First Vienna Frauen - Stadion Hohe Warte

First Vienna Frauen

Stadion Hohe Warte

Klabundgasse 11

1190 Wien

Austria

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Ground Number: 1490
Friday 10th October 2025
First Vienna 0-2 LASK
ÖFB Frauen Bundesliga

FIRST VIENNA FRAUEN - A BRIEF HISTORY

First Vienna FC 1894, Austria's oldest football club, was the first Bundesliga club to establish a women's team, doing so in 1989. At the time, the entire team from the club KSV der Wiener Berufsschulen, which had existed for 10 years, was taken over. In 1997, the women's team was disbanded, carrying on as FC Hellas Kagran. Starting up again in 2011, they initially existed as two youth sides. The newly formed women's team in autumn 2012, made up of players from the U15 team and several new additions, went on to win the championship in the Vienna 1st Division A – the fourth-highest tier in Austrian women's football – during the 2012/13 season, earning promotion to the Vienna Women's League.

In 2018, they won the Vienna Women's League and secured promotion to the 2nd Division East/South after beating Lower Austrian champions Langenrohr over two legs. The team also won the Vienna Women's Cup that same season. In 2019, they finished 4th in their first season at the higher level. In 2019, all Bundesliga teams were required to maintain a B-team in the newly created Future League. This led to the creation of a single nationwide 2nd division, eliminating the previous East and West split. The following year, they were leading the autumn championship in the ÖFB 2nd Division, although the title was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, the team achieved promotion to the top tier, the Planet Pure Women's Bundesliga. In their debut season, a 4th place finish was a strong start. In 2024, the club achieved its best result in women's football history by finishing as runners-up to SKN St. Pölten, earning a spot in the UEFA Women's Champions League qualifiers. The qualification tournament, featuring AC Sparta Prague, Paris FC, and Linköping FV, took place in September 2024 in Linköping, Sweden. In the semi-final, the team faced Paris FC and, despite a valiant effort, lost 9-0. In the match for third place against hosts Linköping, Vienna lost again, this time 8-0, after playing most of the game with a player down.

MY VISIT 

It was a shorter sleep than I'd hoped for on Friday night, just four hours. An early kickoff at Wycombe meant I woke at 8 and left at 8.40. A walk down Wycombe, a couple of pints at Wetherspoons, along with a breakfast muffin and then another walk to the ground equalled eight miles. On the pitch, Wycombe were dire for 90 minutes and should have been buried by Barnsley, but somehow we scrambled a 2-2 draw with two late goals. It was terrible to watch and daylight robbery, but the result lightened my mood. Far better was to be had at Holmer Green in the normal kickoff. They were 1-0 down to Oxhey Jets when I got there fifteen minutes in. Right on half-time, Holmer equalised, a penalty after Oxhey had been reduced to ten men. The second half took a while to get going in windy conditions. But Holmer prevailed 5-2, and I have to say, watching them was far more enjoyable than watching Wycombe. The evening was spent relaxing with a few drinks, too few to help me relax, sadly, as I didn't want to overdo it ahead of work in the morning.

It was a torrid day at the hate factory on Sunday. The company had recently enforced a draconian and spiteful earphone ban, even when the store was closed. After a joyless eight hours, I headed to Adams Park for Wycombe Wanderers Women v Chesham United Women. It looked as if the stinker of a weekend might continue with Wycombe 2-0 down at half time, despite dominating the first half an hour. The second half was far better, and Wycombe won 4-2 to progress to the Women's FA Cup 1st Round for the first time and against a higher-tier side too.. It was the first time I'd enjoyed a Wycombe game since January, and only £6 to get in. Compared to this, the £23 I paid yesterday seemed like a total rip-off. Monday was a nicer day at work, and Tuesday was a welcome day off. In the evening, I went to Wycombe Wanderers v Fulham U21 in the Vertu Trophy, the early kickoff being good for work. It was a rather routine and unspectacular 3-1 win and £15 for the night out. I took ages to get to sleep after, but thankfully, it was only my short day at work on Wednesday.

I had to give my Mum a lift to her eye appointment in Stoke Mandeville, but it worked out OK. I went for a look at Stoke Mandeville Stadium, currently unused for football as far as I know. I also filled up with petrol and stocked up at Farmfoods before she was ready to go home. After some pizza, I headed up to Penn & Tylers Green v Wycombe Wanderers Academy in the Berks & Bucks Cup. It was another fantastic evening avoiding the First Team. I bumped into several old faces that I'd not seen in months. It was a brilliant evening in front of a record crowd of 1,237, beating their previous high of 450 for a game against a 'Showbiz XI' in 1984. The Chairboys' youngsters' passing style was in stark contrast to Penn's more direct and more entertaining style. Wycombe went 2-0 up, but I was delighted when Penn got one back through a penalty. They came close to equalising too, but it wasn't to be. The county cup has enjoyed a new lease of life in recent years after Long Crendon advertised the hell out of their game against us and were rewarded with a crowd of 1,800 for their game against us at Thame United. It was a far cry from the likes of 100 that Thatcham Town attracted for their 2007 game against us, and over twice the 569 for the Wycombe Wanderers v Fulham U23 game the previous night. It was a late night by my standards, but well worth it. I had just one more day of work to get out of the way before my last time off for six months, and that went fairly smoothly.

 

Originally for this game, I was going to get a taxi to avoid missing too much of the game. But with someone changing the venue on Futbology, I decided to use the public transport ticket that I paid for to get there. That had not worked out well last March when I was attempting two games on another Friday, as I baulked at paying 30 Euros for a similar journey. The public transport directions were unclear, and I ended up giving up and going back to my room. It was simpler this time, and once I had found the correct platform, I had a few minutes to wait for the S45 to Helingstadt. I made up time and got into the ground, free entry with ten minutes on the clock and the score still 0-0.

First Vienna had not won in three games; last time out, they drew 2-2 at Altrach. LASK were in better form, winning three of their last five; however, in their last game, they lost 4-0 to St Polten. The game was competitive but lacking quality up front, with First Vienna dominating. LASK had the ball in the net on 37 minutes, but the whistle had already gone for offside. The second half started with LASK as the better side. They took the lead on 56 minutes, a bullet header from a right-sided corner. Though First Vienna tried to attack on the break, it was 2-0 to LASK on 70 minutes, a good ball forward was latched onto, the keeper rounded, and the ball put into the empty net from just inside the area. That was how it stayed, and it was a deserved win for the away side.

From the game, I made my way back to the station. Once I found the correct platform, I had a bit of a wait for the U4 to Landstrasse, where I changed onto the U3 to Gasometer. It was a ten-minute wait for the metro, which was annoying. I was back in my room at 11.30 and glad to have something to eat. I was not yet tired, although it would soon catch up with me. I finished off the cider I had bought earlier and caught up with my blog. More importantly, though, my phone went on charge. The battery technology has failed to keep up with modern usage, and even with a power bank, I was down to a few per cent. With a 5.30 am alarm, I wanted to get at least four hours of sleep. In the end, I completed the first blog and decided to work on this one during the Flixbus journey the next day.

THE GROUND

STADION HOHE WARTE is an excellent and large venue. The main stand holds a few thousand and is elevated, giving fans a great view. One end and one side have expansive open terracing, the far side is especially impressive as it has a huge grass bank behind it with some kind of cabin at the top. The one remaining side is a corporate area. It was a shame that it was restricted to one stand upon my visit, as i would have liked some more pictures, but you can't complain with free entry. Food is restricted to giant pretzels from what I could make out, and drinks are of a similar ilk. Merchandise is probably available for bigger games or online. There is a reasonable amount of parking and excellent public transport links.