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Soccer-Austria coach Koller to stay despite World Cup agony

Oct 30 (Reuters) - Austria coach Marcel Koller is to stay on despite the failure to qualify for next year's World Cup, the national federation (OeFB) said on Wednesday.

Koller, who has a contract that runs until the end of their Euro 2016 campaign, made his decision to remain in the job after turning down an offer from his native Switzerland to replace Ottmar Hitzfeld after the World Cup in Brazil.

"It was the most difficult decision I've had to make in my career," he told the OeFB's website (www.oefb.at). "But I began this project two years ago and would like to carry it further."

Austria, regarded as one of the top football nations in the 1920s, last qualified for the World Cup in 1998. (Writing by Brian Homewood in Berne, editing by Tony Jimenez)