Thanks to Quaker for keeping up! The current Table: Now Last Die Tabelle Sp G U V D Pt 1 2 Sturm Graz 20 14 2 4 15 44 2 1 FC Red Bull Salzburg 20 12 7 1 26 43 3 3 SK Rapid Wien 20 9 7 4 11 34 4 4 Admira Wacker Mödling 20 9 4 7 1 31 5 5 LASK Linz 20 7 6 7 2 27 6 6 FK Austria Wien 20 7 5 8 1 26 7 7 Cashpoint SCR Altach 20 7 4 9 -4 25 8 9 SV Mattersburg 20 5 6 9 -7 21 9 8 RZ Pellets WAC 20 3 7 10 -13 16 10 10 SKN St. Pölten 20 1 4 15 -32 7
Gents, do you know when the Austrian First Divison season finishes up in 2018? I'm going to be in Innsbruck this summer and thought I'd try and catch FC Wacker Innsbruck match.
According to http://www.bundesliga.at/de/sky-go-erste-liga/spielplan/ Freitag, 25.05.2018 - Freitag, 25.05.2018 FC Wacker Innsbruck FAC Wien
Winter break is over. "Herbstmeister" Sturm Graz lost twice, and Salzburg won twice to establish a five-point lead atop the table. LASK Linz also earned two victories, including an important match at Austria, and they're now only one point behind the top four. At the other end, hapless St. Pölten's completely lost touch with the rest of the league. They've drifted from 9 points to 13 points from safety. Round 21 Mattersburg 1 - 0 Sturm Graz LASK Linz 2 - 1 St. Pölten Salzburg 2 - 1 Admira Mödling Wolfsberger AC 0 - 0 Altach Rapid Wien 1 - 1 Austria Wien Round 22 Altach 0 - 1 Salzburg Austria Wien 1 - 3 LASK Linz St. Pölten 0 - 3 Mattersburg Sturm Graz 0 - 1 Wolfsberger AC Admira Mödling 2 - 1 Rapid Wien
How quickly things evolved at the top of the table. At the winter break, Sturm Graz held a one-point lead over Salzburg. Now four rounds later, Salzburg has a commanding ten-point lead atop the table. While Salzburg rattled off four straight victories, Sturm earned only a single point. The exclamation point was Salzburg winning 4-2 in Graz on Sunday. While the two leaders faced off, the two bottom dwellers also competed this weekend. St. Pölten won at Wolfsberger AC to narrow the gap to ten points. A loss likely would have put a premature end to the relegation battle. Round 23 Rapid Wien 1 - 1 Sturm Graz LASK Linz 2 - 0 Altach Mattersburg 2 - 1 Austria Wien Wolfsberger AC 1 - 3 Admira Mödling Salzburg 4 - 0 St. Pölten Round 24 Admira Mödling 2 - 1 Austria Wien Altach 1 - 1 Mattersburg Rapid Wien 2 - 0 LASK Linz Wolfsberger AC 0 - 1 St. Pölten Sturm Graz 2 - 4 Salzburg
Sturm Graz got back to winning, but they couldn't reduce the ten-point gap on Salzburg. And St. Pölten's still 10 points from safety at the other end of the table. Round 25 LASK 0 - 2 Sturm Graz Austria Wien 2 - 0 Wolfsberger AC Mattersburg 3 - 2 Admira Mödling St. Pölten 1 - 2 Altach Salzburg 1 - 0 Rapid Wien
Not much change this round. Salzburg played almost an entire match a man down, but still managed a draw at Mattersburg. Sturm closed the gap to eight points by winning at Admira. Round 26 Altach 0 - 0 Rapid Wien Admira Mödling 2 - 4 Sturm Graz Austria Wien 4 - 0 St. Pölten Wolfsberger AC 0 - 3 LASK Mattersburg 2 - 2 Salzburg St. Pölten is still flailing, ten points adrift the pack at the bottom of the table. However, there's an important restructuring of the Austrian leagues happening after this season, so not all is lost for them. As the last-place Bundesliga club, they'd compete in a playoff against the third-place Erste Liga team for a place in the top division. The top two Erste Liga finishers will gain automatic promotion, as the Bundesliga will expand to 12 teams for its next edition. Starting with the 2018/19 season, every team in the Bundesliga will play only one (rather than two) home-away series with every other team. After those 22 rounds, the Bundesliga is divided into two groups. The top six teams play another home-away series with each of the other members to that group (10 more matches) and will compete for the title and European spots. The bottom six teams also have ten more games against other members of that group and will be fighting to avoid relegation. The Erste Liga will expand to 16 clubs. There will be one team promoted to the Bundesliga and three relegated to the three 16-team Regionalligen.
