This is part two 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. Click here if you haven’t read part one.
Every Team that was Relegated from the Austrian Bundesliga Once and Never Came Back: Where Are They Now? (Part 2)
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Favoritner AC
- Full Name: Favoritner Athletik Club
- Founded: 1910
- Time in the Ö. Bundesliga: 1983-1985 (Two seasons)
- Current Status: Regionalliga Ost (3rd tier)
Hailing from the district of Favoriten, while Favoritner Athletik Club won promotion to the Bundesliga for the first time in 1983, that wasn’t the first time the Viennese club played in an Austrian top flight. The club, founded in 1910 as the footballing section of the bowling club Kegelklub Favorit, won promotion to the I. Liga in 1935 after defeating SK Slovan Wien in a two-legged playoff and played in the top flight until 1938. Skipping ahead to the creation of the Staatliga, Favoriten began the 1950s in the then third-tier Wiener Liga, and the next two and a half decades saw FavAC’s time split between the Wiener Liga and the 2. Landesliga. In 1977 the club became champions of the Wiener Liga and won promotion to the Regionalliga Ost for the first time, and after having won the Viennese championship, Favoriten went one better and became champions of the Regionalliga Ost at the first time of asking, thus returning to a national league after 40 years. The club had a decent debut in the 2. Division, finishing 10th in the 1978-79 season, but the club were relegated bottom of the division in 1980. The club made an immediate return to the 2. Division after a playoff victory over SV Stockerau, and in the 81/82 season finished 9th. Then in the 1982-83 season, Favoriten found themselves in a hunt for the division title, but while they missed out on the title to previous entrants SV St. Veit/Glan on goal difference (both teams finished on 40 points), the Viennese club still finished in second, securing a return to the top flight of Austrian football after 45 years.
Favoriten didn’t start the 1983-84 season off all that great, losing their first two matches against Union Wels and Austria Klagenfurt. The club did get their first win on matchday three defeating Linz 2-0 at home, but the months of September and October proved to be very frustrating for the capital side. They only won one other match in this timeframe (a 1-0 win over Neusiedl), and they suffered heavy defeats to the likes of Sturm Graz (6-1), Austria Salzburg (4-0), and LASK (5-1). These results saw Favoriten fall into the relegation zone, but the run-up to the winter break saw the club finish well, with wins over Grazer and Union Wels and a draw against Eisenstadt. The second half of the season went much smoother than the first, with Fav going unbeaten in their first four games (albeit all draws) and three consecutive wins in April. While the club went winless in the month of May, draws against Grazer and Admira Wacker were enough to see Favoriten survive for a second season.
Ahead of the 1984-85 campaign, the ÖFB announced a change in the league format that would result in the bottom five teams being relegated from the top flight for the 84/85 campaign. Having finished 13th in the previous season, the pressure was on for Favoriten to build on the form that saw them avoid relegation. It took four games for the capital side to earn a win, following draws against Grazer and First Vienna and a loss to newly-promoted DSV Leoben. But a disastrous 7-0 away loss to Rapid Vienna began a run of six games that saw Fav earn just one point, sending them to the foot of the table. a 3-0 win over Spittal/Drau stopped the slide, but this was followed by another thrashing away to a Viennese club, this time losing 6-0 to Austria Vienna. The club managed to finish strong before the winter break with two wins and a draw, but this was only enough to pull them up to 14th. The return of the season kicked off as poorly as the first half had, with Favoriten earning just one win between the months of March and April. Wins over Admira Wacker and Spittal seemed to have set Fav up for another strong finish, but as it would turn out for the Viennese, those would be the last points they would ever earn in the Bundesliga. The club failed to score a single goal in their last five games, losing four of them, including a 6-0 loss away to SK VÖEST Linz on the final matchday. With that, Favoriten were relegated from the Bundesliga in 14th with the worst offensive record that season.
