About the Vienna Women’s Football Section
First Vienna FC 1894, Austria’s oldest football club, was the first Bundesliga club to establish a women's team, doing so in 1989. At the time, the entire team from the club "KSV der Wiener Berufsschulen", which had existed for 10 years, was taken over, along with coach Dipl.-Päd. Christine Hainzl. In 1997, the women's team was dissolved and registered under the club "FC Hellas Kagran".
In autumn 2011, First Vienna FC 1894 re-established a girls' section under the leadership of Christine Hainzl, starting with two teams (U15 and U11). During the 2011/12 season, these teams played numerous successful friendly matches. The newly formed women's team in autumn 2012, made up of players from the U15 team and several new additions, went on to win the championship in the Vienna 1st Division A – the fourth-highest tier in Austrian women's football – during the 2012/13 season, earning promotion to the Vienna Women’s League.
In the 2017/18 season, the women’s first team won the championship in the Vienna Women’s League and secured promotion to the 2nd Division East/South after two victories over the Lower Austrian champions Langenrohr (3:1 and 3:0). The team also won the Vienna Women’s Cup that same season. In 2018/19, the promoted team achieved an impressive 4th place out of 12 teams.
Starting from 2019/20, all Bundesliga teams were required to maintain a B-team in the newly created Future League. This led to the creation of a single nationwide 2nd division, eliminating the previous East and West split.
In the 2019/20 season, Vienna’s women won the autumn championship in the ÖFB 2nd Division, though the title was annulled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The team continues to compete in this league with the clear goal of promotion to the 1st Bundesliga.
To accelerate this progress, Austrian national team player and all-time top scorer Nina Burger was brought in. After ending her 14-year international career, Burger took over the role of sporting director, responsible for the overall development and coordination of women’s football at the club. Christine Hainzl took on administrative leadership.
With this stronger positioning of its women’s department, First Vienna FC 1894 is once again breaking new ground, setting a clear signal and taking another step towards professionalizing and expanding women's football.
In the 2020/21 season, the team achieved promotion to the top tier, the Planet Pure Women’s Bundesliga. In their debut season 2021/22, the promoted team impressed by finishing fourth.
This was followed by a 5th place finish in the 2022/23 season, and in 2023/24, the club achieved its best result in women’s football history by finishing second – earning a spot in the UEFA Women’s Champions League qualifiers.
The qualification tournament, featuring AC Sparta Prague, Paris FC, and Linköping FV, took place in September 2024 in Linköping, Sweden. In the semi-final, the team faced Paris FC and, despite a valiant effort, lost 0:9. In the match for third place against hosts Linköping, Vienna lost again, this time 0:8, after playing most of the game with a player down.
In the 2024/25 season, the team finished third in the regular season, qualifying for the Championship Playoff. After six further matches, the team ended the season in fourth place overall.
Contact
Head of Women’s Football:
Alexander Widhalm
Email: widhalm@1894.at
