SK Slovan-Hütteldorfer AC (Austria)

SK Slovan-Hütteldorfer AC is a football club from the Austrian capital of Vienna that was formed on January 11th 1902 as Slovan SK by Czech and Slovaks in the city playing in green and white colours. The football team reached Austria’s Zweite Klasse second tier.

In the early days without a home ground of their own Slovan played their matches on Laaer Berg, on the Schmelz and in Heiligenstadt. Other matches were also played as tenants to Vienna Cricket and Football Club and Wacker Wien.

Slovan became an established outfit at that level, going on to narrowly miss out on promotion in 1921-22. The following season the level was split into two regional sections. Slovan won the Süd group and promotion to the top tier while they built their own ground on Laaer Berg.

The goals of Rudolf Hanel helped his team stay up in Erste Klasse. Slovan also reached the final of the ÖFB Cup in 1923-24 where they lost an amazing match 8-6 to Wiener Amateur-Sportverein in Simmering.

The club consolidated their position as the prolific Hanel was capped by the national team before he moved on to SC Nicholson as Slovan were relegated in 1929-30 before returning to the top flight twelve months later as II Liga champions.

Slovan lasted a couple of seasons at that level before dropping back down in 1931-32. The team won their regional division in 1934-35 but missed out on promotion after losing to Favoritner AC on aggregate in the play off.

The building of their ground would prove a financial millstone around the clubs’ neck before Austria was annexed with Germany in World War Two. This led to a difficult time for Slovan as the Czech’s movements were severely restricted.

The German authorities insisted on the replacement of club officials’, so they became Austrian based. The club was given permission to continue under the name of AC Sparta Wien from the autumn of 1940.

During the War years the Austrian championship became one of sixteen top tier divisions, with the second levels feeding into the Gauliga Donau-Alpenland. Slovan, as Sparta reached Group A of the second tier 1. Klasse Wien for the 1943-44 season.

In 1945 the club returned to its former moniker as a team in Wiener 2. Klasse A continuing as their České Srdce; Czech Heart home stadium finishing as league runners-up, going on to become Wiener Liga champions in 1948-49 to climb back to Staatsliga A.

The leap proved to be too steep as Slovan were relegated after just one season before going down to the third tier a further twelve months down the line. The standard of the Wiener Liga also proved testing as the team skirted with relegation on several occasions before going down in 1953-54.

The club merged with SC Olympia 33, a club from the Breitensee district for the 1960-61 season to become SK Slovan Olympia Wien while taking Olympia’s position in the second level Regionalliga Ost after they’d played in the top division the previous season before going down to the Wiener Liga in 1964-65.

The club dropped Olympia from their title in the summer of 1969 prior to relegation to the fourth tier in 1970-71 with Slovan in financial trouble. České Srdce was abandoned before Austria Wien took up residence, later rechristening it Franz-Horr-Stadion.

Slovan moved into Olympia’s old home on Steinbruchstraße, changing colours to blue and white as a Wiener Stadtliga club,  which became the fourth tier after league reorganisation for the 1974-75 campaign. A further merger with Hütteldorfer AC, who had been formed in 1911 occurred in 1976 to become SK Slovan-Hütteldorfer AC or Slovan HAC for short.

Slovan won the Stadtliga in 1977-78. A runners-up spot in the Regionalliga Ost season of 1978-79 followed before a further restructuring saw the club drop back down to the fourth tier Wiener Stadtliga for a further spell.

In 1983-84 the side went on a fine run in the ÖFB Cup saw wins against UFC Purbach, SC Eisenstadt and SK Mittersill to reach the quarter finals where Austria Wien ended hopes of glory with a 5-0 win.

The amalgamation led to a loss in Czech character at the club, but nonetheless a huge name in the history of Czechoslovakian football boosted morale at Slovan. A veteran Antonín Panenka was part of the team that was crowned as Stadtliga champions in 1986-87.

The form continued with Slovan winning the Regionalliga Ost title in 1987-88 but being denied promotion as their home ground had an artificial pitch, which weren’t permitted at the time in the second tier.

Slovan went down in bottom place in 1991-92, remaining in the Stadtliga until being relegated to the fifth level Oberliga A in 2000-01. After a spell of seven seasons the Oberliga title was won in 2007-08. Another descent came in 2012-13.