A second successive relegation in the 1985-86 season saw Favoriten fall to the third tier Regionalliga Ost, where they would play for five seasons before returning to the 2. Division. During their time back in the second tier, Favoriten managed to reach back-to-back semi-finals of the Austrian Cup in the 1991-92 and 1992-93 editions, in both instances defeating Bundesliga sides en route, though they ultimately lost to the likes of Admira Wacker and Rapid Vienna respectively. Their exploits in the league were not as successful, however. After avoiding relegation in 91/92 and failing to earn promotion in 92/93, Favoriten were relegated back to the Regionalliga in the 93/94 season. They returned to the 2. Division after a season, but by this point poor finances were beginning to take a toll on the club. Halfway through the 96/97 campaign, Favoriten (who were 14th at the time) withdrew from the competition entirely and accepted a forced relegation back to the Regionalliga. To further reduce debts, ahead of the 1997-98 season Favoriten formed a syndicate with fellow Viennese club 1. Simmeringer SC, who at the time were playing in the 4th-tier Wiener Stadtliga. The club, which went by Sportgemeinschaft FavAC/Simmering, played its home games in Simmeringer’s Stadium, while the original FavAC acted as a second team which played in the Wiener Stadtliga under its own name. This arrangement did not last, however, as both clubs suffered relegation that season, with Favoriten ultimately falling to the then 5th-tier Oberliga-A while Simmeringer played in the Wiener Stadtliga. In 2002 Favoriten finally won promotion back to the Wiener Stadtliga, where they would play for 21 consecutive seasons before winning promotion back to the Regionalliga Ost at the end of the 2022-23 season.
SV Spittal/Drau
- Full Name: Sportverein Spittal an der Drau
- Founded: 1921
- Time in the Ö. Bundesliga: 1984-1985 (One season)
- Current Status: Kärntner Liga (4th tier)
Despite getting their start in 1921, Spittal/Drau wouldn’t become a mainstay in Carinthian football until post World War II when they were promoted to the top Carinthian division in 1946. Though they lasted just a season before relegation, they made an immediate comeback and earned access to the recently created Tauernliga in 1949, where they were once again relegated immediately. Another brief appearance in the Tauernliga came in 1955, but following another quick relegation the club entered a steady decline, even dropping down to the then 4th tier Unterliga for a brief stint. After achieving promotion back to the Landesliga Kärnten in 1961, the club established a firm foothold in the division, but struggled to progress any further for nearly twenty years. It wasn’t until the 1980s that tangible progress was made. In the 79/80 season, Spittal manage to win their first state league title, sending them to a promotion playoff agaisnt Oberösterreich champions Union Wels. Despite winning the first leg 2-1, Spittal lost the tie 6-3 on aggregate. The club won the Carinthian league again in 1981, but again failed to reach the 2. Division after finishing behind SV Flavia Solva in the playoffs. Finally in 1982, Spittal/Drau finally managed promotion to the 2. Division thanks in large part due to the Bundesliga’s expansion opening up more space in the second tier. The Carinthians first season in the division saw them finish 7th, but in just their second season the club managed to top the divison on 41 points, earning them the right to play in the Bundesliga for the 1984-85 season.
As mentioned with Favoriten previously, it was decided that for the 1985-86 season the number of teams in the league would be reduced from 16 to 12, already placing high expectations on a newly promoted side like Spittal. Things did not start on the right foot, however, as Spittal lost their opening game 1-0 to Eisenstadt, and a 5-1 loss at home to Austria Vienna already sent the Carinthians to last place. Spittal earned their first win on matchday four, defeating Austria Klagenfurt 1-0, and subsequent 0-0 draws to Linz and Grazer brought the club up to 13th before a 4-0 loss to First Vienna sent them back to the foot of the table. That would be the last time the club found itself bottom, however, with wins over Donawitz and even Rapid Vienna as well as a draw to Austria Salzburg brought them up to 11th. Spittal’s results oscillated between winning and losing up until the winter break with the club sitting in 10th by the halfway point of the season. As it were, that pattern continued in the first few matches of the spring season, losing to Austria Vienna, then winning against Wiener SC, then losing again to Linz. Draws against Austria Klagenfurt and Grazer and a win over First Vienna brought Spittal up to 9th in the table, though they were only four points ahead of the relegation zone. The Carinthians couldn’t maintain this form, however, and consecutive losses to Donawitz, Rapid, and Favoriten brought them back down to 11th. Spittal continued on their losing streak, losing 4-1 to SSW Innsbruck and 3-1 to soon-to-be relegated Austria Salzburg to send them down to 13th. A 3-1 win over LASK stopped the slide, but being level on points with Donawitz and Linz on 23 with a much inferior goal difference, Spittal needed to keep pace with the other two to have any chance of survival. In the penultimate game of the season, however, Spittal lost a tightly contested away match to Sturm Graz 3-2, and with Donawitz and Linz both winning their games, the result all but confirmed Spittal’s relegation. The club closed out the season with a 1-1 draw with Admira/Wacker.
