SK Sturm Graz

Full name

Sportklub Puntigamer Sturm Graz

Nickname(s)

die Schwoazn, Blackies

Founded

1909

Ground

UPC-Arena
(Capacity: 15,400)

Chairman

Hans Rinner

Manager

Franco Foda

League

Austrian Bundesliga

2008-09

4th

Home colours

Away colours

SK Sturm Graz, Cupwinner 2010

SK Sturm Graz is an Austrian football club, based in Graz, Styria, playing in the Austrian Bundesliga. The club was founded in 1909 and the club colours are black and white.

So far, Sturm Graz has won the Austrian Football Championship twice (1998 and 1999) and participated several times in the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Cup under the management of Ivica Osim.

1 History
2 Stadium
3 Achievements
4 European records
5 Current squad
- 5.1 Out on loan
6 Famous players
7 Manager History
8 Club Management
- 8.1 Administration
- 8.2 Coaching Staff
9 External links

History

Foundation

SK Sturm Graz were founded in 1909, as a working men's team (as opposed to their town neighbours Grazer AK, founded in 1902).

The club first appeared in top-flight competition in the Gauliga Ostmark in 1942-43, coming last and being relegated.

1982 - First Success

The first great success of the club was celebrated under manager Otto Baric, when the club finished runners-up in the league in the 1982/3 season. A year later, the club battled through to the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup, beaten only by Nottingham Forest through a dubious penalty in extra-time.

1992 - The Start of a new Era

In December 1992, Hannes Kartnig was installed as President, naming his close friend Heinz Schilcher as new manager. At the time, Sturm were languishing under enormous debts, a chronic lack of money and a general sporting malaise. Sturm qualified for the newly-formed Zehnerliga, and Kartnig and Schilcher decided the best course of action would be to abstain from big-name signings, and opt instead for a new start using young players from the club's youth setup. In 1993 Milan Djuricic became manager, and together with his "kindergarten" team managed to stay up.

1994 to 2002 - Osim and European Football

In 1994, the Bosnian Ivica Osim took control of the up-to-now unsuccessful Sturm; this proved to be a crucial turning-point in the club's history. Osim succeeded in producing an effective and powerful team using the young and inexperienced players at his disposal, strengthened with a few experienced leading players. The team's first success was as runners-up in the league in 1995; a year later, they won their first title, beating Admira Mödling in the cup-final, but wobbling in the league to finish runners-up yet again.

In 1998, SK Sturm Graz won their first Austrian Bundesliga title, pulling away from the field early on and winning the title with seven games in hand. Sturm set two records during this season; they remained unbeaten in their first twelve matches, and then for another nineteen matches later in the season. At the end of the season they amassed 81 points, an Austrian record total, winning the title with 19 points ahead of Rapid Vienna. This season also saw the development of the "magic triangle" of Mario Haas, Hannes Reinmayr and Ivica Vastic.

1999 saw SK Sturm Graz retain the title, securing the treble as they did so (league, cup and super cup), in addition to appearing in the qualification for the Champions League. Here, however, a scoreless draw with Spartak Moscow proved to be the only success. The 1999/2000 season saw Sturm in the Champions League for a second time, finishing third in their group. FC Tirol wrested the title from Sturm's grasp, but the runners-up spot achieved was sufficient for a third trip into the Champions League.

Sensationally, Sturm Graz won their Champions League Group D (against Galatasaray, Rangers and AS Monaco FC), reaching the second round for the first time. The league campaign was less successful - a fourth place finish, the worst under Osim.

After their Champions League exploits, several key players out of the twelve who later left were not suitably replaced. Worse still, this hasty squad redevelopment devoured almost all the profit made from the European campaign. Only a small fraction of the money was invested in youth development, to establish an academy. Despite this, the newly assembled team again finished in second place in the league, but failed at the qualification hurdle for the Champions League. This, together with increasing criticism from the President precipitated the departure of Osim after eight years at the helm.

2002 to Present Day - Consolidation

Franco Foda and Gilbert Gress (7 defeats in 9 games) both enjoyed short and fruitless stints as coach, before former striker Michael Petrovic took control in autumn 2003. He presided over a gradual introduction of young talent, securing the team's place in the top flight in both 2004 and 2005, finishing in seventh spot.

In the season 2005/6, Sturm Graz took part in the UEFA Intertoto Cup, but were knocked out in the second round by VfL Wolfsburg from the German Fußball-Bundesliga.

Since 2005 Sturm Graz has been facing financial problems and on September 1, 2006 a petition of bankruptcy was filed by the tax authorities.

Stadium

The traditional home of the team for many years was the Gruabn, which held over 12,000 people - almost exclusively standing - and which achieved cult status with many fans. The stadium was characterised by its narrow playing field, and the proximity of the fans to the players. From 1997 till 2005, Gruabn was used just as a training ground and for youth and amateur matches; in 2005 the ground was sold to the town of Graz to relieve the club's financial difficulties. 1997 was the move to the Arnold Schwarzenegger Stadium, shared between Sturm and their local rivals, Grazer AK. Since February 2006 the stadium is called UPC-Arena.

