Grazer AK

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Grazer AK
GAK 1902 Logo.svg
Full nameGrazer Athletiksport Klub
Nickname(s)Die Roten (The Reds)

Rotjacken (The Red Jackets)

Athletiker (Athletics)
Short nameGAK
Founded18 August 1902; 119 years ago (1902-08-18)
GroundLiebenauer Stadium
Capacity16,364
ChairmanHarald Rannegger
CoachGernot Plassnegger
LeagueAustrian Second League
2018–19Regionalliga Mitte, 1st (promoted)
WebsiteClub website

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.

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
2013–14 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
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 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 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):

  • 46 Won
  • 42 Drawn
  • 42 Lost

(Goals: 174:168)

Current squad[]

As of 21 March 2021

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
2 DF Austria AUT Philipp Seidl
3 DF Austria AUT Michael Huber
4 DF Philippines PHI Stephan Palla
6 MF Austria AUT Markus Rusek
7 FW Brazil BRA Pedro Felipe
8 MF Austria AUT Gerald Nutz
10 MF Mali MLI Mamadou Sangare
11 MF Austria AUT Martin Harrer
12 DF Austria AUT Stefan Pfeifer
13 MF Austria AUT Marco Perchtold
14 FW Croatia CRO Petar Zubak
15 DF Austria AUT Lukas Graf
16 DF Austria AUT Peter Kozissnik
No. Pos. Nation Player
17 FW Croatia CRO Filip Smoljan
18 MF Croatia CRO Dragan Smoljan
19 DF Austria AUT Marco Gantschnig
20 MF Austria AUT Thomas Fink
21 DF Austria AUT Josef Weberbauer
22 MF Austria AUT Lukas Gabbichler
26 GK Austria AUT Christoph Nicht
27 DF Austria AUT Benjamin Rosenberger
28 MF Austria AUT Peter Tschernegg
29 MF Nigeria NGA Reality Asemota
31 FW Austria AUT Florian Jessenitschnig
32 MF Austria AUT Markus Stenzel
37 FW Austria AUT Paul Kiedl
77 GK Austria 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.

External links[]

Retrieved from ""