Grazer AK

Grazer AK, founded 18 August 1902 as Grazer Athletiksport Klub (in Austria the abbreviation GAK is more common), is an Austrian sports club, from the city of Graz in the federal state of Styria (Steiermark). The football section used to be one of the most popular Austrian clubs, mostly successful in the decade 1995–2005. The other sections are basketball, diving and tennis, which however all act as separate legal entities. The "GAK" football section was folded during the 2012–13 Regionalliga Mitte Season in Autumn 2012. It has since been revived and returned to Austrian Second League in 2019.

Grazer AK
Full nameGrazer Athletiksport Klub
Nickname(s)Die Roten (The Reds)

Rotjacken (The Red Jackets)

Athletiker (Athletics)
Short nameGAK
Founded18 August 1902 (1902-08-18)
GroundLiebenauer Stadium
Capacity2,500
ChairmanHarald Rannegger
CoachGernot Plassnegger
LeagueAustrian Second League
2018–19Regionalliga Mitte, 1st (promoted)
WebsiteClub website

History
Historical chart of GAK league performance

The Beginning

The club arose from an informal association of local academics around the medical student Georg August Wagner from Prague, later a professor at the 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

Between 1962 and 1983 GAK has been 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 they won the Austrian Cup two more times in 2000 and 2002. Their biggest success was in 2004 where they did "the double" – they managed to win the cup yet again but also the Austrian title. Their last appearance in Europe was a disappointing 5–0 away defeat to RC Strasbourg in 2005 in Round 1 of the UEFA Cup.

Financial troubles and bankruptcy

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.[1] 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 Regionalliga Mitte and eventually was dissolved in 2012.

New start

A phoenix club was set up by the fans soon after the club was dissolved in 2012 called Grazer AC and started from the bottom tier at season 2013/14. On 14 March 2014 Grazer AC at an extraordinary meeting was considered to be a continuation of the original "GAK" in agreement with its umbrella association. After winning every single championship, the club went back to professional football for the season 2019/20, namely in the 2nd tier of the football pyramid.

Supporters

The highest attendance average reached the red jackets in the championship season 2003/2004. This season, an average of 9234 pilgrimage to the home games of the "Athletics". The average attendance since the forced descent had settled at "only" 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 the third-rate fate pilgrimage several hundred fans to the away games. The ultra-fan groups are the Red Firm, the Society Graz, the Tifosi Rosso Bianco and the Everreds. Parts of the fan scene maintain friendship to KFC Uerdingen 05, NK Čelik Zenica and also SV Austria Salzburg.

Graz Derby

GAK have a big rivalry with cross-town rivals Sturm Graz with whom they contest the Graz Derby. In 1974 there was big 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), 197 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 5 encounters in Austrian Cup (including one final that was won by the GAK in 2002); 1 match in Austrian Supercup; 2 meetings in the Tschammerpokal and 4 games in the Styrian Cup. The very first Derby took place in 1911, the last was dated 17 May 2007. So far Sturm Graz have won more derby matches than GAK. Due to the recent financial troubles and subsequent relegations GAK is more likely to revive the derby with Sturm's reserve squad as they begin to climb up the football pyramid.

Past seasons

These are the seasons that the team has done since it was re-founded at the end of the year 2012.

Season League Level Place MP W D L GF GA GD Pts Austrian Cup
2013–141. Klasse Mitte A (VIII)812220201241211262not qualified
2014–15Gebietsliga Mitte (VII)71262312107297870not qualified
2015–16Unterliga Mitte (VI)6126223188196969not qualified
2016–17Oberliga Mitte/West (V)5126149365293651not qualified
2017–18Landesliga Steiermark (IV)4130215461243768not qualified
2018–19Regionalliga Mitte (III)3130215470284268Semi-finals
Green marks a season followed by promotion

