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Grazer AK

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Grazer AK
Full nameGrazer Athletiksport Klub
Nickname(s)Die Roten (The Reds)
Die roten Teufel (The Red Devils)
Rotjacken (Red Jackets)
Athletiker (Athletics)
Short nameGAK
Founded18 August 1902; 122 years ago (1902-08-18)
GroundMerkur-Arena
Capacity16,364
PresidentRéne Ziesler
Head coachGernot Messner
LeagueAustrian Bundesliga
2023–24Austrian 2. Liga, 1st of 16 (promoted)
Websitehttp://www.grazerak.at/
Current season

Grazer Athletiksport Klub (lit.'Graz's Athletic Sport Club'; abbreviated as GAK), better known simply as Grazer AK, is an Austrian sports club based in the city of Graz in the federal state of Styria. The football section was once among Austria's most popular clubs, enjoying success in the decade between 1995 and 2005. The other sections are basketball, diving and tennis, which however all act as separate legal entities. The "GAK" football section folded during the 2012–13 Regionalliga Mitte Season in Autumn 2012. It has since been revived and returned to the Austrian Second League in 2019,[1] and four years later won promotion to the Austrian Bundesliga after a seventeen-year hiatus.[2]

History

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Historical chart of GAK league performance

The beginning

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The club arose from an informal association of local academics around the medical student Georg August Wagner from Prague, later a professor at Charles University and the Charité in Berlin. Acquainted with football from his hometown, he organised the first public match in present-day Austria on 18 March 1894 in the Graz municipal park. The Grazer Athletik-Sport-Club – modeled after the Wiener AC – was established eight years later on the 72nd birthday of Emperor Francis Joseph.

European football and the golden start to the new millennium

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Between 1962 and 1983, GAK was involved in European competitions. Their first match was against Odense BK in the Cup Winners Cup in 1962. The club has made regular appearances in European cups ever since, with regular UEFA Cup appearances since the 1980s, but the highlight came on the domestic scene in 1981 when they won the Austrian Cup. The golden years arrived in the first half of the 2000s, when GAK won the Austrian Cup twice more, in 2000 and 2002. Their biggest success was in 2004 where they did the double – they managed to win the cup yet again along with the Austrian title, finishing the league season one point ahead of Austria Wien. Their last appearance in Europe was a disappointing 5–0 away defeat to RC Strasbourg in Round 1 of the UEFA Cup in the 2005–06 season.

Financial troubles and bankruptcy

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During the 2006–2007 season, 'Grazer AK' went into administration. The club was docked 28 points as a result. In the 2007–2008 season, the club was not allowed to participate in the professional leagues and was relegated to the Austrian Regional League Central.[3] After a second bankruptcy, the club managed to achieve a settlement and accommodation with its creditors in September 2008, ensuring its survival. Soon after, the club started having difficulties again after it could not recover from its relegation to the Regional League and was eventually dissolved in 2012.

New start

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A phoenix club called Grazer AC was set up by the fans soon after the 2012 dissolution called and started from the bottom tier in the 2013–14 season. At an extraordinary meeting on 14 March 2014, Grazer AC was declared to be a continuation of the original "GAK" in agreement with its umbrella association. After winning every single championship, the club made its return to professional football in the 2019–20 season with promotion to the second tier.

Supporters

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The Reds recorded their highest average attendance (9234) in 2003/2004. The average attendance since the forced relegations had settled at around 3500, but the quality of the organized support had risen. The "curve" was in sector 22, before relegation to the Regionalliga in sector 25. Despite relegation to the third tier, several hundred fans attended away games. The ultra fan groups are known as the Red Firm, the Graz Society, the Tifosi Rosso Bianco and the Everreds. Parts of the fan scene maintain friendships with KFC Uerdingen 05, NK Čelik Zenica and SV Austria Salzburg.

Graz Derby

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GAK have an important rivalry with cross-town rivals Sturm Graz, with whom they contest the Graz derby. In 1974, there was significant opposition from both sets of fans against a proposed merger to become FC Graz. Since 1920, excluding the friendly matches (especially before the first official Styrian Cup in 1920), 199 matches have been played between the two, of which there were: 185 encounters in the league (130 at the professional level and 55 at amateur level in the Styrian League); an additional seven encounters in Austrian Cup (including one final that was won by the GAK in 2002); 1 match in the Austrian Supercup; 2 meetings in the Tschammerpokal and 4 games in the Styrian Cup. The first derby took place in 1911 and the most recent on 2 Nov 2023. The Red Devils have the superior record in the rivalry. On 19 October 2022, a long period without a derby ended when the two clubs met in the last 16 of the ÖFB-Cup.

