Grazer AK

Grazer AK
Full name Grazer Athletik-Klub
Nickname(s)

Die Roten (The Reds)
Rotjacken (The Red Jackets)
Die Roten Teufel (The Red Devils)

Athletiker (Athletics)
Short name GAK
Founded 1902
Ground Sportzentrum Weinzödl (football section)
Ground Capacity 2,000

Grazer AK, founded 18 August 1902 as Grazer Athletik-Sport 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 is one of the most traditional Austrian clubs, most 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 dissolved in 2012; however, it has since been revived and now plays in the amateur divisions of Austrian football. The club has a big rivalry with neighbours Sturm Graz.

History

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 1962–1983 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 never recovered for 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. 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.[2] Currently they are in the 5th tier of the football pyramid.

Fans and the Graz Derby

The organised fan movement at GAK started in 1985. Since then several fan groups have been created, the most well-known currently are the Red Firm, Society Graz, Tifosi Rosso Bianco and the Everreds.

GAK have a big rivalry with cross-town rivals Sturm Graz with whom they compete 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.

Achievements

GAK celebrates its Austrian Championship 2004 on Hauptplatz in Graz.

Austrian Bundesliga

Austrian Cup

Austrian Supercup

Austrian First League

Current squad

As of 14 December 2015.[3]

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

No. Position Player
4 Austria MF Marco Allmannsdorfer
5 Austria DF Stefan Kammerhofer
7 Austria FW Ali Alexander Ivanescu
8 Austria MF Martin Strauss
9 Austria MF Laurenz Sacher
11 Austria DF Kai Koleznik
12 Germany MF Jonas Koch
13 Austria MF Marvin Griesbacher
16 Austria DF Stefan Karre
18 Romania MF Christian Thomas Ciorcasan
No. Position Player
19 Austria MF Marco Heibl
20 Austria DF Philip Fürstaller
20 Austria MF Michael Rappel
21 Austria DF Florian Stadler
22 Austria MF Richard Wemmer
23 Austria FW Maximilian Puchmüller
24 Austria MF Gerald Säumel
25 Austria DF Nico Neuhold
26 Austria MF Paul Heinemann
29 Austria DF Dominik Messner
30 Austria GK Lukas Hösele

Managers

  • Austria Karl Mütsch (1948–1951)
  • Austria Josef Pojar (1951–1952)
  • Austria Engelbert Smutny (1952)
  • Austria Karl Mütsch (1953–1954)
  • Austria Alfred Pestitschek (1954–1957)
  • Hungary Austria János Szép (1957–1960)
  • Austria Ferdinand Fritsch (1960–1962)
  • Chile Hungary Juan Schwanner (1962–1963)
  • Austria Fritz Pimperl (1963–1964)
  • Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Milan Zeković (1964)
  • Austria Karl Durspekt (1964–1965)
  • Austria Karl Kowanz (1965–1967)
  • Austria Fritz Kominek (1967–1969)
  • Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Vlado Šimunić (1969–1970)
  • Austria Karl Durspekt (1970–1971)
  • Austria Helmut Senekowitsch (1971–1973)
  • Austria Alfred Günthner (1973–1974)
  • Austria Hans Hipp (1974–1975)
  • Austria Hermann Stessl (1975–1977)

Statistics

European competition statistics

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 Patras 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 FK Vojvodina Novi Sad 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 AFC 0:0 (A)
Croatia NK Hrvatski Dragovoljac 1:3 (H)
France SC Bastia 2:1 (A)
1998-99 UEFA Cup Qualifying Round 2 Finland Vaasan PS 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 Athens (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 Barcelona 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 Nicosia 1:3 0:2 (A) 1:1 (H)
2003-04 UEFA Champions League Qualifying Round 2 Albania SK Tirana 7:2 5:1 (A) 2:1 (H)
Qualifying Round 3 Netherlands Ajax Amsterdam 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 F.C. 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 Glasgow Rangers 0:3 (A)
Netherlands AZ Alkmaar 2:0 (H)
1/16 finals England Middlesbrough F.C. 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 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):

(Goals: 174:168)

Achievements in other sports

The GAK tennis section was able to win the Austrian mastership in 1938, 1989, 1991 and 2002, as well as the German mastership in 1940.[5]
The GAK ice hockey section (not existing anymore) played in the first Austrian league in 1970/71.[6]

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. ↑ http://derstandard.at/1392688340575/GAC-holt-K-zurueck-und-macht-Gewinn
  3. ↑ "Kader: GAK 1902". www.grazerak.at/ (in German). Grazer AK. Retrieved 14 December 2015.
  4. ↑ Matej Rijavec (25 June 2010). "Mura išče novega trenerja: Šimundža skočil čez mejo" (in Slovenian). RTV Slovenija. Retrieved 25 June 2012.
  5. ↑ "GAK-Tennis: Geschichte und Erfolge". gak-tennis.at. Retrieved 2014-11-14.
  6. ↑ "G-A-K.at: Stammverein". g-a-k.at. Retrieved 2014-11-14.
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