[1] It has 27 member clubs and organizes the two professional championships of Bundesliga and 2nd Liga, where reserve teams are welcome.
Professionalism in football arrived in Austria with the Wiener Fußball-Verband, in 1924.
But it was only after the Second World War, in 1949, that an organization bringing together the country's professional clubs was born: it was the Österreichische Fußball-Staatsliga, which governed the first (Staatsliga A) and second (Staatsliga B) division championships.
In 1974, however, the Austrian Football Federation officially dissolved the league and took over the organization of the championships.
Only in 1991 did the clubs form an autonomous association again, the Österreichische Fußball-Bundesliga, operational from 1 December of that year.