Past seasons

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Positions since the team was re-founded at the end of 2012.

Season League Level Place MP W D L GF GA GD Pts Austrian Cup
2013–14 1. Klasse Mitte A (VIII) 8 1 22 20 2 0 124 12 112 62 not qualified
2014–15 Gebietsliga Mitte (VII) 7 1 26 23 1 2 107 29 78 70 not qualified
2015–16 Unterliga Mitte (VI) 6 1 26 22 3 1 88 19 69 69 not qualified
2016–17 Oberliga Mitte/West (V) 5 1 26 14 9 3 65 29 36 51 not qualified
2017–18 Landesliga Steiermark (IV) 4 1 30 21 5 4 61 24 37 68 not qualified
2018–19 Regionalliga Mitte (III) 3 1 30 21 5 4 70 28 42 68 Semi-finals
2019–20 First League (II) 2 15 30 7 10 13 40 50 -10 31 Second round
2020–21 First League (II) 2 6 30 13 7 10 46 42 4 46 First round
2021–22 First League (II) 2 7 30 13 7 10 47 39 8 46 First round
2022–23 First League (II) 2 2 30 17 9 4 52 29 23 60 Third round
2023–24 First League (II) 2 1 30 21 6 3 57 27 30 69 Third round
Green marks a season followed by promotion

European competition

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Results

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Season Competition Round Opponent Aggregate 1st leg 2nd leg
1962–63 UEFA Cup Winners Cup Round 2 Denmark B 1909 Odense 4:6 1:1 (H) 3:5 (A)
1964–65 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup Round 1 Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia NK Zagreb 2:9 2:3 (A) 0:6 (H)
1968–69 UEFA Cup Winners Cup Round 1 Netherlands ADO Den Haag 1:6 1:4 (A) 0:2 (H)
1973–74 UEFA Cup Round 1 Greece Panachaiki 1:3 0:1 (H) 1:2 (A)
1981–82 UEFA Cup Winners Cup Round 1 Soviet Union Dinamo Tbilisi 2:4 0:2 (A) 2:2 (H)
1982–83 UEFA Cup Round 1 Romania Corvinul Hunedoara 1:4 1:1 (H) 0:3 (A)
1996–97 UEFA Cup Qualification Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Vojvodina 7:1 2:0 (H) 5:1 (A)
Round 1 Belgium Germinal Ekeren (a) 3:3 1:3 (A) 2:0 (H)
Round 2 Italy Inter Milan 1:1
(3:5 p)
0:1 (A) 1:0 a.e.t.
(3:5 p) (H)
1997 UEFA Intertoto Cup Group stage Denmark Silkeborg IF 5:4 2:0 (H)
Wales Ebbw Vale 0:0 (A)
Croatia NK Hrvatski Dragovoljac 1:3 (H)
France SC Bastia 2:1 (A)
1998–99 UEFA Cup Qualifying Round 2 Finland VPS 3:0 0:0 (A) 3:0 (H)
Round 1 Bulgaria Litex Lovech 3:1 1:1 (A) 2:0 (H)
Round 2 France AS Monaco 3:7 3:3 (H) 0:4 (A)
1999–00 UEFA Cup Qualifying Round 2 Faroe Islands KÍ Klaksvík 9:0 5:0 (A) 4:0 (H)
Round 1 Slovakia FC Spartak Trnava 4:2 3:0 (H) 1:2 (A)
Round 2 Greece Panathinaikos (a) 2:2 2:1 (H) 0:1 (A)
2000–01 UEFA Cup Round 1 Slovakia 1. FC Košice 3:2 3:2 (A) 0:0 (H)
Round 2 Spain Espanyol 1:4 0:4 (A) 1:0 (H)
2001–02 UEFA Cup Qualifikation Faroe Islands HB Tórshavn 6:2 2:2 (A) 4:0 (H)
Round 2 Netherlands FC Utrecht 3:6 0:3 (A) 3:3 (H)
2002–03 UEFA Champions League Qualifying Round 2 Moldova Sheriff Tiraspol 6:1 4:1 (A) 2:0 (H)
Qualifying Round 3 Russia Lokomotiv Moscow 3:5 0:2 (H) 3:3 (A)
2002–03 UEFA Cup Round 1 Cyprus APOEL 1:3 0:2 (A) 1:1 (H)
2003–04 UEFA Champions League Qualifying Round 2 Albania Tirana 7:2 5:1 (A) 2:1 (H)
Qualifying Round 3 Netherlands Ajax 2:3 1:1 (H) 1:2 (s.g.) (A)
2003–04 UEFA Cup Round 1 Norway Vålerenga IF 1:1 (a) 0:0 (A) 1:1 (H)
2004–05 UEFA Champions League Qualifying Round 3 England Liverpool 1:2 0:2 (H) 1:0 (A)
2004–05 UEFA Cup Round 1 Bulgaria Litex Lovech 5:1 5:0 (H) 0:1 (A)
Group stage France AJ Auxerre 5:4 0:0 (A)
Poland Amica Wronki 3:1 (H)
Scotland Rangers 0:3 (A)
Netherlands AZ Alkmaar 2:0 (H)
1/16 finals England Middlesbrough 3:4 2:2 (H) 1:2 (A)
2005–06 UEFA Cup Qualifying Round 2 Moldova Nistru Otaci 3:0 2:0 (A) 1:0 (H)
Round 1 France Strasbourg 0:7 0:2 (H) 0:5 (A)

