Grazer AK

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Grazer AK
Full nameGrazer Athletiksport-Klub
Nickname(s)Athletics, Red-Jackets
Founded1902
GroundMerkur Arena
Capacity16,364
ChairmanHarald Rannegger
ManagerGernot Messner
LeagueAustria 2nd League
2020-216th

Grazer AK (or GAK) is a football club which plays in Austria. it was founded in 1902.

History[change | change source]

Fans celabrating the championship 2004

The club was founded by a group of students led by medical student Georg August Wagner from Prague. Due to this development the first football match in Austria with the FA rules took place in Graz. 1902 was the official start of the Grazer Athletik-Sport-Club. The club reached the Styrian Championship in 1922, 1924 and between 1926 and 1933 and was Austrian Amateur Champion in 1929, 1932 and 1933. One of the players of GAK was Rudi Hiden, who went to Wiener AC and became goalkeeper of the famous "Austrian Wunderteam". 1944 the matches were stopped due to the Second World War.

1946 the club begun again. 1951 it reached the highest class (Liga A) and, at the end of that season, the 6th position, which was the best of a club outside Vienna. In the following years the Athletics were established in the first class. 1962 and 1968 they where runners-up in the cup-final. Only because the league was reformed the club was relegated to the second division in 1974, but came back one year later. 1981 the Athletics gained first title as professional team when they won the Austrian cup, which also was the first title for a styrian team. From 1990 to 1995 the club was in the second league. They won the cup-title also in 2000, 2002 and were double winners in 2004.

2007 the club collapsed due to 15,2 mil. € debts. They had to go to the third league where they went bankrupt again and had to interrupt playing in october 2012.

2013 they had to start over from the lowest (9th tier) league after being reestablished. Since then the club (named GAC due legal grounds initially) won every championship. For the Season 2017/18, they are in Landesliga Steiermark, 4th tier. In the 2019/20 season they came back to professional football being promoted to the 2nd league. In the 2022/23 season they finished 2nd and missed promotion in the last round.

Current squad[change | change source]

As of 28 July 2023

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 Austria Jakob Meierhofer
5 DF Germany Germany Yannick Oberleitner
6 MF Austria Austria Markus Rusek
7 FW Japan Japan Atsushi Zaizen
9 FW Austria Austria Daniel Maderner
10 MF Austria Austria Christian Lichtenberger
11 FW Georgia (country) Georgia Christian Lichtenberger
13 MF Austria Austria Marco Perchtold
15 DF Austria Austria Lukas Graf
17 MF Austria Austria Thomas Schiestl
19 DF Austria Austria Marco Gantschnig
20 MF Austria Austria Thorsten Schriebl
No. Pos. Nation Player
21 DF Austria Austria Michael Lang
22 DF Austria Austria Felix Holzhacker
23 MF Austria Austria Paolo Jager
24 DF Austria Austria Felix Köchl
26 MF Austria Austria Benjamin Rosenberger
27 GK Austria Austria Christoph Nicht
30 DF Austria Austria Milos Jovicic
32 MF Austria Austria Martin Murg
33 GK Austria Austria Maximilian Fahler
70 FW Austria Austria Jan Stefanon
99 FW Cameroon Cameroon Michael Cheukoua
DF Austria Austria Sebastian Jost

Coaching staff[change | change source]

Past seasons[change | change source]

Seasons since the re-foundation 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 2. Liga (II) 2 15 30 7 10 13 40 50 -10 31 2nd round
2020-21 2. Liga (II) 2 6 30 13 7 10 46 42 4 46 1st round
2022-23 2. Liga (II) 2 2 30 17 9 4 52 29 23 61 3rd round
Green marks a season followed by promotion

Coaching history in the 21st century[change | change source]

[1]

Start End Coach
3/2000 4/200 Germany Rainer Hörgl
4/2000 9/2001 Austria Werner Gregoritsch
9/2001 10/2001 Austria Christian Keglevits
10/2001 8/2002 Netherlands Thijs Libregts
8/2002 10/2002 Austria Christian Keglevits
10/2002 1/2006 Austria Walter Schachner
1/2006 6/2007 Denmark Lars Søndergaard
7/2007 1/2008 Austria Dietmar Pegam
1/2008 8/2008 Austria Stojadin Rajković
8/2008 1/2010 Austria Gregor Pötscher
1/2010 11/2010 Austria Heinz Karner
11/2010 6/2011 Austria Peter Stöger
7/2011 6/2013 Slovenia Aleš Čeh
7/2012 10/2012 Slovenia Ante Šimundža
7/2013 9/2017 Austria Gernot Plassenegger
10/2017 1/2019 Austria David Preiß
1/2019 6/2019 Austria Enrico Kulovits
7/2019 2/2020 Austria David Preiß
2/2020 3/2020 Austria Ralph Spirk/ Alois Hödl
3/2020 10/2021 Austria Gernot Plassenegger
10/2021 11/2021 Austria Stefan Kammerhofer
11/2021 12/2021 Austria Ralph Spirk
12/2021 Austria Gernot Messner

