SK Sturm Graz

S.K. Sturm Graz is a football club which plays in Austria. It was founded in 1909 and the colors are black and white. Therefore they are nicknamed the "Blackies".

Sturm Graz

Full name	Sportklub Sturm Graz
Nickname(s)	Blackies
Founded	1909
Ground	Merkur-Arena
Capacity	15,400
Chairman	Christian Jauk
Manager	Christian Ilzer
League	Austrian Bundesliga
2023-24	Austrian Bundesliga, Champions

Merkur Arena-homeground of SK Sturm Graz

SK Sturm Graz, -Cupfinal 2018

Christian Ilzer coach of SK Sturm Graz

History

The club was founded on 1 May 1909. It was founded by teenagers between 16 and 18. The official foundation of the club was in 1912. From 1921 to 1949 Sturm won the styrian championship 11 times. During German occupation the club played his first season in the highest division, the Gauliga Ostmark, but was relegated the same year. 1949 Sturm entered the national league as first team which came not from Vienna. In 1981 the team had the first success, it finished second in the league and reached the quarterfinals of tne UEFA Cup.

With the new president Hannes Kartnig a new successful era started. In 1994 Ivica Osim became coach of the team. 1995 they finished second in the league and 1996 they reached their first title, the Austrian Cup beating Admira Wacker. In 1998 they reached the first title. In 1999 they also won the league.

The first time they played for the Champions League, they only got one point against Spartak Moscow of Russia. The second time they played there they reached the 3rd place in the group. In the 1999/2000 season of the Champions League they won the Group D versus Galatasaray Glasgow Rangers and AS Monaco.

After this success some key players left the club and also coach Ivica Osim. Since 2005 Sturm has had financial problems. Therefore Sturm was forced to play with young players. Under Franco Foda this way was successful, and now Sturm is one of the top four teams in the league. In 2010 they reached the third title and played in the qualification for the Champions League but lost in the play off round against BATE Borisov.

In the 2010-11 season Sturm Graz reached their third championship. And 2017 and 2023mthey won the Cup.

Current squad

As of 8 August 2022

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 4 DF Slovenia Jon Gorenc Stanković 5 DF Switzerland Gregory Wüthrich 6 DF Austria Aleksandar Borković (on loan from Hoffenheim) 8 MF Austria Alexander Prass 9 FW Denmark Rasmus Højlund 10 MF Georgia Otar Kiteishvili 11 MF Austria Manprit Sarkaria 13 FW Austria Jakob Jantscher 14 DF Austria Paul Komposch 16 MF Austria Sandro Schendl 17 MF Austria Vesel Demaku 18 DF Austria Alois Oroz 19 MF Slovenia Tomi Horvat 21 MF Austria Samuel Stückler 22 DF Bosnia and Herzegovina Jusuf Gazibegović 23 FW Austria Luca Kronberger 24 DF Austria Sandro Ingolitsch 25 MF Austria Stefan Hierländer

No. Pos. Nation Player 26 MF Austria Christoph Lang 27 GK Austria Jörg Siebenhandl 28 DF Austria David Schnegg 29 DF Ghana Mohammed Fuseini 30 MF Austria Ivan Ljubić 31 GK Austria Luka Marić 32 GK Austria Tobias Schützenauer 34 DF Austria Simon Nelson 35 DF Austria Niklas Geyrhofer 36 DF Austria Vincent Trummer 37 DF Austria Moritz Wels 41 GK Austria Christopher Giuliani 42 DF Austria David Affengruber 44 DF Mali Amadou Dante — FW Netherlands Emanuel Emegha

Coaching staff

• Austria Christian Ilzer Headcoach
• Austria Uwe Hölzl Assistant coach
• Austria Dominik Deutschl Assistant coach
• Austria Stefan Loch Goalkeeper coach

