1920s: Women’s Football in the Interwar Period

Football-playing women have a long tradition in Austria, albeit one that has not really been publically known. There are photos of female football players that date back to as early as 1905. Presumably, women were already active as football players from that time, but the media did not pay attention to them. Then, in 1923, the newspaper Der Montag invited women to a trial session. 160 female players answered the call. Even though this initiative soon faltered, there were repeated references to women who played football throughout the 1920s; of course, these women contradicted a canon of biological, medical and moral objections to women’s football.

In 1934, Sport-Telegraf  announced the founding of football clubs for women. The first named itself the 1st Ladies’ Football Club “Colossal”, later DFC Vienna, and trained under the leadership of professional cyclist Ferry Dusika. The first match took place in October. In front of over 3000 spectators, Matthias Sindelar made the kick-off. The other clubs usually named themselves after their role models, such as Austria or Rapid, but also Vindobona or Tempo. Subsequently, an Austrian Women’s Football Union was founded, which created a league with nine clubs. Although this was the only football league championship for women in the world at the time, it was not allowed to play at association venues. Nevertheless, women's football held its own in Vienna until the summer of 1938, that is, beyond the “Anschluss” (“annexation”).