Wattener Sportgemeinschaft Tyrol

Our football club was formed in April 1930 as SC Wattens, which bore the team colours of green and white. Initially, it was part of Tyrol's second regional league. Some 23 years later SV Wattens won the regional league championship title and advanced to the second level of what was then the Arlberg League.

The team played 14 years in the second highest league, which was renamed as the Regional League West in 1960. They won their next championship title in the 1967/68 seasons, and this saw them advance to what was then Austria's premiere league.

On July 7, 1967, one year after advancing into the top regional league the club was renamed WSG Swarovski Wattens and Gernot Langes became deputy chairman. 

In the season that followed the team under trainer Fritz Pfister, and with players like Jud, Perktold, Schuster, Santek, Leutgeb, Rinker, Stanger, Kiss, Niederstätter, Taschwer, Hafner and Kirchler advanced into the national league. It was nothing short of a sensation for what was, in effect, a village club to move up to the national league among Austria's best teams. At that time Wattens only had around 6,000 inhabitants. Thanks to Gernot Langes, the club now enjoyed a golden era.

WSG Swarovski Wattens was strengthened after becoming part of the national league. Hattenberger, Langruber, Wizemann, and especially national player Redl collectively guaranteed that the club enjoyed full stadiums and ultimately also retained their place in the league. “In that first year we won against all the big Vienna clubs,” Adi Jud recalled of those glory years.

The team acquired a star coach in the form of Germany’s Edi Frühwirth in its second season and with new players like Küppers (Nürnberg), Siber (Offenbach), Skocik (Rapid), Kordesch or Friedl Koncilia they wrapped up the season with an excellent seventh place in the standings.

In the final season in the national league before the fusion with FC Wacker, WSG Swarovski Wattens finished in eighth place in the league. That same year, FC Wacker Innsbruck was Austrian National Champion for the first time.

The seventies became a golden era in the history of the club, with the participation of the WSG Swarovski Wattens, and thus also with Gernot Langes.

Küppers, Kordesch, the Koncilias, Skocik, Rinker, Kastner, Gombasch and Hattenberger moved from Wattens to Innsbruck and won the championship title for SPG Swarovski Wacker Tyrol. One year later the team picked up the double and then repeated it in 1975. The team also brought the Mitropa Cup (Central European Cup) home to Innsbruck in 1976. Then after winning another championship title in 1977, followed by two Cup victories, the team was relegated to the second division in 1976.

This community of players continued from 1979 to 1986. While the team in Innsbruck did not enjoy a lot of success in the premiere division, WSG Wattens advanced to the second division in 1981/82. The club remained in the second division until the introduction in 1985 of the play-off system and were Vice-Champions of the Regional League in 1986. They again just missed out on promotion in 1988, something they managed in the following year. This era featured players like, among others, Robert Wazinger and Roland Kirchler, who later went to the club formed as FC Swarovski Tyrol, and who also played in the national team. This time, Wattens managed to stay in the second division until 1994. They returned to the ranks after one season in the regional league. There was another season in the regional league west after the reform of the second division in 1998, then came the almost obligatory advancement one season later. The Tyroleans then remained in the second league until 2001.

The cards for the elite level of Tyrolean football were once again shuffled after the relegation in 2001 and once again there was an agreement to cooperate with FC Tyrol.

Decisive in this new cooperation one year later was the fact that changes in the joint team arrangement were again necessary after FC Tyrol went bankrupt and was forced to begin again in the regional league. This cooperation was possible only because WSG Wattens was prepared to take it on. Almost the entire WSG team then transferred to Innsbruck and playing as SPG Wattens/Wacker, managed to win promotion into the second league. The team cooperation was then once again dissolved. Meanwhile, back in Wattens, Robert Auer with his remaining young players moved up into the Tyrol league. Two years later, in 2006, the WSG was back in the regional league.