Honours[change | change source]

  • Austrian Champion:2004
  • Austrian Cup:1981, 2000, 2002, 2004
  • Austrian Second League Champion:1975, 1993, 1995
  • Austrian Champion (amateurs):1929, 1932, 1933
  • Styrian Champion:1922, 1924, 1926, 1927, 1928, 1929, 1930, 1931, 1932, 1933

Statistics[change | change source]

List of international games of GAK in UEFA-Cup, Champions League Qualification, Cupwinners' Cup and in Fairs' Cup:

1962/63:

  1. B 1909 Odense (CdCs – 1/8 Finale) 1:1 (H) 3:5 (A)

1964/65:

  1. NK Zagreb (MC R1) 0:6 (H) 2:3 (A)

1968/69:

  1. Ado Den Haag (CdCs R1) 0:2 (H) 1:4 (A)

1972/73:

  1. Panachaiki Patras (UC R1) 0:1 (H) 1:2 (A)

1980/81:

  1. Dinamo Tbilisi (CdCs – 1/16 Finale) 2:2 (H) 0:2 (A)

1982/83:

  1. Corvinul Hunedoara (UC R1) 1:1 (H) 0:3 (A)

1996/97:

  1. Vojvodina Novi Sad (UC Q2) 2:0 (H) 5:1 (A)
  2. Germinal Ekeren (UC R1) 2:0 (H) 1:3 (A)
  3. Inter Milan (UC R2) 1:0 (H) 0:1 (4:5 i.E.)(A)

1998/99:

  1. VPS Vaasa (UC Q2) 3:0 (H) 0:0 (A)
  2. Litex Lovech (UC R1) 2:0 (H) 1:1 (A)
  3. AS Monaco (UC R2) 3:3 (H) 0:4 (A)

1999/2000:

  1. KÍ Klaksvík (UC Q) 4:0 (H) 5:0 (A)
  2. Spartak Trnava (UC R1) 3:0 (H) 1:2 (A)
  3. Panathinaikos (UC R2) 2:1 (H) 0:1 (A)

2000/01:

  1. FC Kosice (UC R1) 0:0 (H) 3:2 (A)
  2. Espanyol Barcelona (UC R2) 1:0 (H) 0:4 (A)

2001/02:

  1. HB Tórshavn (UC Q) 4:0 (H) 2:2 (A)
  2. FC Utrecht (UC R1) 3:3 (H) 0:3 (A)

2002/03:

  1. FC Sheriff Tiraspol (CL Q2) 2:0 (H) 4:1 (A)
  2. Lokomotiv Moscow (CL Q3) 0:2 (H) 3:3 (A)
  3. Apoel Nicosia (UC R1) 1:1 (H) 0:2 (A)

2003/04:

  1. SK Tirana (CL Q2) 2:1 (H) 5:1 (A)
  2. Ajax Amsterdam (CL Q3) 1:1 (H) 1:2 (A)
  3. Vålerenga I.F. Fotball (UC R1) 1:1 (H) 0:0 (A)

2004/05:

  1. Liverpool F.C. (CL Q3) 0:2 (H) 1:0 (A)
  2. Litex Lovech (UC R1) 5:0 (H) 0:1 (A)
  3. AJ Auxerre (UC Gruppe F) 0:0 (A)
  4. Amica Wronki (UC Gruppe F) 3:1 (H)
  5. Rangers F.C. (UC Gruppe F) 0:3 (A)
  6. AZ Alkmaar (UC Gruppe F) 2:0 (H)
  7. Middlesbrough F.C. (UC 16tel-Finale) 2:2 (H) 1:2 (A)

2005/06:

  1. Nistru Otaci (UC Q) 2:0 (A) 1:0 (H)
  2. RC Strasbourg (UC R1) 0:2 (H) 0:5 (A)

Derby Statistics vs. SK Sturm Graz (as of 23.8.2005)[change | change source]

Total (in 1st Austrian League):

  • 46 Won
  • 42 Drawn
  • 42 Lost

(Goals: 174:168)

References[change | change source]

  1. [1] (in German) weltfussball.de. Retrieved 6 February 2022

Other websites[change | change source]