Grazer AK

Grazer AK

Full name	Grazer Athletiksport-Klub
Nickname(s)	Red Devils, Athletics, Red-Jackets
Founded	1902
Ground	Merkur Arena
Capacity	16,364
Chairman	Rene Ziesler
Manager	Gernot Messner
League	Bundesliga
2023-24	1th

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

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.

As of 22 October 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 Jakob Meierhofer 4 DF  Austria Martin Kreuzriegler 5 DF  Germany Petar Filipovic 6 MF  Austria Markus Rusek 7 MF  Austria Murat Satin 8 MF  Austria Gabriel Zirngast (on loan from LASK Amateure) 9 FW  Austria Daniel Maderner 10 MF  Austria Christian Lichtenberger 11 MF  Slovenia Tio Cipot (on loan from Spezia Calcio) 12 FW  Slovenia Romeo Vucic (on loan from FK Austria Wien) 13 MF  Austria Marco Perchtold 14 DF  Australia Jacob Italiano 15 DF  Austria Lukas Graf 17 MF  Austria Thomas Schiestl

No. Pos. Nation Player 18 FW  Japan Atsushi Zaizen 19 DF  Austria Marco Gantschnig 20 MF  Austria Thorsten Schriebl 21 DF  Austria Michael Lang 22 DF  Austria Felix Holzhacker 23 DF  Austria Moritz Eder 24 MF  Germany Dennis Dressel 26 GK  Austria Christoph Nicht 27 MF  Austria Benjamin Rosenberger 28 MF  Austria Dominik Frieser 30 DF  Austria Milos Jovicic 31 GK  Bosnia and Herzegovina Haris Mujanić 33 GK  Austria Juri Kirchmayr 99 FW  Cameroon Michael Cheukoua

•  Austria Rene Poms Headcoach
•  GermanyN.N. Assistant coach
•  Austria Thomas Queder Goalkeeper coach

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
2023-24	2. Liga (II)	2	1	30	21	6	3	57	27	30	69	3rd round
Green marks a season followed by promotion

^[1]

Start	End	Coach
3/2000	4/200	Rainer Hörgl
4/2000	9/2001	Werner Gregoritsch
9/2001	10/2001	Christian Keglevits
10/2001	8/2002	Thijs Libregts
8/2002	10/2002	Christian Keglevits
10/2002	1/2006	Walter Schachner
1/2006	6/2007	Lars Søndergaard
7/2007	1/2008	Dietmar Pegam
1/2008	8/2008	Stojadin Rajković
8/2008	1/2010	Gregor Pötscher
1/2010	11/2010	Heinz Karner
11/2010	6/2011	Peter Stöger
7/2011	6/2013	Aleš Čeh
7/2012	10/2012	Ante Šimundža
7/2013	9/2017	Gernot Plassenegger
10/2017	1/2019	David Preiß
1/2019	6/2019	Enrico Kulovits
7/2019	2/2020	David Preiß
2/2020	3/2020	Ralph Spirk/ Alois Hödl
3/2020	10/2021	Gernot Plassenegger
10/2021	11/2021	Stefan Kammerhofer
11/2021	12/2021	Ralph Spirk
12/2021	10/2024	Gernot Messner
10/2024		Rene Poms

• Austrian Champion:2004
• Austrian Cup:1981, 2000, 2002, 2004
• Austrian Second League Champion:1975, 1993, 1995, 2024
• Austrian Champion (amateurs):1929, 1932, 1933
• Styrian Champion:1922, 1924, 1926, 1927, 1928, 1929, 1930, 1931, 1932, 1933

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)

Total (in 1st Austrian League):

• 46 Won
• 42 Drawn
• 42 Lost

(Goals: 174:168)

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