Spittal’s first season back in the 2. Division saw them having to contend with a radically new format compared to the one they had known in their last stint in the division (more on that later). In the 1985-86 season, the club qualified for the promotion playoffs, but fell a couple of points short of regaining access to the Bundesliga. The Carinthians missed out on the promotion playoffs for the next three seasons (missing the 1987-88 playoffs on goal difference), but returned in the 89/90 season where they finished bottom of their promotion group. The club failed to qualify for the playoffs again, and following another league format change in 1993, Spittal continued vying for promotion with the return of a more conventional league system. Controversy came in the aftermath of the 1997-98 season when Spittal lost out on promotion to SK Vorwärts Steyr. Steyr, who were heavily in debt, had applied for a Bundesliga license twice and both times had been rejected. However, on the third try the club finally succeeded, on the condition that they would have to start the 98/99 Bundesliga season with a 3 point deduction. Had Steyr had their license denied, Spittal would have won promotion to the Bundesliga in their stead. Spittal, along with SCR Altach (who would have avoided relegation had Steyr not been allowed promotion) filed a lawsuit in civil court, and the court ultimately ruled in their favor, allowing both Steyr and Spittal into the Bundesliga and temporarily expanding the division from 10 to 11 teams. The ten members of the Bundesliga, however, did not approve of the decision and spoke out against expanding the league to 11 teams. Before the 98/99 season could commence, the Bundesliga relented and settled an agreement with Spittal that saw the club stay in the second division in exchange for financial compensation. The compensation ultimately meant little, however, as Spittal were relegated to the third tier in 98/99 after losing a relegation playoff against Regionalliga Ost champions Untersiebenbrunn on away goals. This point would begin a gradual decline for Spittal/Drau. The club mostly languished in the Regionalliga Mitte (save for a failed promotion push in 05/06) before sufferring relegation to the Kärntner Liga in 2009, where they have played since.
Salzburger AK 1914
- Full Name: Salzburger Athletiksport-Klub 1914
- Founded: 1914
- Time in the Ö. Bundesliga: 1985-1986 (One season)
- Current Status: Salzburger Liga (4th Tier)
Ask anyone today which club hailing from the city of Salzburg (or really the entire state of Salzburg for that matter) is the best and most successful, their answer would most certainly be Red Bull Salzburg. Formerly known as SV Austria Salzburg prior to its acquisition by the multinational conglomerate, the club today has won (among other things) a total of 17 Austrian Bundesliga titles (including the last ten in a row), nine Austrian Cups, and even finished runners-up in the UEFA Cup (today the Europa League) in 1994. However, before the Austrian giants’ founding in 1933, there was another Salzburg club that would enjoy an era of dominance - albeit on a much smaller scale. Salzburger Athletiksport-Klub are the oldest club hailing from the state, having been founded in 1914. The club entered the Salzburg football championship for the 1921-22 season, and would go on to dominate the division, winning 15 consecutive titles from 1924 up until the Anschluss, and remaining the all-time record champion with 30 titles in total. SAK reached the final of the Austiran amateur state championship three times between 1934-1937 (though they lost all of them), and even sent several players to the Austrian national team (including the likes of Ernst Bacher, Adolf Laudon, and Eduard and Karl Kainberger) for the 1936 Olympics, where Das Team ultimately earned silver behind Italy.
