SV Austria Salzburg is an Austrian professional football club, based in the city of Salzburg. The club was formed in 2005 by some supporters of the original SV (Austria) Salzburg after it was renamed FC Red Bull Salzburg by its new owners, who also changed the club's colours from its traditional violet and white to red and white. The club commenced participation in the seventh tier of Austria's national league system in 2006, then rose through four successive championships to the third tier, Regionalliga West, in 2010. In 2015, the club gained promotion to the Erste Liga, one tier below the Austrian Bundesliga, only to be relegated a year later.[1]
Historical chart of Austria Salzburg league performance
The history of the old SV Austria Salzburg until 2005 is covered in the article about FC Red Bull Salzburg, as Red Bull took over and transformed the club in 2005. It is also the prehistory of the newly founded club.
The color dispute and the Violet-White initiative
When Red Bull GmbH's plans to acquire Austria Salzburg became known in April 2005, the club's supporters were positive about the plan due to the club's poor financial situation. In Austria, renaming a sports club is comparatively normal; many teams in football or ice hockey bear the name of a sponsor, usually to reorganize their finances or increase their budget. Usually, however, such changes are made with respect for the club's tradition, which is only gently altered. In this case, it was a radical reorganization of the club, which in effect amounted to a takeover of the club - Red Bull had the sole right to appoint the club's board of directors written into the club's statutes - that led to the founding of the initiative and a power struggle between Austria's fan scene and the new de facto owner.
Points of contention were the lack of acceptance of the club's history (the new management originally stated 2005 as the year of the club's foundation, which was only reversed under pressure from the ÖFB) and, above all, the traditional colours of violet-white, which remained the official club colours on paper, but in fact no longer existed. Red and white replaced the traditional colours of violet and white - not only as the colour of the jerseys - and the Red Bull logo became an essential part of the club crest.
As a reaction to the transformation of the club by the new owner, supporters founded the Violet-White initiative, whose initial aim was to preserve the club's violet and white tradition. They acted on several levels: On the one hand, negotiations were held with club officials, on the other hand, actions such as the peaceful invasion and occupation of the pitch during a friendly match were carried out.
The talks finally broke down when Red Bull only offered a purple captain's bow, a small purple logo of the new outfitter Adidas on the jerseys and purple socks for the goalkeeper as the only compromise, which was viewed as an insult by the club's traditionalists.[2] In the course of the first half of the 2005/06 season, Austria's fan camp split into traditional violet supporters and new Red Bull supporters. Protest banners, chants, continued violet choreographies and the violet jerseys and scarves still worn by the supporters were also an expression of the rejection of Red Bull and Dietrich Mateschitz.
During the talks, but increasingly after their failure, there were various incidents between the tradition-conscious supporters and the Red Bull Salzburg management. Further agitation was caused by the conversion of the fan sector from a standing to a seated sector and bans against alleged hooligans from supporters, which were, however, partially rescinded.
Supporters' solidarity and media coverage
Throughout Austria and in many European stadiums there were solidarity rallies of fan groups with the violet supporters. Their protest is generally understood as a fight by football supporters against the progressive commercialisation of the sport and is supported accordingly. Contrary to the usual rivalries between supporters of different clubs, the developments in Salzburg have led to football supporters seeing themselves as a unit and acting together "against modern football". The aim is to preserve the tradition and identity of the respective club and to prevent the clubs from becoming mere advertising vehicles. The supporters themselves see themselves as these bearers of tradition as the players, coaches and board change. Especially in the Ultrà movement, the vehemence with which Salzburg supporters resisted the new identity of their club was welcomed and supported.
Overall, supporters of all Austrian first division clubs have shown solidarity with the Violet-White initiative with banners and choreographies, as have the supporters of most second division clubs. In Germany, the supporters of many Bundesliga clubs have also expressed their solidarity, as have some of the supporters in the lower leagues. In total, 23 football fan clubs from Austria, 53 from the rest of Europe and even two from the USA have declared their solidarity with the initiative. Such unity and support among supporters is new in Austrian and European football history. Prominent footballers and coaches such as Hans Krankl, Paul Scharner, Toni Pfeffer, Ernst Dospel and Herbert Prohaska also support the initiative of the violet supporters.
