exactly. After VOEST Linz was put together with FC Linz, the whole thing collapsed. Years after, a new club of Linz, called Blau-Weiss plays for promotion in the second austrian level. I'm conident that BWL will get there and also hold the class. It's pretty much the same with Wacker/Wattens, that former club FC Tirol Innsbruck got the Austrian championship three times a row, from 1999/00 until 2001/02. But they failed to qualify for the Champion's League in every year, so they got in real financial troubles because a squad like that was to huge for an Austrian team. So the champions of Tirol went off to whole Austria and a few to Germany. FC Tirol was relegated to third league in the year of its 10th chamionship in club history. So they got together with SV Wattens and now FC Tirol has become WSG Wacker/Wattens Tirol and pushes for promotion...
After beating Bad Bleiberg 2-0 on the road, Blau Weiss Linz led 2-1 at the half of the home leg and seemed destined for the Erste Division. However, Bad Bleiberg made a miraculous comeback, scoring three unanswered goals in the second half to win 4-2! That means Bad Bleiberg is promoted thanks to away goals. In the other series, Wacker/Wattens was able to overcome a scoreless home leg to win 3-2 on the road against Schwechat. Sammy Koejoe scored all three for the club from Tirol. The team will compete in the Erste Division under the name FC Wacker Innsbruck. Congrats to Bad Bleiberg and Wacker Innsbruck!
I wonder if Innsbruck will ever again be able to compete under the name FC Tirol? FC Wacker Innsbruck just doesn't seem right to me. Anyway, good to have them back in professional football, so congratulations to them. Hopefully they gain promotion again next season.
Well, Wacker Innsbruck was the team's original name. Won a bunch of championships and cups in the 70s and ranks third all-time in both categories behind Austria and Rapid. http://austria80.at/meister.htm http://www.austria80.at/cupsieger.htm