After the creation of the All-Austrian Championship in 1949, however, the state championships began to lose their relevance, and so too did SAK. The Nonntaler became the first Salzburg side to reach the new top flight, but their stints in the Staatsliga A were very brief due to being unable to compete with the bigger clubs from across the country. The club played in the top flight in the 52/53 and 61/62 seasons, both times finishing bottom with just one win. Salzburg even had a few stints down in the third tier, the last prior to their promotion to the Bundesliga being in 1980 where they defeated SC Austria Lustenau in a promotion playoff. Now in the 2. Division, SAK spent their first four seasons either mid-table or battling relegation. But in the 1984-85 season, with only one spot available for promotion, Salzburg had an incredible turnaround. Having finished 14th out of 16 teams in the season prior, SAK managed to eek out SV Flavia Solva Wagna by a single point to both win the 2. Division title and promotion to the Bundesliga. And with Austria Salzburg’s relegation that same season, this marked the first time since 1962 that SAK would play in a higher division then their cross-town rivals.
Salzburg’s third appearance in the Austrian top flight would be very different from its previous two stints in a very big way. Starting in the 1985-86 season, after the first and second divisions were completed (22 rounds total), the two leagues would be combined and broken off into three playoff modules - a championship playoff (positions 1-8 in the Bundesliga), a middle playoff (pos. 9-12 in the Bundesliga and pos. 1-4 in the 2. Division), and a relegation playoff (pos. 5-12 in the 2. Division). Like their other top flight campaigns, however, SAK did not have a fun time. The Blau-Gelben started the campaign with a 4-0 loss away to LASK, with their first point coming in a 0-0 draw at home to Sturm Graz. In their third game away to Eisenstadt, it looked like the club were on track to record their first win, but after having gone 2-0 up, Salzburg ultimately lost the game 3-2. This would become a consistent problem throughout the campaign. SAK rarely got themselves into winning positions due to their low scoring, and when they did they failed to hold on to them, losing a total of eight points as a result (including a game against Rapid Vienna where they also lost after having gone 2-0 up). Very rarely were SAK blown out, though, only losing by more than 3 goals on two occasions (5-0 vs Austria Vienna and 4-0 vs Rapid Vienna). After 22 games, Salzburg finished bottom of the Bundesliga on 7 points without a single win to their name, meaning they qualified for the middle playoffs, which would see them either remain in the Bundesliga or drop to the 2. Division. This part of the season wasn’t much better, however, as SAK failed to score in their first four matches, conceding seven in the meantime. It wasn’t until game seven of the playoffs where the club earned its first win of the season: a 1-0 victory over Eisenstadt. This wasn’t enough to lift them from the foot of the table, however, and though they did pick up a second win in game 11 after beating Spittal/Drau 2-1 away, the following 2-1 loss to DSV Alpine confirmed their relegation to the 2. Division.
With their relegation, the 1986-87 season marked the first time since 1967 where SAK and Austria Salzburg played in the same division. But while SV were on an upwards trajectory, SAK only continued going down. After surviving the relegation playoffs on goal difference, the club were unable to avoid falling into the Regionalliga after finishing bottom of the table. To add insult to injury, the rise of the now defunct FC Salzburg made SAK at best the third-best team from the city for a time. After nearly going bankrupt in the summer of 1991, the Blau-Gelben suffered back-to-back relegations in 1992 and 1993, seeing them fall to the 1. Landesliga Salzburg - the fifth tier of Austrian football. Having never fallen this far down the pyramid, it took two seasons for SAK to win promotion back to the Landesliga Salzburg, and in their first season back in the fourth tier the club made it two for two, winning the division and returning to the Regionalliga West. After eight consecutive seasons in the third tier, the club fell back to the Landesliga, and the loss of several major sponsors once again threatened the club’s existence. A brief return to the Regionalliga followed in 2005, but relegation in 2006 saw the club have to make a complete overhaul with its squad. Of the 21 players SAK had at its disposal in the 05/06 Regionalliga campaign, 17 left head of the 06/07 season.
