Country Austria Number of teams 10 Promotion to Austrian Bundesliga | Founded 1974 Level on pyramid 2 | |
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Relegation to Regional Leagues East, Central, West | ||
The Austrian Football First League (German: Erste Liga) is the second highest professional division in Austrian football. It contains ten teams and is run in the same fashion as the Austrian Bundesliga. The champion of the league is promoted into the Bundesliga, the 9th has to play relegation against a team from one of the three regional leagues and the last placed team is directly relegated from the First League into the regional leagues. The league is currently known as the Sky Go Erste Liga for sponsorship reasons.
The destination of the bottom club of the First League depends upon which Land of the Federal Republic it is a member, joining one of the Regionalligen (or regional leagues) in the east, center or west of the country. The three regional league champions have to play a home and an away relegation game with the 9th of First League for two slots in the First League. Participation in the professional First League is conditional on their licensing by the fifth senate of the federal league. If the license is refused for economic reasons, one team fewer will be relegated.
Teams and stadia for the 2016–17 season
The ten teams competing in the 2016–17 First League season are: