FC Salzburg are one of twelve European teams taking part in the FIFA Club World Cup 2025™ and the only participant from Austria featuring at the new-look 32-team tournament.
Read on to find out how FC Salzburg qualified for the Club World Cup, their history both in domestic and international football and a trio of club legends.
How they qualified
FC Salzburg secured their berth at the Club World Cup in April 2024 via the UEFA ranking pathway after Bayern Munich knocked Arsenal out of the 2023-24 UEFA Champions League in the quarter-finals. That result gave the Austrian club the 12th and final European spot at the Club World Cup.
Club history
FC Salzburg was founded in 1933 as SV Austria Salzburg and was promoted to the top league in Austria in 1953. They had to wait until the 1990s for their first silverware, winning their first league title in 1994 and qualifying for their only European final to date – the UEFA Cup Final, in which they fell to Inter Milan.
Among FC Salzburg’s current haul of trophies are 17 league titles (including ten in a row between 2014 and 2023), nine Austrian Cups and three Austrian Supercups. The club has often acted as a springboard for world-class international players, especially in recent years. Erling Haaland, Sadio Mane and Dayot Upamecano are just some of the iconic players who have pulled on the FC Salzburg shirt.
Iconic players
Christoph Leitgeb
Leitgeb is another player who defined an era at the club. Capped 41 times for Austria, he ran out for the Red Bulls a total of 324 times between 2007 and 2019, winning ten league titles and six Austrian Cups. Today, the 39-year-old former midfielder works as a scout for Sturm Graz.
Jonathan Soriano
Soriano made the move from FC Barcelona’s second team to FC Salzburg in January 2012. Over the next five years, the Spanish forward put his stamp on the club and the entire Austrian league, scoring goal after goal almost at will. Soriano scored 172 goals across 202 regular season appearances, was the league’s top scorer on three occasions, was named Player of the Season on two occasions and won five league titles and one Austrian Cup with FC Salzburg.
Andreas Ulmer
Ulmer played 16 seasons for FC Salzburg between 2009 and 2024. With 582 appearances, the 38-year-old left-back is the Austrian club’s most-capped player. During his time with the Red Bulls, the Linz native won 13 league titles and nine Austrian Cups. Capped 32 times for his country and the most recent captain of FC Salzburg, Ulmer’s contract came to an end at the conclusion of last season.