Despite initial difficulties, the club managed to stabilize, helped by the acquisition of Direktanlage.at as their sponsor. After another nine season in the fourth tier, Salzburg won promotion back to the Regionalliga in 2016, though that was only because FC Bergheim (who finished 1st ahead of SAK in the Salzburg Liga table) voluntarily gave up their promotion spot. In the 2019-20 season, the football associations of Tyrol and Vorarlberg, due to rising travel costs, elected to have the Regionalliga West split into three divisions - one for each of Tyrol, Vorarlberg, and Salzburg, with the best two from each division entering the newly-formed Eliteliga to play for a chance for promotion to the 2. Liga. SAK won the Salzburg division, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the promotion playoffs were cancelled, and no team won promotion to the second tier since none applied for admission to the 2. Liga. The 2020-21 Regionalliga Salzburg season was paused in October due to COVID and officially cancelled in April 2021. After having finished bottom of the division in the first half of the 21/22 season, SAK managed to survive in the relegation playoffs. Then in the 22/23 campaign, it was decided that the Regionalliga West would be reformed for the 2023-24 season, which meant a restructuring of the league that would see SAK relegated to back to the Salzburg Liga after they finished in the automatic relegation spots.
VSE St. Pölten
- Full Name: Voith-Schwarze Elf St. Pölten
- Founded: 1973
- Time in the Ö. Bundesliga: 1988-1994 (Six seasons)
- Current Status: Extinct
While several clubs have existed in the city of St. Pölten, the capital and largest city of the state of Niederösterreich, for the longest time none of them every made a big splash in the Austrian footballing landscape. The oldest of them, 1. St. Pöltner SC founded in 1920, never made an appearance outside of the regional leagues, with just one Landesliga Niederösterreich title to their name in 1934. Mergers amongst clubs in the city were common and in 1938 1. St. Pöltner merged with local side Schwarze Elf to form St. Pöltner SV, who would eventually revert their name to Schwarze Elf. The most successful club in the city prior to the 1980s was BSV Voith St. Pölten, founded in 1948 as the sports department of the German company Voith who opened a subsidiary in St. Pölten (Voith Austria Holding) in 1904. BSV managed to reach as high as the Regionalliga Ost (at the time the second tier) in 1959, where they played for five seasons before being relegated in 1964. In 1973, BSV and Schwarze Elf (both playing in the NÖ Landesliga) decided to merge to become VSE St. Pölten, though the club still used 1920 as its official founding date, legally being considered the natural successor of Schwarze Elf. The new club didn’t have a great start, finding themselves down in the 5th tier by 1975 due to a combination of league restructuring and poor performances. VSE’s stay in the lower divisions would last until 1984, where a series of successive promotions saw the club rise to the Regionalliga Ost by 1985, largely boosted by the club entering into a syndicate with SV Gablitz. After two season in the third tier - a time that saw legendary Czechoslovak midfielder Antonín Panenka - VSE won promotion to the 2. Division, and following the departure of Panenka in 1987, the club would make a statement of intent with that summer’s acquisition of another legend, this time in the form of Argentine striker and 1978 World Cup winner Mario Kempes. While the then 33 year old was beginning to enter the twilight of his career, he still proved to be a massive boon for the side, helping them finish 4th in the table on goal difference and qualifying them for the promotion playoffs. The winter of 1987 saw VSE once again make big moves in the transfer market, securing Austrian coach Thomas Parits (who won the Austrian Bundesliga in 1985 with Rapid Vienna) as well as several proven Bundesliga players, including the likes of Ernst Ogris, Leopold Rotter, and Slobodan Branković. VSE ultimately finished 3rd in the middle playoff following a victory over SK Vorwärts Steyr, sending the Black White and Blue to the Bundesliga.