Achievements

Austrian Football Bundesliga

Champions (2): 1998 and 1999
Runners-up (5): 1981, 1995, 1996, 2000 and 2002

ÖFB-Cup

Winners (4): 1996, 1997, 1999 and 2010
Runners-up (4): 1948, 1975, 1998 and 2002

Austrian Supercup

Winners (3): 1996, 1998 and 1999
Runners-up (2): 1997 and 2002

Austrian Amateur Champions (1): 1934
Styrian Regional Champions (11): 1921, 1923, 1925, 1934, 1936, 1937, 1941, 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949
Styrian Cup Winners (9): 1932, 1933, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949
UEFA Champions League (3): 1998, 1999, 2000 (2nd Group Stage)
UEFA Cup (11): 1970/71, 1974/75, 1978/79, 1981/82, 1983/84 (Quarter Final), 1988/89, 1991/92, 1995/96, 1999 and 2002
UEFA Intertoto Cup (1): 2008 (Winners)

European records

As of December, 2009.

Season	Competition	Round	Club	Home	Away
1970-71	UEFA Cup	1R	Ilves Tampere	3-0	2-4
		2R	Arsenal FC	1-0	0-2
1974-75	UEFA Cup	1R	Royal Antwerp FC	2-1	0-1
1975-76	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	1R	Slavia Sofia	3-1	0-1
		2R	Szombathelyi Haladás	2-0	1-1
		QF	Eintracht Frankfurt	0-2	0-1
1978-79	UEFA Cup	1R	Borussia Mönchengladbach	1-2	1-5
1981-82	UEFA Cup	1R	CSKA Moskva	1-0	1-2
		2R	IFK Göteborg	2-2	2-3
1983-84	UEFA Cup	1R	Sportul Studentesc	0-0	2-1
		2R	Hellas Verona	0-0	2-2
		3R	Lokomotive Leipzig	2-0	0-1
		QF	Nottingham Forest	1-1 (AET)	0-1
1988-89	UEFA Cup	1R	Servette Genève	0-0	0-1
1991-92	UEFA Cup	1R	FC Utrecht	0-1	1-3
1995-96	UEFA Cup	QUAL	Slavia Praha	0-1	1-1
1996-97	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	1R	Sparta Praha	2-2	1-1
1997-98	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	1R	APOEL Nicosia	3-0	1-0
		2R	AEK Athens	1-0	0-2
1998-99	UEFA Champions League	2QR	Újpest FC	4-0	3-2
		Group C	Spartak Moskva	0-2	0-0
		Group C	Inter Milano	0-2	0-1
		Group C	Real Madrid	1-5	1-6
1999-00	UEFA Champions League	3QR	Servette Genève	2-1	2-2
		Group D, Preliminary	Olympique Marseille	3-2	0-2
		Group D, Preliminary	Manchester United F.C.	0-3	1-2
		Group D, Preliminary	Croatia Zagreb	1-0	0-3
1999-00	UEFA Cup	3R	Parma AC	3-3 (AET)	1-2
2000-01	UEFA Champions League	2QR	Hapoel Tel Aviv	3-0	2-1
		3QR	Feyenoord	2-1	1-1
		Group D, Preliminary	Rangers	2-0	0-5
		Group D, Preliminary	Galatasaray	3-0	2-2
		Group D, Preliminary	AS Monaco	2-0	0-5
		Group A	Valencia CF	0-5	0-2
		Group A	Manchester United F.C.	0-2	0-3
		Group A	Panathinaikos	2-0	2-1
2001	UEFA Intertoto Cup	2R	Lausanne Sports	0-1	3-3
2002-03	UEFA Champions League	3QR	Maccabi Haifa	3-3	0-2
2002-03	UEFA Cup	1R	Livingston	5-2	3-4
		2R	Levski Sofia	1-0	0-1 (p 8-7)
		3R	Lazio Roma	1-3	1-0
2005	UEFA Intertoto Cup	1R	FC Rànger's	5-0	1-1
		2R	VfL Wolfsburg	1-3	2-2
2008	UEFA Intertoto Cup	2R	Shakhter Soligorsk	2-0	0-0
		3R	Honved Budapest	0-0	2-1
2008-09	UEFA Cup	2QR	FC Zürich	1-1 (p 2-4)	1-1
2009-10	UEFA Europa League	2Q	NK Široki Brijeg	2-1	1-1
		3Q	Petrovac	5-0	2-1
		Play Off	Metalist Kharkiv	1-1	1-0
		Group F	Dinamo Bucuresti	0-1	1-2
		Group F	Galatasaray	1-0	1-1
		Group F	Panathinaikos	0-1	0-1
2010-11	UEFA Europa League	3Q	Dinamo Tbilisi	2-0	1-1
		Play Off	Juventus FC	19/08/10	26/08/10

Current squad

As of June 4, 2010

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

No.	Position	Player
1	GK	Christian Gratzei
4	DF	Dominic Pürcher
5	DF	Ferdinand Feldhofer
6	MF	Manuel Weber
7	FW	Mario Haas
8	MF	Andreas Hölzl
9	MF	Haris Bukva
10	MF	Samir Muratović
11	FW	Imre Szabics
12	FW	Dominic Hassler
13	DF	Thomas Burgstaller
14	MF	Florian Kainz

No.	Position	Player
17	DF	Martin Ehrenreich
18	DF	Joachim Standfest
19	MF	Mario Kienzl
22	GK	Silvije Cavlina
23	DF	Gordon Schildenfeld
24	FW	Roman Kienast
26	FW	Marvin Weinberger
27	MF	Christian Klem
28	MF	Daniel Beichler
29	MF	Sandro Foda
39	MF	Klaus Salmutter

Out on loan