On 8 January 1899, at a crisis meeting in Vienna, a workers' club changed its name and Rapid was born. The Hütteldorf club turns 128 on 8 January 2027. It is the most successful team in Austria and one of the most distinctive in Europe.

From a workers' team to 'Rapid'

Its roots lie in the 1. Wiener Arbeiter-Fußball-Club, the 'First Vienna Workers' Football Club'. Most sources date it to 1897, although an older page on the club's own website says 1898.

In the early years money was short and went mostly on footballs, which often split on the bumpy pitch. At a difficult meeting in January 1899, club secretary Wilhelm Goldschmidt proposed a new name, and after a long debate the motion was carried.

That day, 8 January 1899, is the official founding date the club celebrates. That is why Rapid marked its 125th anniversary in January 2024.

A name that means speed

'Rapid' means 'very fast', a name that suited the team's ambitions. The model was a Berlin club, Rapide of 1893.

From red and blue to green and white

The first colours were blue and red, which still often appear on away shirts. A few years after the renaming, Rapid switched to green and white, which became its identity, and fans simply call it 'Die Grün-Weißen'.

Sources disagree on the year of the switch, some saying 1904 and others 1905, and the reason for the choice was never recorded. Today the crest carries three stars, one for every ten league titles.

The Pfarrwiese and the 'Rapid quarter of an hour'

In 1911 the team built the Pfarrwiese in Hütteldorf, a ground that was its home for decades. Ever since, its fans have been called 'Hütteldorfer', and today the team plays at the modern Allianz Stadion, opened in 2016 with a 2-0 win over Chelsea.

The best-known tradition is the 'Rapid-Viertelstunde': in the final quarter of an hour of every match, the fans clap rhythmically, whatever the score. The first mention of this custom dates back to 1913.

The 4-3 in Berlin and the legends

The most famous comeback came on 22 June 1941, in the German championship final against Schalke in front of 100,000 spectators. Rapid were 3-0 down, but a goal from Schors and a hat-trick from Franz 'Bimbo' Binder gave them a 4-3 win.

To this day Rapid is the only German champion based outside Germany's present borders. Three years earlier, in 1938, it had also won the Tschammerpokal, the forerunner of today's German Cup.

In Europe they reached the Cup Winners' Cup final twice, in 1985 against Everton and in 1996 against Paris Saint-Germain. In Austria they have a record 32 league titles, the first coming in 1912, and along with Austria Wien they are the only club never to have been relegated.

The green and white has been worn by legends such as Josef Uridil, Ernst Happel, Gerhard Hanappi and Hans Krankl, who won the Golden Shoe in 1978 with 41 goals. Antonín Panenka and Andreas Herzog also wore the shirt.

Celebrate with us

From a workers' team that could not afford footballs to the biggest club in Austria, Rapid has never stopped fighting until the final quarter of an hour. Happy 128th birthday, Rapid!

See our collectible jerseys at sportarena.gr.

Photo: Allianz Stadion, Hütteldorf, Vienna – Haeferl, Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.