With further reinforcements to their squad in the summer of 1988, VSE were hellbent on avoiding relegation, and in the opening game of the 88/89 season, they made sure the rest of the league knew that, defeating Rapid Vienna at home 1-0 . Despite losing the next game 2-1 to Admira/Wacker, the club went on an incredible run of seven games unbeaten, started off by a 6-1 win over First Vienna, even spending some time on top of the table. The good results combined with the star power of players like Kempes saw the club draw increasing attendances at the Voithplatz, rising from 7,000 at the start of the season to as high as 22,000 in mid-September. Though the club only won one of its last six games before the winter break, the period before that was good enough to earn them a 4th place finish on 25 points (10-5-7), qualifying them for the championship playoff. Come the spring season, however, VSE’s poor form from the end of the fall season went off a cliff. They failed to score in their first five games of the playoffs, losing all of them with an aggregate score of 14-0. The slide was halted temporarily with a 1-1 draw against Admira/Wacker, but the club failed to win a single game in the playoffs, earning just four points. The campaign ended with a 7-3 loss to Admira/Wacker, seeing VSE finish bottom. The fall portion of the 89/90 season wasn’t as good as the prior campaign, but with seven wins and seven draws from 22 games the club managed to squeak into the championship playoffs again by a single point. This time around VSE managed to win a couple of games (1-0 vs First Vienna, 2-0 vs Sturm Graz), finishing 7th overall. The summer of 1990 saw the departures of Kempes, Ogris, and manager Parits, and the club’s performances in the 90/91 campaign took another dip. One notable highlight though was another 1-0 home win over Rapid Vienna in November, causing Rapid’s manager Hans Krankl desperately avoid questioning from journalists. Ultimately the club finished bottom of the league on 11 points, sending them to the middle playoff for the first time. They survived with seven wins and five draws, landing them third and insuring another season in the top flight.
Over the next two Bundesliga seasons, VSE managed to qualify for the championship playoffs on both occasions, but they never managed to finish higher than 6th in the 1992-93 season. The spring portion of the 92/93 campaign saw VSE earn another landmark victory over Rapid Vienna (5-0 at home in May), but also suffer their heaviest top-flight defeat (7-1 away to Austria Vienna in June). Ahead of the 1993-94 season, the ÖFB decided to ditch the playoff structure and revert the Bundesliga back to the old 10-team format, with each team facing each other four times. Led by new head coach Anton Pichler, VSE had a decent start to the season, with victories over Austria Vienna, Austria Salzburg, and Vorwärts Steyr within their first five games. Following the victory over Salzburg, however, the Schwarz-Weiß-Blauen picked up just two points in their next seven games, and in total the club managed just two more victories through the rest of the Fall season (1-0 and 2-1 over VfB Mödling and Sturm Graz respectively). These poor results saw VSE perpetually stuck in 9th for much of the campaign up to that point, with the bad performances of Wiener SC being the only thing keeping them away from automatic relegation. The Spring season saw virtually no improvement, earning just one point through all of March (albeit from a 0-0 draw vs Salzburg), and just a win and a draw in April. What should have been a difficult month in May, however, turned out to be the club’s best, containing 1-0 and 5-0 victories over Austria Vienna and Mödling respectively, coupled with 1-1 draws against Rapid and relegation rivals Steyr. A 3-1 loss to Admira/Wacker on the penultimate matchday, however, saw VSE stuck in 9th behind Steyr by two points, but because Steyr had an 11 goal advantage in goal difference, that meant that even if VSE were to win its last game and Steyr were to lose, it was basically guaranteed VSE would finish 9th and have to go to the relegation playoffs - which is exactly what happened. In the playoffs, VSE were pitted against 2. Division runners-up FC Linz. The club lost both legs of the tie, and by an aggregate score of 3-5, St. Pölten were relegated from the Bundesliga after six seasons.
