SK Sturm Graz

Also written as Sturm Graz.

The club

SK Sturm Graz is not Grazer AK, the city's other Bundesliga club and Sturm's fiercest rival; it is not Austria Wien; and it is not Rapid Wien, the two big Vienna clubs also covered in this corpus. Sturm Graz play in black and white and are based in Graz, the Styrian capital in southern Austria, and the feed name for the club is "Sturm Graz".

The club was founded in 1909 as Grazer Fußballclub Sturm, established by students. Between 1921 and 1949 the club won the regional Styrian championship eleven times before Austrian football consolidated into a national structure. The club's nickname is "Die Schwoazn", meaning "The Blacks", after the black-and-white colours.

Sturm Graz play at the Merkur Arena, formerly known as the Liebenauer Stadion, which has a capacity of 16,364 (reduced to 15,400 for international matches under UEFA configuration). The club moved there in 1997, having previously played at their traditional home, the Gruabn. The exact circumstances of the club's founding beyond the 1909 date, and any further ground history before the Gruabn, were not established from the sources read here.

The head coach is the Austrian Fabio Ingolitsch. The club president is Christian Jauk. The captain for the 2026/27 season is the Austrian Stefan Hierländer. The club's kit is made by Nike and the main shirt sponsor is Puntigamer, a Styrian beer brand.

Recent seasons

Sturm Graz finished second in 2022/23 with 42 points after the championship round, behind champions Red Bull Salzburg, and qualified for the Champions League third qualifying round on the strength of that finish. In 2023/24 they won the Austrian Bundesliga title with 44 points from 32 matches, 19 wins, 10 draws and 3 losses, 56 goals scored and 23 conceded, finishing two points ahead of Red Bull Salzburg and ending Salzburg's decade of domestic dominance; it was Sturm's fourth league title and their first since 2011.

In 2024/25 Sturm Graz retained the title, finishing with 40 points from 32 matches, 19 wins, 6 draws and 7 losses, 66 goals scored and 39 conceded, sealing the championship with a 1-1 draw away to Wolfsberger AC on the final day. In the Austrian Cup that season they reached the quarter-finals before losing 2-0 away to Austria Wien on 1 February 2025.

In 2025/26 Sturm Graz finished first in the regular season with 38 points from 22 matches, 12 wins, 2 draws and 8 losses, 33 goals scored and 26 conceded, before slipping to second in the championship round on 37 points as LASK won the title with 39. As two-time defending champions, Sturm's championship-round finish still carried Champions League second qualifying round qualification into 2026/27. In the Austrian Cup that season Sturm beat SK Bischofshofen 4-0 in the first round on 25 July 2025, SC Röthis 2-0 in the second round on 17 September, and Admira Wacker on penalties, 9-10, after a 1-1 draw in the third round on 29 October, before losing 3-1 after extra time to SCR Altach in the quarter-finals on 1 February 2026. LASK went on to win that season's Austrian Cup, beating Altach in the final at the Wörthersee Stadion in Klagenfurt on 1 May 2026.

Honours and landmarks

Austrian Bundesliga champions five times, in 1998, 1999, 2011, 2024 and 2025. Austrian Cup winners seven times, in 1996, 1997, 1999, 2010, 2018, 2023 and 2024. Between 1921 and 1949 the club also won the regional Styrian championship eleven times, before Austria moved to a national league structure.

The club's most significant European landmark came in the 2000/01 UEFA Champions League, when Sturm Graz won their first group-stage group, Group D, ahead of Rangers, Galatasaray and Monaco, and advanced to the second group stage for the first time in the club's history.

Notable scorelines

Sturm Graz lost 5-0 away to Atalanta in the 2024/25 Champions League league phase, one of their heaviest European defeats on record, and lost 5-0 away to Bodø/Glimt in the first leg of the 2025/26 Champions League play-off round before winning the home leg 2-1, going out 6-2 on aggregate. In the Europa League league phase that followed their Champions League elimination, Sturm beat Rangers 2-1 at home. The club's all-time domestic record win and record defeat, and the exact scorelines from the group-winning 2000/01 Champions League campaign against Rangers, Galatasaray and Monaco, were not established from the sources read here.

European record

Sturm Graz first reached the UEFA Cup/Europa League on eleven or more occasions since 1970/71, their best result there a quarter-final in 1983/84, in which they lost to Nottingham Forest via a penalty in extra time. In the Champions League, Sturm Graz reached the group stage in 1998/99, finishing fourth in a group with Spartak Moscow, Internazionale and Real Madrid, and again in 1999/2000, finishing third in their group. In 2000/01 they won Group D against Rangers, Galatasaray and Monaco and progressed to the second group stage, the furthest the club has advanced in the competition.

After a long gap without featuring in the Champions League proper, Sturm Graz returned in 2024/25 as Austrian champions and reached the league phase, finishing 30th of 36 with two wins, six defeats, five goals scored and fourteen conceded; they beat Girona 1-0 at home and lost away to Brest, Leipzig, Atalanta and Monaco and at home to Club Brugge and Sporting CP. In 2025/26 they entered the Champions League play-off round as two-time defending Austrian champions and lost 6-2 on aggregate to Bodø/Glimt, dropping into the Europa League league phase, where they finished 26th of 36 with two wins, one draw and five defeats, five goals scored and eleven conceded, beating Rangers 2-1 at home and losing to Midtjylland, Celtic, Panathinaikos, Red Star Belgrade and Feyenoord. The Georgian Otar Kiteishvili was the club's top scorer that season with twelve league goals and sixteen in all competitions.

Head-to-head notes

Sturm Graz's principal rivalry is the Graz derby against Grazer AK, the city's other major club. The two sides have met 199 times since 1920, and Sturm hold the superior record across the fixture's history. Detailed recent head-to-head results between the two clubs were not established from the sources read here.

Right now (2026/27)

Fabio Ingolitsch remains head coach and Stefan Hierländer captain. In the Austrian Bundesliga, Sturm Graz sit third after four rounds with eight points from two wins and two draws, five goals scored and two conceded. Sturm Graz entered the 2026/27 Champions League qualifying in the League Path second qualifying round on the strength of their 2025/26 championship-round finish; their specific opponent, scores and outcome in that round were not established from the sources read here.

Sources

Researched and written for not4quarters. Where a fact could not be established from the sources read, this page says so rather than guessing.