[Faceman]

Austria is the same. Our first league sucks that hard, that it is a pain to watch, when German Bundesliga is on TV at the same time. From time to time, there's one good player who makes it to a foreign league and thus gets a chance to develop his skills, but inside Austria you got no real chance to develop your skills.
I blame it on the managmenent mainly.
For example:
My favourite team, "Rapid Wien", was in the UEFA Cup Winner's Cup finale in 1996, where they lost 0-1 to Paris St. Germain. On the way there they beat e.g. Feyenoord 0-0,3-0.
It was only the fourth time for an Austrian club to reach an UEFA finale (second time for Rapid).
The next season the management sold half the squad for ridicolous prices. The goalkeeper was transferred to AS Roma for less than half a million EURO (a million marks back then) only to become voted best player in Seria A that fall season. Other key players were sold for even less. The club finished the season after their big success ranking fourth in the league. The following years they dropped and last year they were listed 8th (of 10 teams).
This year they're coming back, but the point is:
Many a management in Austria ruins a club, which is sportly on the healthy side.