WSG Wattens has always been among the leading teams since re-joining the regional league. The teams were top favourites under trainer Roland Kirchler in the 2010/11 seasons and especially in 2011/12. The undefeated champions (23 wins and seven draws) went into the promotion playoff. However, SV Horn, under trainer Michael Streiter was an overpowering opponent. They had missed promotion one season before in a much tighter situation. BW Linz only advanced after a penalty shootout. Then in 2012/13, WSG Wattens finished third in the league behind FC Liefering and Austria Salzburg.

For the 70th birthday of WSG-president Gernot Langes there was not only a big party but also the court was handed over to his daughter Diana Langes. Since then, she has been leading the WSG Wattens with great commitment and has set the declared goal of ascension. She pursues this endeavor together with the sports director Stefan Köck, who succeeded Robert Auer, who died suddenly in 2013. Thomas Silberberger has also been very successful in office since 2013 as head coach of WSG Tyrol.  Under him, the team became outstanding first in the Regionalliga-West 2015/16 and thanks to the cancellation of the relegation the way was paved for the Sky Go First League. The Kristallkicker also caused a stir in Austria ’ s second-highest league and secured an excellent fifth place at the end of the first season in the second division. In 2017/18, the Green-Whites continued to establish themselves in professional football and once again secured a place in the midfield of the table.

WSG Tyrol started the 2018/19 season with nine new entrants. The goal was clearly communicated before the start of the season: We want to play in the highest league in Austria! The team of Thomas Silberberger put a strong autumn on the green floor and secured the autumn championship title with a six-point lead. In the spring it was no longer so smooth for the Greens and Whites, Ried caught up, took over the lead and held it until three games before the end of the season. WSG needed no less than six victories in a row to crown themselves as champions of the 2nd league. With a fantastic 3-1 victory against Horn, WSG Tirol still won the title and secured the promotion in Austria's top league after more than 50 years.

The promotion to the highest league in Austria brought serious changes: In addition to the name change from WSG Swarovski Wattens to WSG Swarovski Tyrol, the venue was changed. As the home stadium Gernot-Langes-Stadion in Wattens does not meet the licensing criteria of the Austrian Bundesliga, they moved to Tivoli Stadion Tyrol, 14 kilometres away. 

Historically, it was the first Bundesliga appearance after promotion. In the Tivoli Stadion Tirol, the traditional Austrian club FK Austria Wien was defeated 3:1 thanks to goals from Walch, Buchacher and an owner of a Viennese player. The rest of the season turned out to be Ascension Command. In addition to the outbreak of a global pandemic, which resulted in a suspension of matches, a serious injury to head coach Thomas Silberberger as a result of a motorcycle accident and a draw in the decisive final game on match day 32 against FC Admira Wacker Mödling, the club was relegated to the second division after only one season. While the entire club was preparing for the second league start, Bundesligist SV Mattersburg slipped into bankruptcy due to irregularities at the main sponsor, Commerzialbank Mattersburg. As a result, SV Mattersburg had to stop playing completely, so there was no relegation from the Bundesliga and WSG Swarovski Tyrol was allowed to remain in the top division of Austria. 

The short preparation time for the Bundesliga season 2020/21 resulted in a major change in the squad. With twelve new players and a corresponding rejuvenation of the squad, the leading duo around head coach Thomas Silberberger and manager Sport Stefan Köck entered the season with the clearly defined goal of 'class retention'. A season that began with great uncertainty ended with the sensational achievement of the championship playoff of the Tipico Bundesliga, far surpassing the pre-set goal of class preservation with sixth place. 

In the following 2021/22 season, the success story was enriched by a chapter. After a mixed basic round, they slipped into the qualifying group, which they finished in first place after sensational winning streaks and thus qualified for the European Cup playoff semi-final. There they prevailed with a 2-1 home win over LASK and advanced to the European Cup playoff final against record champion SK Rapid Wien. Against a record-breaking backdrop at Innsbruck's Tivoli, they had to concede 1:2 in the first leg. In the second leg they lost to the Viennese in the 'cauldron' of Hütteldorf in a competitive game with 0:2, which destroyed the dream of participating in a European competition. In addition to an outstanding performance of the entire club, Giacomo Vrioni (Juventus Turin loanee| 19 goals) was crowned the first Bundesliga shooter in the WSG outfit.