European competition

Results
Season Competition Round Opponent Aggregate 1st leg 2nd leg
1962–63 UEFA Cup Winners Cup Round 2 B 1909 Odense 4:6 1:1 (H) 3:5 (A)
1964–65 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup Round 1 NK Zagreb 2:9 2:3 (A) 0:6 (H)
1968–69 UEFA Cup Winners Cup Round 1 ADO Den Haag 1:6 1:4 (A) 0:2 (H)
1973–74 UEFA Cup Round 1 Panachaiki Patras 1:3 0:1 (H) 1:2 (A)
1981–82 UEFA Cup Winners Cup Round 1 Dinamo Tbilisi 2:4 0:2 (A) 2:2 (H)
1982–83 UEFA Cup Round 1 Corvinul Hunedoara 1:4 1:1 (H) 0:3 (A)
1996–97 UEFA Cup Qualification FK Vojvodina Novi Sad 7:1 2:0 (H) 5:1 (A)
Round 1 Germinal Ekeren (a) 3:3 1:3 (A) 2:0 (H)
Round 2 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 Silkeborg IF 5:4 2:0 (H)
Ebbw Vale AFC 0:0 (A)
NK Hrvatski Dragovoljac 1:3 (H)
SC Bastia 2:1 (A)
1998–99 UEFA Cup Qualifying Round 2 Vaasan PS 3:0 0:0 (A) 3:0 (H)
Round 1 Litex Lovech 3:1 1:1 (A) 2:0 (H)
Round 2 AS Monaco 3:7 3:3 (H) 0:4 (A)
1999–00 UEFA Cup Qualifying Round 2 KÍ Klaksvík 9:0 5:0 (A) 4:0 (H)
Round 1 FC Spartak Trnava 4:2 3:0 (H) 1:2 (A)
Round 2 Panathinaikos Athens (a) 2:2 2:1 (H) 0:1 (A)
2000–01 UEFA Cup Round 1 1. FC Košice 3:2 3:2 (A) 0:0 (H)
Round 2 Espanyol Barcelona 1:4 0:4 (A) 1:0 (H)
2001–02 UEFA Cup Qualifikation HB Tórshavn 6:2 2:2 (A) 4:0 (H)
Round 2 FC Utrecht 3:6 0:3 (A) 3:3 (H)
2002–03 UEFA Champions League Qualifying Round 2 Sheriff Tiraspol 6:1 4:1 (A) 2:0 (H)
Qualifying Round 3 Lokomotiv Moscow 3:5 0:2 (H) 3:3 (A)
2002–03 UEFA Cup Round 1 APOEL Nicosia 1:3 0:2 (A) 1:1 (H)
2003–04 UEFA Champions League Qualifying Round 2 SK Tirana 7:2 5:1 (A) 2:1 (H)
Qualifying Round 3 Ajax Amsterdam 2:3 1:1 (H) 1:2 (s.g.) (A)
2003–04 UEFA Cup Round 1 Vålerenga IF 1:1 (a) 0:0 (A) 1:1 (H)
2004–05 UEFA Champions League Qualifying Round 3 Liverpool F.C. 1:2 0:2 (H) 1:0 (A)
2004–05 UEFA Cup Round 1 Litex Lovech 5:1 5:0 (H) 0:1 (A)
Group stage AJ Auxerre 5:4 0:0 (A)
Amica Wronki 3:1 (H)
Rangers 0:3 (A)
AZ Alkmaar 2:0 (H)
1/16 finals Middlesbrough F.C. 3:4 2:2 (H) 1:2 (A)
2005–06 UEFA Cup Qualifying Round 2 Nistru Otaci 3:0 2:0 (A) 1:0 (H)
Round 1 Racing Strasbourg 0:7 0:2 (H) 0:5 (A)

Derby statistics vs. SK Sturm Graz

(as of 23.8.2005) Total (in 1st Austrian League):

  • 46 Won
  • 42 Drawn
  • 42 Lost

(Goals: 174:168)

Current squad

As of 8 October 2020

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  AUT Jakob Meierhofer
2 DF  AUT Thomas Zündel
4 DF  PHI Stephan Palla
6 MF  AUT Philipp Schellnegger
7 MF  AUT Slobodan Mihajlovic
8 MF  AUT Gerald Nutz
9 FW  AUT Dieter Elsneg
10 MF  AUT Dominik Hackinger
11 MF  AUT Martin Harrer
12 DF  AUT Stefan Pfeifer
13 MF  AUT Marco Perchtold
14 FW  CRO Petar Zubak
15 DF  AUT Lukas Graf
16 DF  AUT Peter Kozissnik
No. Pos. Nation Player
17 FW  CRO Filip Smoljan
18 MF  CRO Dragan Smoljan
19 DF  AUT Marco Gantschnig
20 MF  AUT Thomas Fink
21 DF  AUT Josef Weberbauer
23 DF  AUT David Fritz
26 GK  AUT Christoph Nicht
27 DF  AUT Benjamin Rosenberger
28 MF  AUT Peter Tschernegg
29 MF  NGA Reality Asemota
31 FW  AUT Florian Jessenitschnig
32 MF  AUT Markus Stenzel
37 FW  AUT Paul Kiedl
77 GK  AUT Chris Weigelt

Managerial history

Honours
GAK celebrates its Austrian Championship 2004 at Hauptplatz in Graz.

Austrian Bundesliga (I)

  • Winners (1): 2003–04
  • Runners-up (2): 2002–03, 2004–05

Austrian Cup

Austrian Supercup

  • Winners (2): 2000, 2002
  • Runners-up (1): 2004

Austrian First League (II)

  • Winners (3): 1974–75, 1992–93, 1994–95

Austrian Regionalliga Mitte (III)

Landesliga Steiermark (IV)

  • Winners (1): 2017–18

Oberliga Mitte/West (V)

  • Winners (1): 2016–17

Unterliga Mitte (VI)

  • Winners (1): 2015–16

Gebietsliga Mitte (VII)

  • Winners (1): 2014–15

1. Klasse Mitte A (VIII)

  • Winners (1): 2013–14

References
  1. "Austria's GAK agree to leave top flight". FIFA. 11 April 2005. Archived from the original on 18 September 2007. Retrieved 15 May 2006.
  2. 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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