I should note, that as it stands right now, the top three places in the Erste Liga are occupied by Wacker Innsbruck, Wiener Neustadt, and Ried. These are three of the last four teams to be relegated from the Bundesliga. (The other was Grödig, which dropped all the way down to the amateur ranks for economic reasons.) So an expanded Bundesliga is likely to include more of the same.
I have been to busy to keep up with the Austrian Bundesliga, but have updated the Tabelle. The Last column is based on my previous Table in December. Salzburg, Linz and Mattersburg have had significant progress. Now Last Die Tabelle Sp G U V D Pt 1 2 FC Red Bull Salzburg 31 21 8 2 47 71 2 1 Sturm Graz 31 19 3 9 20 60 3 3 SK Rapid Wien 31 15 10 6 25 55 4 5 LASK Linz 31 16 6 9 13 54 5 4 Admira Wacker Mödling 31 14 4 13 -5 46 6 6 FK Austria Wien 31 11 6 14 -4 39 7 8 SV Mattersburg 31 10 9 12 -6 39 8 7 Cashpoint SCR Altach 31 9 7 15 -10 34 9 9 RZ Pellets WAC 31 5 8 18 -28 23 10 10 SKN St. Pölten 31 2 5 24 -52 11
Round 32 Salzburg and Sturm Graz both won, so with four rounds to play, Salzburg enjoys an 11-point lead and far superior goal difference. Would need to lose four straight (and Sturm win four straight) to surrender the title at this point. St. Poelten lost and remains 12 points adrift in last place. They’re going to play the Erste Liga third-place finisher for a spot in the Bundesliga next year. Kienast’s Wiener Neustadt has fallen out of the top three and will have to close a three-point gap to earn the right to contest St. Poelten for that final Bundesliga spot.
Round 33 LASK 0 - 2 Rapid Wien Austria Wien 0 - 0 Admira Mödling Mattersburg 0 - 1 Altach St. Pölten 0 - 1 Wolfsberger AC Salzburg 4 - 1 Sturm Graz Well, it's been decided with three rounds to go. In the Sunday match, after the Europa League heartbreak, Salzburg finished off their only challenger in convincing fashion to take a 14-point lead and secure the Bundesliga title. Congrats to Salzburg for their fifth straight Austrian championship (and ninth in the last twelve years)! An interesting twist to this is that Salzburg and Sturm Graz will be competing again this week in the Cup final, where Salzburg has a chance to make it five straight in that competition as well. They are the undisputed superclub in Austrian soccer in this era. At the other end, Wolfsberger AC secured a place in next year's Bundesliga and placed St. Pölten in jeopardy of being relegated when they face an Erste Liga opponent in the weeks ahead.
Though the title was decided several weeks ago, the Bundesliga played its last round this weekend. With the places already determined, the top five teams earned a combined two points in the final matches. 2017/18 Bundesliga Table 1 Salzburg 83 2 Sturm Graz 70 3 Rapid Wien 62 4 LASK 57 5 Admira Mödling 51 6 Mattersburg 46 7 Austria Wien 43 8 Altach 38 9 Wolfsberger AC 33 10 St. Pölten 20 Last year, Rapid avoided ending in the bottom half of the table only on goal difference. This year, it was the other traditional Viennese powerhouse club Austria that dramatically underperformed. The team with the most Bundesliga titles--and last year's runners up--finished 7th and with a negative goal difference. As the Bundesliga expands to 12 teams next season, Wacker Innsbruck and Hartberg will be joining as the top two finishers in the Erste Liga. For Hartberg, it will be the club's first time in the highest division. It represents a steep ascent for the team from Steiermark which was playing in the third division (Regionalliga) a year ago. St. Pölten and Wiener Neustadt (third in Erste Liga), two Niederösterreich clubs about an hour apart, will compete this week for the 12th and final spot. 2018/19 Spots in Europe Salzburg - Champions League (3rd Qualifying Round) Sturm Graz - Champions League (2nd Qualifying Round) Rapid Wien - Europa League (3rd Qualifying Round) LASK - Europa League (2nd Qualifying Round) Admira Mödling - Europa League (2nd Qualifying Round)
St. Pölten beat Wiener Neustadt 3 - 1 on aggregate to stay in the Bundesliga next season. In the second leg today, Roman Kienast came on as a substitute for Wiener Neustadt but was red carded at the end of the match.