In the run-up to the 2006 World Cup, various television stations such as ZDF and ARTE also increasingly documented the activities of the Violet-White initiative and the founding of the new association in order to provide information on how football supporters deal with the commercialisation of their sport.
Foundation of a new Austria
After the failure of the negotiations with the new club managers, the majority of the violet supporters withdrew from the stadium. The aim was to found a new Austria Salzburg. The first step in this direction was the founding of the club by entering it in the register of clubs under the name Sportverein Austria Salzburg on 7 October 2005.
The founding of the club as the last step of the protest has its antecedents in England. Already in similar cases in London, where AFC Wimbledon was founded as a reaction to the move of Wimbledon FC, and Manchester (after the purchase of Manchester United by Malcolm Glazer, the protests culminated in the new club FC United of Manchester), the new clubs were able to retain their supporters over a longer period of time.
The new club quickly had around 800 members and a large following. In order to be able to start playing as soon as possible, negotiations were held with the football section of PSV/Schwarz-Weiß Salzburg, which finally led to a cooperation for spring 2006. The team played in violet and white jerseys bearing the coats of arms of both clubs. At the end of the season, however, the cooperation was terminated again, as no guarantees were given by PSV for a future outsourcing of the football section.
The lowest division and the way to the top
In the 2006/07 season, Austria started as an independent club with a completely new squad (including some footballers from their own supporters' section) in the lowest division, the Salzburg 2nd Class North A, despite the fact that they had managed to stay in the Landesliga. The venue was the UFC Salzburg-Danubia ground in Nonntal.
At the beginning of the 2007/08 season, the search for a new long-term venue came to an end. SV Austria Salzburg now plays its matches at the Max Aicher Stadion in the district Maxglan of Salzburg. The club also secured the championship title in the three following seasons, which enabled them to march through to the Regionalliga West, Austria's third-highest division. With this success, Austria also became the first club from the province of Salzburg to achieve four promotions in a row.
Promotion to professional football and bankruptcy
In the 2015/16 season, Austria played in the second-tier Erste Liga and thus in professional football for the first time since its foundation. At the end of November 2015, the club announced that it had initiated reorganisation proceedings without self-administration. Shortly afterwards, coach Jørn Andersen resigned due to a lack of sporting prospects. He was succeeded by Gerald Baumgartner, who also took over the position of sporting director. Shortly afterwards, co-coach Thomas Klochan and goalkeeping coach Alex Schriebl also left the club. On 1 March 2016, the vast majority of creditors approved the reorganisation plan. As a result, the club, which was in debt to the tune of €1.4 million, was able to finish the 2015/16 season. While ninth place would have been enough to keep the club in the sporting relegation zone despite the deduction of 6 points, the club was automatically relegated to the Regionalliga West due to the insolvency. The following season 2016/17 in the Regionalliga West ended with relegation to the Salzburger Liga (4th tier). Another financial collapse could only be avoided through donations from members. In the second year, the club was promoted back to the Regionalliga, where Austria has competed ever since.
Season 2023/24
This season was the club's 90th anniversary, reflecting once again that the it embraces the history and tradition of the original Austria Salzburg. In addition, to the anniversary, it was officially announced that the club is now debt-free and therefore has no outstanding liabilities.
Furthermore, SV Austria Salzburg met FC Red Bull Salzburg for the first time, 18 years after the takeover and the resulting refounding, in the 2nd round of the Austrian Cup. Due to the classification as a high-risk game, the match could not be played in the home ground and had to be played in the stadium Untersbergarena in Grödig, which is about 10km away from Salzburg. The match took place in front of more than 4,000 spectators and attracted football fans from all over Europe. The first division team won 4–0.
SV Austria Salzburg qualified for the 2nd league that season. Promotion was rejected due to lacking infrastructure. A building project close to the stadium made it necessary to erect noise protection walls. Funding and commitment came too late for the licensing procedure.[3][4]
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