‘I am from Austria’ – the red-suit-wearing fans inspired by a very un-football anthem (original) (raw)

As part of our Language of Soccer World Cup series, The Athletic is speaking to supporters of all 48 nations competing at the 2026 edition to capture their unique football culture, distilled into a single phrase. You can read the articles in one place here.

“I am from Austria.”

Everyone knows and recognises the Red Hot Austrian Fans. The distinctive supporters’ group has become part of the great swirl of colour that defines international football and this June and (they hope) July, at what will be the country’s first World Cup finals appearance since a winless effort at France 1998, they will, again, be the heart of the party.

Many of their members have been following Austria’s national team for far longer, but this — the red coats, trousers and ties, with white shirts — has been their identity since the 2016 European Championship in France.

That was the first tournament Austria had qualified for since Euro 2008 and for Christian Wolfmayr, who founded the fan group, it was a way to really mark the occasion.

“We’re good old friends from years ago,” he tells The Athletic, explaining the group’s origin.

“For us,” he says, acting as something of a spokesman as he gestures to the other 10 or so members huddled around him on our video call, “it’s about doing something together, and that’s the main thing. We all like football, of course, we played together over the years, so that we should follow the Austrian team is only natural.”

But why the red suits?

“It might have been a dream,” Wolfmayr says, jokingly.

“No, it was because that European Championship was the first time we’d qualified in years, so it was a really big thing for us as a nation. It was not far to go, from Austria to France, so I asked my friends if they wanted to do something together.

“We booked this house in Nice for about 10 days, but I wanted us to wear something special, too, not just lederhosen. So, I went online and found them (the suits).”

Initially, it was a core group. Fifteen friends. Today, membership has grown exponentially. The artists formerly known as the Red Hot Chili Suits are now the Red Hot Austrians, and number more than 100. Right from the beginning, though, this has been about more than football — not just supporting the team and the players, but throwing themselves into everything an international tournament has to offer.

The Red Hot Austrians love their team. But the tournaments they attend do not begin and end with the game’s final score.

“I remember being in Paris for the Portugal game (the second of Austria’s three in the group stage), when we wore the red suits for the first time,” Wolfmayr recalls. “What was surprising for us really was the reaction of the other fans. They wanted to come and talk to us. They wanted to take photos with us. It was so unique.”

It’s a conversation starter then?

“Of course! For me, that’s the best part of the red suits. People want to talk to us. That’s why I was a little disappointed in Germany (for the European Championship two years ago), because they separated supporters outside the stadium, we only saw other fans away from the games and there weren’t as many of them.”

The Red Hot Austrians were still among the highlights of Euro 2024. Before that tournament in even-closer-to-home Germany, Wolfmayr and his friends shot and released a music video, “Alles machbar beim Nachbar” (Everything is possible at the Neighbours’). He is a hobbyist film editor and his sons were involved too, using a pair of drones to help with the filming.

At the competition itself, the Austrians were eliminated by Turkey, losing 2-1 in the round of 16.

Before then, after a 3-2 victory against the Netherlands that meant Austria topped their group, ahead of back-to-back World Cup finalists France and the Dutch, who went on to reach the semi-finals, Wolfmayr and the rest of the Red Hots were in the middle of one of the most affecting moments of the competition. At full time, in celebration of a historic win, the Austria players and their 25,000 fans who had made it to the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, sang “I am from Austria” to each other.

Austria fans sing following their victory over the Netherlands at Euro 2024 (Pan Yulong/Xinhua via Getty Images)

During the tournament, it was playing in the Austria dressing room, too.

“I am from Austria” was a 1989 hit for folk singer Rainhard Fendrich.

He was living in the United States when he wrote it and, translated into English, it’s really a hymn to homesickness, albeit one about a country that had seen better days.

“Your high time is long gone
And the heights are behind you
Of fame and glory is little left
Tell me, who still tips their hat to you? Except me?”

It has become something of an unofficial anthem.

During the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic, the Austrian police used to play the song from their squad cars while on patrol. Local radio stations in the capital Vienna also scheduled it at the same time every day, as part of the effort to keep public spirit intact.

It is unusual in the sense that it is not a tub-thumping anthem. It is not defiant or triumphant, nor especially jingoistic.

“You can do what you want there
That’s where I’m from, that’s where I’m going
There, the ice melts from my soul
Like from a glacier in April
Even if we’ve already forgotten
I am thе apple, you are my trunk
The way thе water runs downhill
Irresistible and so high
Almost like the tears of a child
My blood suddenly becomes fast
I say proudly at the end of the world
And if you want, all alone
I am from Austria, I am from Austria.”

But there’s a depth to it, and it’s not difficult to spot its individuality, nor how it might stir some patriotism despite its melancholy.

“Yes,” Wolfmayr says, “that’s the song that every Austrian knows and sings along to in the stadium.

“Rainhard Fendrich is one of the biggest Austrian musicians from the ‘Austropop’ era, and one who still plays to sold-out crowds. Actually, I was at one of his concerts recently.

“The song wasn’t actually written for the stadium and its patriotic atmosphere, but of course, the line ‘I am from Austria’ fits perfectly. The song has a great melody, and as I said, everyone can sing along, and it has become an indispensable fan anthem over the years.

“The refrain ‘I am from Austria’ is particularly fitting because, as a fan, you want to show your support for your team and your country, especially at a live football match in the stadium.

“No matter how the game ends, we show that we are proud of the Austrian team and of our country.”

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