NEWS
"RIP" - Bischofshofen plays in Cup with 63-year-old pensioner
The club, excluded from the Regionalliga, enters the second ÖFB Cup round with a truly depleted squad.
SK Bischofshofen will likely play the last match in the club's history on September 4, 2026, in the second round of the UNIQA ÖFB Cup against Bundesliga side SCR Altach (Friday, from 6:30 PM in the LIVE ticker).
The club, which lost the right to use its sports facility due to the municipality of Bischofshofen and was consequently excluded from playing in the Regionalliga (ÖFB Appeals Senate confirms decision >>>), is now only eligible to play in the Cup.
However, after a sensational advancement to the second round, they face a seemingly insurmountable task there. Not only because their opponent is last season's Cup finalist, but also because their squad has disintegrated in recent weeks.
A Truly Depleted Squad
Due to planning uncertainty, SK Bischofshofen will enter Friday's match with a truly depleted squad, which includes not only twelve genuine footballers but also players who are only eligible on paper: such as Walter Weiss (a 63-year-old pensioner) or Stephan Prähauser (a 56-year-old entrepreneur).
SK Bischofshofen confirmed the squad in a club statement titled "R.I.P. BSK 1933," which recounts the bureaucratic hurdles of recent weeks and months.
An Excerpt from the Statement:
"The team that originally earned this match (Editor's note: in the ÖFB Cup against SCR Altach) no longer exists today.
What you see on this pitch today is therefore no longer our original team.
What you see are people who are ready to make a statement.
To stand up for the fact that realities can emerge while politics, institutions, associations, and authorities each see responsibility elsewhere – and the consequences have long since occurred.
This does not require banners.
We are not provoking a match abandonment.
We are not provoking cards.
We are not provoking rule violations.
We are acting in the best sporting spirit.
ELIGIBLE TO PLAY.
Between paragraphs, interpretation, and reality.
What is happening today, we understand as a statement.
As an artistic action.
As a performance about the difference between what is possible on paper – and what has long since been lost in reality.
Today, we are not showing what happens when rules are broken.
We are showing what can happen when they are followed.
After all, erasing is also an art form.
Today, from the black-and-red smudges of politics, we are creating our own work of art.
Judge for yourself.
R.I.P. BSK 1933
Almost 100 years of history do not simply disappear."
