Austria spokesman Bösch

A “thought process” for the second division

Matthias Maak and his team-mates will be playing in League Two this season.(Bild: GEPA pictures)

A project team is to "think about" a possible reform of the second division. The club representatives will meet next Wednesday for a club conference, where possibilities are to be explored.

With relegated Austria Lustenau and SW Bregenz, two Vorarlberg clubs will be involved in the second division in the coming season. Apart from the derby, there are only a few attractive matches and many long away trips.

FC Dornbirn was forced to relegate from League Two.(Bild: GEPA)

In general, the 16-team league is now seen as stillborn, as clubs can hardly survive financially in the long term. The most recent example is FC Dornbirn, which is even threatened with insolvency. This format is therefore once again the focus of attention. "To be honest, we have to think about what options there are," ÖFB President Klaus Mitterdorfer has personally taken up the matter. The ÖFB boss is looking even deeper and also wants to take a close look at the third and fourth highest leagues.

A project team, to which each province is allowed to send one representative, will now explore the possibilities until the end of the year. The Bundesliga representatives will meet next Wednesday for a club conference. Austria Lustenau's board spokesman Bernd Bösch will also be there. His statement on the possible reform: "An operation with 28 fully professional clubs, as is currently the case, cannot function in Austria. That is clearly too many." However, Bösch does not want to commit himself to what a possible reform might look like. "It won't come for at least two years, because that's how long the TV contracts still run."

Bundesliga increase
Increasing the Bundesliga to 16 clubs seems to make the most sense. "The infrastructure would certainly allow it. However, this would mean that the TV money would have to be shared by more clubs. Some people are against that."