Back in Oberliga A, a change occurred to the league structure for 2014-15 with Slovan continuing to play in the fifth tier, only in 2. Regionale Liga and finishing second from bottom. The sixth level Oberliga A championship was secured in 2015-16 with Christian Steinbacher top scoring.

Slovan made it successive titles as they romped away with 2. Regionale Liga in 2016-17 under head coach Gerhard Werner with Stefan Szanwald and Aleksander Gacic putting the goals away at Sportplatz Slovan HAC.

A seventh place Wiener Stadtliga finish ensued in 2017-18 prior to eighth in 2018-19. Slovan were sat in fourth spot when the COVID-19 pandemic curtailed the 2019-20 campaign as Milorad Adamovic led the scoring chart.

SK Slovan-Hütteldorfer AC will play in the Wiener Stadtliga in the 2020-21 season.

My visit

SK Slovan-Hütteldorfer AC 0 Schwechat SV 0 (Sunday 8^th March 2020) Wiener Stadtliga (att: c200)

It was day three of my long weekend in Vienna and even the weather decided it was going to make an extra effort. I’d had a good long rest at the Star Inn Hotel Wien Schönbrunn, enjoyed breakfast and then called in at the venues of SC Wiener Viktoria and SV Dinamo Helfort 15 Young Stars.

It was then a short walk back past Kendlerstraße UBahn station and up the slight slope of Steinbruchstraße to the entrance to Sportplatz Slovan HAC. Admission was €8 at the wooden hut where I thought I spotted a programme.

It was a complimentary booklet covering the fixtures in the range of the Vienna FA for the second half of the season and included details on each club with ground locations which would be ideal for further research if I managed another visit.

The ground was relatively basic, with a raised bank down the road side which had a few steps of terracing and tables for beer. The far and and opposite side were small shallow banks of grass. The steeple of the beautiful Breitensee Catholic Church formed a nice backdrop.

The near end contained the changing rooms, club offices and kantine, as clubhouse was termed in Austria. Further along was a small enclosed clay pitch where youngsters kicked about and where the underage sides warmed up for the later game.

Once I’d found my bearings and taken some photos, I headed to the window selling refreshments just before the 10.30 kick off. A beer was taken as I settled to watch the first half on an artificial surface balder than me and in need of an upgrade sometime in the near future.

The match wasn’t a thing of beauty. The pitch wasn’t the largest with space at a premium. This led to plenty of niggly challenges, especially from the visitors of Schwechat who had travelled from the south east suburbs of the city where they were based in the direction of the airport.

The hosts, who seemed to add sponsors name Trachten Witzky on to their title, sat in fourth place before the game, while the visitors were in mid table and it would be them who had the better of the early exchanges. Not that there were many attempts on goal from either side.

Slovan striker Aleksander Gacic had to be carried from the pitch after a collision to his knee. I was impressed just how quickly an ambulance arrived to take the stricken player away to hospital. A similar incident in England would have had him waiting at least an hour.

Oliver Wieneritsch missed a chance for Schwechat but that aside the only highlight of the half came when referee Pascal Günsberg decided that the away side player Emre Yilmaz was deserving of two yellow cards as he sent him off six minutes before the break.

At the interval I headed to the clubhouse for a beer and enjoyable schnitzel in a roll while I looked at the honours on the wall and shirts donated by former player Ümit Korkmaz, including those from his time at Rapid Wien, Eintracht Frankfurt and FC Ingolstadt 04.

When play resumed Slovan lost another starting striker Christian Steinbacher to injury but had the better of the attacking play, while Schwechat offered occasional threat on the break. They defended well added to some underhand tactics from time to time.

However, they had every reason to feel aggrieved when Herr Günsberg pointed to the spot after deciding that Manuel Freundorfer had handled the ball despite it appearing to hit him at close quarters. Justice was done, in my view, when keeper Haydar Bayram saved the penalty.

Despite continued Slovan pressure the visitors could have snatched all three points when Andre Sliskovic towards the end of the game. 0-0 was probably the correct scoreline all things considered.

"Zero number against Schwechat overshadowed by injury bad luck"

At full time I headed back past the station. I’d earlier spotted the home of Red Star Penzing further up from that of Helfort so I popped in to take some snap I then took the number 10 tram on Huttengaße to Schloss Schönbrunn, where I spent some quality time in stunning surroundings before lunch and then more football.