Honors

• Austrian Football Bundesliga
  • Champions (4): 1998,1999, 2011, 2024
• Austrian Cup
  • Winners (6): 1996, 1997, 1999, 2010, 2018, 2023, 2024
• Austrian Supercup
  • Winners (3): 1996, 1998, 1999
• Austrian Amateur Champions (1): 1934
• Styrian Regional Champions (11)
• Styrian Cup Winners (9)
• UEFA Champions League (3)

SK Sturm international matches

• Q= Qualifying
• P= Preliminary
• PO = Play-off

Season	Competition	Round	Country	Club	Home	Away
1970–71	UEFA Cup	1		Ilves	3–0	2–4
		2		Arsenal	1–0	0–2
1974–75	UEFA Cup	1		Royal Antwerp	2–1	0–1
1975–76	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	1		Slavia Sofia	3–1	0–1
		2		Szombathelyi Haladás	2–0	1–1
		QF		Eintracht Frankfurt	0–2	0–1
1978–79	UEFA Cup	1R		Borussia Mönchengladbach	1–2	1–5
1981–82	UEFA Cup	1		CSKA Moscow	1–0	1–2
		2		IFK Göteborg	2–2	2–3
1983–84	UEFA Cup	1		Sportul Studențesc	0–0	2–1
		2		Hellas Verona	0–0	2–2
		3		Lokomotive Leipzig	2–0	0–1
		QF		Nottingham Forest	1–1 (AET)	0–1
1988–89	UEFA Cup	1		Servette	0–0	0–1
1991–92	UEFA Cup	1		Utrecht	0–1	1–3
1995–96	UEFA Cup	Q		Slavia Prague	0–1	1–1
1996–97	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	1		Sparta Prague	2–2	1–1
1997–98	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	1		APOEL	3–0	1–0
		2		AEK Athens	1–0	0–2
1998–99	UEFA Champions League	Q2		Újpest	4–0	3–2
		Group C – 4th		Spartak Moscow	0–2	0–0
				Internazionale	0–2	0–1
				Real Madrid	1–5	1–6
1999–00	UEFA Champions League	Q3		Servette	2–1	2–2
		Group D – 3rd, P		Marseille	3–2	0–2
				Manchester United	0–3	1–2
				Croatia Zagreb	1–0	0–3
1999–00	UEFA Cup	3		Parma	3–3 (AET)	1–2
2000–01	UEFA Champions League	Q2		Hapoel Tel Aviv	3–0	2–1
		Q3		Feyenoord	2–1	1–1
		Group D – 1st, P		Rangers	2–0	0–5
				Galatasaray	3–0	2–2
				Monaco	2–0	0–5
		Group A – 3rd		Valencia	0–5	0–2
				Manchester United	0–2	0–3
				Panathinaikos	2–0	2–1
2001	UEFA Intertoto Cup	2		Lausanne-Sport	0–1	3–3
2002–03	UEFA Champions League	Q3		Maccabi Haifa	3–3	0–2
2002–03	UEFA Cup	1		Livingston	5–2	3–4
		2		Levski Sofia	1–0	0–1 (p 8–7)
		3		Lazio	1–3	1–0
2005	UEFA Intertoto Cup	1		Rànger's	5–0	1–1
		2		VfL Wolfsburg	1–3	2–2
2008	UEFA Intertoto Cup	R		Shakhtyor Soligorsk	2–0	0–0
		3		Budapest Honvéd	0–0	2–1
2008–09	UEFA Cup	Q2		Zürich	1–1 (p 2–4)	1–1
2009–10	UEFA Europa League	Q2		Široki Brijeg	2–1	1–1
		Q3		Petrovac	5–0	2–1
		Play-off		Metalist Kharkiv	1–1	1–0
		Group F – 4th		Dinamo București	0–1	1–2
				Galatasaray	1–0	1–1
				Panathinaikos	0–1	0–1
2010–11	UEFA Europa League	Q3		Dinamo Tbilisi	2–0	1–1
		Play-off		Juventus	1–2	0–1
2011–12	UEFA Champions League	Q2		Videoton	2–0	2–3
		Q3		Zestafoni	1–0	1–1
		PO		BATE Borisov	0–2	1–1
	UEFA Europa League	Group L – 4th		Lokomotiv Moscow	1–2	1–3
				AEK Athens	1–3	2–1
				Anderlecht	0–2	0–3
2013–14	UEFA Europa League	Q2		Breiðablik	0–1	0–0
2015–16	UEFA Europa League	Q3		Rubin Kazan	2–3	1–1
2017–18	UEFA Europa League	Q2		Mladost Podgorica	0–1	3–0
		Q3		Fenerbahçe	1–2	1–1
2018–19	UEFA Champions League	Q2		Ajax	1–3	0–2
	UEFA Europa League	Q3		AEK Larnaca	0–2	0–5
2019–20	UEFA Europa League	Q2		Haugesund	2–1	0–2
2021–22	UEFA Europa League	Play-off		Mura	2–0	3–1
		Group B		AS Monaco	1–1	0–1
				PSV Eindhoven	1–4	0–2
				Real Sociedad	0–1	1–1

