License: Austria Wien has to tremble again

The club, in which Jürgen Werner joined as an investor, described the decision as “incomprehensible from our point of view”. However, the decision of Senate 5 of the Bundesliga does not come as a surprise: Austria is dragging along liabilities amounting to 64.4 million euros.

The Senate 5 questioned a cooperation commitment from a long-term business partner, although this had also been positively evaluated by the auditor, Austria announced. Last year, the Bundesliga “also accepted such a cooperation commitment from this business partner”, it was fulfilled as in previous years and is part of the continued existence forecast. “The fact that the Bundesliga doubts the continued existence of the prognosis has no basis,” said the club, which will protest.

Austria can now submit documents later. On April 27, the protest committee makes the decision that ends the appeals process within the Bundesliga. In the past two seasons, the Viennese passed the Nachzipf, but were penalized with a three-point deduction this season. After that, the only option left would be to file a complaint with the Permanent Neutral Arbitration Court, which will issue a verdict by May 31 at the latest – three days before the last round of the Bundesliga. If the red card persists, Austria, which also does not meet the admission criteria for the second division, would have to be relegated to the amateur division.