Sturm Graz

Sturm Graz began on 1 May 1909 as a team of students playing in the Augarten park in Graz under the name Grazer Fussballmannschaft Sturm ("Sturm" means storm). The club was formally registered as Grazer Fussballclub Sturm in 1912 and became Grazer Sportklub Sturm in 1920. It plays in black and white and is nicknamed "the Blackies". Its traditional home was the Gruabn, a narrow, mostly standing ground. Since 1997 Sturm has shared the Liebenau stadium with Grazer AK. Formerly the Arnold Schwarzenegger Stadium, UPC-Arena and Merkur Arena, it has been called Stadion Graz-Liebenau since March 2026.

Sturm won the Austrian amateur championship in 1934 and was a founding member of the nationwide Staatsliga in 1949-50. It has played in the top flight without a break since the Bundesliga began in 1974-75. Under Otto Baric it finished second in 1980-81, and in 1983-84 it reached the UEFA Cup quarter-finals, where it lost to Nottingham Forest in extra time. Under Ivica Osim it won its first Austrian Cup in 1996 and the league in 1998 and 1999, then won its Champions League group in 2000-01. A bankruptcy petition followed in 2006. Sturm went on to win the league in 2011, the double in 2024 and the league again in 2025.