Austria
FIFA #22
A sleeping giant that's been napping since the 1950s but finally seems to be stirring. The high-press machine is real now — don't write them off.
📍 In the US
Staying in the New York area, where the Austrian expat community is small but culturally engaged. Austria's most passionate American supporters may actually be the tourists who've been to Vienna, fallen in love with it, and now feel an inexplicable personal investment in how the team performs.
Style
High press from the front with quick transitions — the idea is to suffocate opponents in their own half before they can settle.
Rivals
Germany. The neighbors share a language and a deep need to beat each other — Germany has historically been more successful at this, which Austria intends to correct.
Home Base
Vienna produced some of the greatest football thinkers in history — the Wunderteam of the 1930s was one of the first technically sophisticated international sides. Modern Austria has been slower to match those heights, but the football culture in Viennese cafés and terraces is very much alive, and this squad is finally showing the ambition to match it.
Human Rights
Freedom House
Political rights and civil liberties score (higher = more free)
Reporters Without Borders
Press Freedom Index ranking (lower = more free, out of 180 countries)
UN Human Development Index
Human Development Index score (higher = more developed, 0–1 scale)
Transparency International
Perceived public sector corruption — higher is cleaner
ILGA World
Legal status of same-sex relationships