A decade after it was founded in the Styrian lower house, the GAK is about to make a comeback in the Bundesliga. After mistakes by the competition, the “Red Jackets” from Graz stormed to the top for the first time this season in the 2nd league last weekend and don’t want to give it up in the two remaining rounds. With outside help, GAK could already celebrate the championship title after the home game against Amstetten (7:15 p.m.). We report live (see ticker below).
Here is the ticker for the game GAK – Amstetten:Here is the ticker for the game Rapid II – BW Linz: If pursuer Blau Weiß Linz (55) loses away against Rapid II or also leaves St. Pölten (53) at the FAC point, the GAK is (56) with a threesome through. Should this not happen, a win against Amstetten would leave the door wide open a week later in Dornbirn (Sunday, June 4th). If Blau Weiß and St. Pölten unexpectedly lost points, the team of coach Gernot Messner was convincing. Since the beginning of March, the GAK has held nine wins in eleven games. The Styrians were able to cope with the fact that it didn’t work out against their direct competition. They drew 0-0 with St. Pölten in mid-April, and also drew 0-3 at home against Blau Weiß at the end of April. Promotion would be the long-awaited return to professional business for GAK. A few years later, the club paid dearly for the double win in 2004 under coach Walter Schachner. An overpaid squad, plus inscrutable cash flows: three years after the triumph, the club filed for bankruptcy. It shouldn’t be the last. By October 2012, the football section of the Graz Athletics Club had filed four bankruptcy applications, and professional operations were finally discontinued.Refoundation 2013After the re-foundation of the successor club GAC, which has since been reintegrated, the Graz team rose in the summer of 2013 to the lowest class of the Styrian state association (8th class). and made it through to the regional league by summer 2018. The credo was to proceed step by step. As early as 2019, the GAK rose to the second highest division. After the 2021/22 season ended in seventh place, Liendl was another experienced man to regulars like captain Marco Perchtold and Markus Rusek. The former Germany legionnaire became a key figure. Liendl scored six goals himself, and the specialist for set pieces prepared 17. Only Rusek has scored more often with seven goals. The GAK does not have a classic goalscorer. For Liendl, however, it should be over in the summer. The 37-year-old announced a month ago that he would then end his active career. Economically, GAK does not want to take any risks in the event of promotion. The current budget is around 4 million euros. According to managing director Matthias Dielacher, it would “not increase dramatically” in the Bundesliga. The club is hoping for an upswing among the spectators. On average, 2,800 fans came to the 14 home games in the Merkur Arena. In any case, the stadium issue will boil up again in Graz if they are promoted. It has already been made clear several times: If Sturm gets a new arena, GAK would also like its own stadium in the north of Graz.
