After talking to several head coaches around the league, it became obvious that everybody has high praise for the Vienna Vikings, with one coach even going as far as calling them the “Alabama of Europe”. At first glance, this looks like a way overblown statement, but when you start looking at it, there is some truth behind it. Here are the biggest similarities and differences between Europe's biggest powerhouse and the most successful program in college football history. 

Great history and success

To get the most obvious things out of the way first, the Vikings, like the University of Alabama, are a historic and successful program. The Alabama Crimson Tide played their first season of NCAA football in 1892. Since then, the team is tied for the second-most victories in NCAA history (953) and has won 14 national championships since 1936, which is the most in the AP poll era.

The Vikings, on the other hand, were founded in 1983 and are amongst Austria’s oldest football teams. After starting in the second Division of Austrian football, it took the team only three seasons to make it to their first Austrian Bowl. It took the Vikings three championship game losses, before they finally won their first Bowl game in 1994. From that year on, the Vikings made 12 of the next 13 Austrian Bowls, winning eight of them, including a record of five straight championship wins from 1999-2003. Today, the Vikings are the AFL’s most successful organization, making 29 Bowl game appearances and winning 15 Austrian Bowls. 

But the Austrians are not only a domestic powerhouse, they also stood their ground on the international stage. The Vikings hold the record of 10 Euro Bowls, winning five of them. With their move to the European League of Football in 2022 and a Championship Game victory in their first season, the Vikings have established themselves as the premier organization in European Football and are standing at a 20-2 record since joining the league.  

Continuity at the head coach position

A big part of the Crimson Tide’s success is continuity at the head coach position. With Bear Bryant (1958-1982) and Nick Saban (2007-now) Alabama managed to have two long-tenured and extremely successful coaches. Across the pond, since their first Austrian Bowl victory in 1994, the Vienna Vikings only had two head coaches as a whole: Tom Smythe (1994-2005) and Chris Calaycay (2006-now). Calaycay also played under Smythe from 1999 to 2001 and was his Defensive Coordinator in 2004 and 2005. Two major success stories that helped the Vikings be who they are today.

No premier American quarterbacks

While Alabama has had three five-star recruits under center since 2018, the Crimson Tide weren’t known for outstanding quarterback play for the first ten years of Nick Saban’s tenure. From 2007 to 2018, only one five-star quarterback started a game for Bama. It was Blake Barnett, who only lasted one half for the Crimson Tide. It’s similar for Chris Calaycay, who did not have a single MVP-level American quarterback during his whole tenure as the Vikings’ head coach. What makes this even more impressive is that the most successful Vikings' quarterback actually was an Austrian. Christoph Gross was the team’s starter from 2010-2014 and led the team to four Austrian Bowls of which they won three and three Eurobowls of which they won one. Additionally, Gross won the AFL and Eurobowl MVP in 2013. Chris Calaycay, like Nick Saban, has proven that he can be successful without a star quarterback. 

The biggest difference

When asked about the comparison to the University of Alabama and Nick Saban, coach Calaycay had the following to say:

So, are the Vienna Vikings the European equivalent to Alabama? It’s hard to really compare them due to them playing in totally different circumstances, but the aforementioned similarities make the Vienna Vikings the closest comparable thing to Alabama on this side of the Atlantic.