VSE were tipped as clear favorites for promotion in the 1994-95 2. Division season, and early on in the season that appeared to be the case, with the club winning seven of its first ten games. For much of the first have of the season the club were either 1st or 2nd, but with just two wins from their final 11 games the club ultimately finished 6th. March 1995 also saw the club file for bankruptcy, with outstanding debts totaling up to around 20 million Austrian schillings (~€2.7 million in today’s money), with the 20% compulsory compensation being accepted by the St. Pölten regional court in January 1996. The bankruptcy proceedings highlighted an awful 1995-96 season that saw them finish just two points and one spot above the relegation zone. A key lowlight that season was a match against FC Linz in September that had to be rescheduled due to the lights at the Voithplatz going out during the game. VSE were losing 3-1 before the incident, but in the replay that followed next month, they lost the game 7-1. St. Pölten rebounded to 6th in 96/97, but in the 97/98 season, the decision to shrink the second division to 10 teams for the following campaigns saw VSE’s 9th place finish pit them once again in a relegation playoff, this time against Regionalliga West champions SV Wörgl. After the tie ended 1-1 on aggregate, VSE lost the ensuing penalty shootout 5-6, and thus dropped down to the third tier. To avoid this fate, however, the club merged with second division side SV Gerasdorf to form FC Niederösterriech St. Pölten. The new club had a good push for promotion, but still fell well behind SW Bregenz for the promotion spot. Now heavily indebted, FCN were desperate for any funds they could get to avoid total catastrophe. Hope seemed to have come in the form of American investor Benjamin English, marketing manager of the investment group inFavorit. English sold a big vision to FCN, promising a pool of 5.54 billion schillings (~€776 million today) of investment through his supposed SBC Foundation, of which 2 billion alone would go towards a new stadium. There was even talk of changing the club’s name to “Flash St. Pölten”, and English promised to take the club to the UEFA Champions League within 4-5 years. As it turned out, however, this was all a fiction. English (née Abramovici) was exposed as a fraudster - his supposed SBC Foundation was found to have not existed in any of the locations English claimed it was based, and English himself had been investigated by Austrian police on several occasions, even being imprisoned in Garsten, Austria in 1991 for fraud. In fact, FCN weren’t even the first target of this scheme, as English had approached LASK earlier with similar delusions of grandeur. English was arrested in Linz in December 1999 for commercial fraud, and FCN subsequently pursued legal action against inFavorit. The club’s death at this point seemed inevitable. They defeated WSG Tirol 3-0 in November just before the winter break, and three months later the club filed for bankruptcy. With that, their license was revoked, the club was dissolved, and their remaining fixtures were given as 3-0 forfeits.
After the 1999-00 season, a new club named Sportklub Niederösterreich St. Pölten was formed and is seen as the unofficial successor to FCN. The club took over FCN’s infrastructure (including the stadium until 2012 and the academy) and began play in the 2. Landesliga West - the fifth tier of Austrian soccer. In just two years of existence, SKN won back-to-back promotions and found themselves in the Regionalliga Ost. By 2008 the club had reached the second division (at this point named the Erste Liga), where in seven seasons they finished either 4th or 5th. The 2013-14 season was an incredible one for SKN. In the Austrian Cup, the club managed to reach the final, defeating top division sides SV Ried and Sturm Graz en route. In the final they faced off against Red Bull Salzburg, where they lost 4-2. However, because RB had also won the Bundesliga that season, this meant that SKN were eligible to participate in the qualifying rounds of the 2014-15 UEFA Europa League. Pölten entered in the second qualifying round, where after defeating Bulgarian side Botev Plovdiv 3-2 on aggregate they went up against Dutch giants PSV Eindhoven in the third round, where they lost 4-2 agg. The following season, SKN won promotion to the Bundesliga, where they would play for five seasons (finishing as high as 6th in 2018-19) before being relegated to the second division after losing a playoff against Austria Klagenfurt 5-0 agg, and the club has been playing in the 2. Liga since.
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This concludes part two. Part three will be out on a later date.
The writing about SAK was really nice.