SC Wiener Viktoria (Austria)

Sports Club Wiener Viktoria is a sports club based in the Meidling district of the Austrian capital of Vienna that was formed on March 22nd 1947, out of the remnants of Renz Sport- und Social Club that was formed in 1931 and then Sports Club Rio who were dissolved in 1939.

Football is the main activity of the club, which also has a department for martial arts. For their first sixty years the club played in the lower reaches of the Wiener Fußball Verband league organisation.

By 2007-08 Viktoria found themselves in the fifth tier Oberliga A where they ended in eighth position before finishing as runners-up the next season under coach Milos Letic as Robert Holub and Drazen Vidovic smashed in the goals.

A fourth place in 2010-11 was followed by the appointment of the Austrian national side record scorer Toni Polster arriving as coach. He took the side to the title in 2011-12 with striker Markus Kapeller scoring an incredible forty six goals.

The success continued. Viktoria qualified for the ÖFB Cup, where they progressed to the Round of 16 before being eliminated by Bundesliga club SV Reid. The Wiener Stadtliga championship was also won with midfielder Bernhard Ungerböck a huge contributing factor.

The success was noticed by FC Admira Wacker Mödling who tempted Polster away with Andreas Reisinger arriving in his place. The new man lasted until January 2014 when Polster returned but could not save his side from relegation from Regionalliga Ost.

Back in the Wiener Stadtliga, Viktoria finished in twelfth and then seventh position in 2015-16. An eighth place in 2016-17 was backed up with tenth in 2017-18. The club retained their faith in coach Polster and were rewarded.

The team held off the challenge of ASK Elektra to lift the Wiener Stadtliga title in 2018-19 thanks to the form of ever present goalkeeper Günther Arnberger and the goals of Dominik Rotter with assistance from Kevin Bangai.

Viktoria were in seventh place in the Regionalliga Ost table when the 2019-20 season was abandoned owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.

SC Wiener Viktoria will play in Regionalliga Ost in the 2020-21 season.

My visit

Sunday 8^th March 2020

It was day three of my long weekend of football, sightseeing and socialising in the beautiful city of Vienna. I awoke at Star Inn Hotel Wien Schönbrunn in excellent form after an early night and a proper rest on a sunny morning.

Some breakfast was in order, so I broke the journey to my first venue by calling in at McDonalds outside Meidling station, as much to break a €50 note somewhere where I knew that they would have change.

It was just one stop on the U6 train to Tscherttegasse from where a short walk on Graffitistraße alongside a railway brought me to the entrance to Sportplatz Wiener Viktoria on the corner of Oswaldgasse.

The neat and tidy venue with artificial pitch also staged the games of lower league side Wien United, and had parents and youngsters congregating for some morning action. It was clear that the ground graders were not as stringent in Austria in terms of spectator accommodation.

The ground having good changing rooms and playing surface with a clubhouse seemed more important than grandstands and seats that hardly anybody would ever use. There was a small area of cover further up the touchline.

After retracing my footsteps to take the U6 to Westbanhof to change for the U3 to Kendlerstraße where there was time to visit the home of SV Dinamo Helfort 15 Young Stars before taking in the Stadtliga match between Slovan HAC and Schwechat.

Later that evening I would receive a reminder of Viktoria when I ended up in Pub Schönbrunn and spotted a club scarf on the wall. The owner was both shocked and happy that I seemed to know about them.