Austrian national football team drops 'misused' theme song

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Austria's Christoph Baumgartner celebrates scoring against Serbia on Tuesday. /Elisabeth Mandl/Reuters

The Austrian FA (OEFB) will no longer use the song 'L'amour toujours' when the national team plays as it has been misused by far-right sympathisers, the country's media have reported.

The song was previously played as a stadium anthem after goals from former Manchester United interim manager Ralf Rangnick's Austria side but the OEFB will remove it from the playlist.

"The OEFB clearly stands for tolerance, diversity and integration and is committed to respectful coexistence in all areas of society," it said in a statement quoted by Austrian newspaper Kronen Zeitung. "Following the recent incidents of misuse, the song will not be played at OEFB international matches."

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The OEFB was not immediately available to comment when contacted by Reuters. The song by Italian DJ Gigi D'Agostino was released in 2000 but has recently been misused by right-wing extremists, who have been filmed shouting xenophobic slogans to the melody.

Austria start its European Championship campaign in Germany against France on June 17. They face neighbours Switzerland in a final warm-up match on Saturday after beating Serbia 2-1 on Tuesday.