The history of walking football – or ‘how walking football came to Austria‘
In 2011, walking football was initiated by Chesterfield Community Trust FC in the UK as another type of football for the 55+ generation.
In 2016, the Walking Football Association (WFA) was founded in England, bringing together 366 clubs.
In 2018, the WFA established a national team, with the first match taking place against Italy in May 2018. The international umbrella organisation for walking football is called the Federation of International Walking Football Associations (FIWFA), in which 19 national associations are registered.
In 2019, the DFL (German Football League) initiated matches in the ‘Walking Football League’ for the first time, which FC Schalke 04 and Bayer 04 Leverkusen had launched for the 2018/19 season. In the meantime, 1. FC Nürnberg, Eintracht Frankfurt, Borussia Dortmund and FC Bruges have been founded and hundreds of amateur clubs actively offer this trend sport.
In 2025, the ‘Mallorca Walking Football Tournament’ will take place for the 8th time from 15.05. to 19.05.25 in the holiday resort of Santa Ponsa.
But how did walking football (WF) come to Austria?
The first official nomination and the first WF tournament took place back in May 2017 at the Westside Soccer Arena in Vienna: https://www.derstandard.at/story/2000057033922/kick-it-wem-gehfussball-guttut
The first walking football tournament, organised by the Austrian Cardiological Society’s Heart Failure Working Group, was held here. Three teams took part: in red the supporters of the Austrian Heart Association and patients themselves, in green their doctors – a team of cardiologists – and in yellow the representatives of FC Nationalrat, the team of the Austrian Parliament, which also took part in the tournament. The main aim of the day was to raise awareness of heart failure.
Many years later, in April 2023, ASKÖ, launched an attempt to establish walking football in Austria. With success! There are now several sports programmes under the ASKÖ patronage in Austria.
Walking football is currently the fastest-growing trend sport worldwide.