Almost 30 years

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Lustenau coach Martin Brenner and his team face a tough road to the mission of "direct promotion".(Bild: www.austria-lustenau.at)

The dream of direct promotion! Lustenau Austria, who had to bid farewell to the Bundesliga last year after a disastrous season, also have this dream. However, a look at the statistics shows just how difficult it is to return to the top flight immediately.

"If we add a bit more quality and the squad is big enough," Austria captain Matthias Maak said in the "Krone" talk at the beginning of July. A lot has happened since then: Maak had to undergo surgery following a torn meniscus - suffered in the Cup win in Wals-Grünau - and will miss the Lustenau team for several months. And Austria have brought in some reinforcements ahead of the league opener at home to Lafnitz on Saturday (14.30).

Will that be enough to become the first team since FC Linz - who lost the relegation play-off against Ried in the 1994/95 season and were relegated - to achieve direct promotion back to the Bundesliga? According to betting providers Tipp3, SV Ried are the first contenders for promotion with odds of 1:2, while Lustenau are at 1:6 and thus in fourth place behind Admira and St. Pölten (1:5 each).