Manager history

• Leopold Kruschitz (1945–46)
• Josef Molzer (1946–49)
• Ludwig Durek (1950)
• Franz Czernicky (1951–52)
• Karl Decker (1952–54)
• Janos Gerdov (1954)
• Hans Gmeindl (1955)
• Rudolf Strittich (1 July 1955 – 30 June 1956)
• Josef Blum (1956–58)
• Ludwig Durek (1958–60)
• János Szép (1960–61)
• Otto Mühlbauer (1961)
• August Rumpf (1961–62)
• Lajos Lörinczy (1962–63)
• August Rumpf (1963)
• Rudolf Suchanek (1963–64)
• Karl Adamek (1965–66)
• Franz Fuchs (1966–67)
• Karl Kowanz (1967)
• Gerd Springer (1967–70)
• János Szép (1970–71)
• August Rumpf (1971)
• Adolf Remy (1971–72)
• Karl Schlechta (1972–77)
• Dr. Günther Paulitsch (1977–80)
• Otto Barić (1 July 1980 – 30 June 1982)
• Gernot Fraydl (1 July 1982 – 9 April 1984)
• Robert Pflug (10 April 1984 – 23 September 1984)
• Hermann Stessl (24 September 1984 – 30 June 1985)
• Ivan Marković (1 July 1985 – 12 October 1985)
• Franz Mikscha (13 Oct 1985 – 30 June 1986)
• Walter Ludescher (1 July 1986 – 24 September 1988)
• Manfred Steiner (int.) (24 September 1988 – 31 October 1988)
• Otto Barić (1 Oct 1988 – 30 June 1989)
• August Starek (1 July 1989 – 1 November 1991)
• Robert Pflug (1 Nov 1991 – 1 October 1992)
• Ladislav Jurkemik (1 Nov 1992 – 30 June 1993)
• Milan Đuričić (1 July 1993 – 30 June 1994)
• Ivica Osim (1 June 1994 – 14 September 2002)
• Franco Foda (14 September 2002 – 31 May 2003)
• Gilbert Gress (1 July 2003 – 31 August 2003)
• Mihailo Petrović (1 September 2003 – 31 May 2006)
• Franco Foda (1 July 2006 – 12 April 2012)
• Thomas Kristl (int.) (12 April 2012 – 31 May 2012)
• Peter Hyballa (1 June 2012 – 22 April 2013)
• Markus Schopp (int.) (22 April 2013 – 3 June 2013)
• Darko Milanič (4 June 2013 – 23 September 2014)
• Günther Neukirchner (int.) (23 September 2014 – 30 September 2014)
• Franco Foda (30 September 2014 – 31 December 2017)
• Heiko Vogel (31 Dec 2017 – 5 November 2018)
• Günther Neukirchner (int.) (5 Nov 2018 – 12 November 2018)
• Roman Mählich (12 Nov 2018 – 31 June 2019)
• Nestor El Maestro (1 July 2019 - 25 June 2020)
• Christian Ilzer (1 July 2020 -)

Other websites

• Official Homepage (German)