Derby statistics vs. SK Sturm Graz

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Total in Austrian first tier as of 23 August 2005:

  • 46 Won
  • 42 Drawn
  • 42 Lost

(Goals: 174:168)

Current squad

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As of 16 August 2024

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

No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK Austria AUT Jakob Meierhofer
4 DF Austria AUT Martin Kreuzriegler
5 DF Germany GER Petar Filipović
6 MF Austria AUT Markus Rusek
7 MF Austria AUT Murat Satin
8 MF Austria AUT Gabriel Zirngast (on loan from LASK)
9 FW Austria AUT Daniel Maderner
10 MF Austria AUT Christian Lichtenberger
11 MF Slovenia SVN Tio Cipot (on loan from Spezia)
12 FW Austria AUT Romeo Vučić (on loan from Austria Wien)
13 MF Austria AUT Marco Perchtold (captain)
14 DF Australia AUS Jacob Italiano
15 DF Austria AUT Lukas Graf
17 MF Austria AUT Thomas Schiestl
No. Pos. Nation Player
18 FW Japan JPN Atsushi Zaizen
19 DF Austria AUT Marco Gantschnig
20 MF Austria AUT Thorsten Schriebl
21 DF Austria AUT Michael Lang
22 DF Austria AUT Felix Holzhacker
23 DF Austria AUT Moritz Eder
24 MF Germany GER Dennis Dressel
26 GK Austria AUT Christoph Nicht
27 DF Austria AUT Benjamin Rosenberger
28 MF Austria AUT Dominik Frieser
30 DF Serbia SRB Miloš Jovičić
31 GK Bosnia and Herzegovina BIH Haris Mujanić
33 GK Austria AUT Juri Kirchmayr
99 FW Cameroon CMR Michael Cheukoua

Out on loan

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

No. Pos. Nation Player
DF Austria AUT Sebastian Jost (at Weiz until 30 June 2025)
DF Germany GER Yannick Oberleitner (at Amstetten until 30 June 2025)
MF Austria AUT Martin Murg (at Weiz until 30 June 2025)
No. Pos. Nation Player
FW Cameroon CMR Kevin-Prince Milla (at ASK Voitsberg until 30 June 2025)
FW Austria AUT Max Rauter (at SV Tillmitsch until 30 June 2025)

Managerial history

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Honours

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GAK celebrates its Austrian Championship 2004 at Hauptplatz in Graz.

References

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  1. ^ "2019/20 Ende! Der GAK trifft auf den SV Lafnitz". Im letzten Spiel der Saison treffen wir auf den SV Lafnitz. ... (in German). Retrieved 29 September 2023.
  2. ^ "Zurück aus der Gruft – GAK 1902 is back!". Im letzten Spiel der Saison treffen wir auf den SV Lafnitz. ... (in German). Retrieved 16 May 2024.
  3. ^ "Austria's GAK agree to leave top flight". FIFA. 11 April 2005. Archived from the original on 18 September 2007. Retrieved 15 May 2006.
  4. ^ Rijavec, Matej (25 June 2010). "Mura išče novega trenerja: Šimundža skočil čez mejo" (in Slovenian). RTV Slovenija. Retrieved 25 June 2012.
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