Austria

Austria, nicknamed Das Team, are a UEFA member competing in their first FIFA World Cup since 1998, having qualified for the 2026 edition. The team reached its best World Cup finish — third place — in 1954, and experienced a golden era in the 1930s as the celebrated Wunderteam under coach Hugo Meisl.

Austria played their first international on 12 October 1902, defeating Hungary 5–0 in Vienna — predating the official founding of the Austrian Football Association (ÖFB) on 18 March 1904. Under Hugo Meisl in the 1930s, Austria became known as the 'Wunderteam', a dominant force in European football; they reached the 1934 World Cup semi-finals and won the Olympic silver medal in 1936.

Their finest World Cup came in 1954 in Switzerland, where Austria finished third, highlighted by a record-setting 7–5 victory over Switzerland that remains the highest-scoring game in World Cup history. The following decades brought decline, with Austria failing to qualify for several World Cups and rarely advancing past the group stage of major tournaments.

A sustained revival began with Ralf Rangnick's appointment as head coach in April 2022. Austria qualified for UEFA Euro 2024 and, crucially, booked their place at the 2026 FIFA World Cup — ending a 28-year absence from the tournament. Led by captain David Alaba and all-time record scorer Marko Arnautović, the team enters the 2026 tournament as a competitive dark-horse side.