Marked for Florian Junuzovic
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings9 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 36. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad9 Aug 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Sturm Graz may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match7 Aug 2027
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 11 matches without defeat is a foundation Sturm Graz did not have in the autumn.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Jon Gorenc Stankovič was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match7 Aug 2027
A 3‑2 win over Altach, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad9 Aug 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings9 Aug 2027
A performance of 8.44 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad9 Aug 2027
28 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Market9 Aug 2027
No place for Sinan Bakış in the plan
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Sinan Bakış has his answer from Sturm Graz; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match3 May 2027
Sturm Graz are in among the leaders
Position 2 and 26 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Market3 May 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad3 May 2027
Seedy Jatta in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sturm Graz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Loan watch3 May 2027
“I did not go to SV Ried to sit and watch. I want to come back to Sturm Graz and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 13 matches say the rest.
Squad3 May 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Sturm Graz, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad3 May 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match8 Mar 2027
Sturm Graz refuse to drop out of the race
Position 2, 26 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Market8 Mar 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Sturm Graz, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market8 Mar 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Florian Kainz and Sturm Graz agree another 2 years.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Seedy Jatta was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Loan watch8 Mar 2027
The goals keep arriving from Szymon Włodarczyk’s exile
14 goals in 27 games at Excelsior — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Sturm Graz updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Loan watch8 Mar 2027
“I did not go to SV Ried to sit and watch. I want to come back to Sturm Graz and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Matteo Bignetti, and the manager let it.
Squad8 Mar 2027
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Sturm Graz would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad22 Feb 2027
Benjamin Tiedemann Hansen was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad22 Feb 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Aalborg, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market22 Feb 2027
The name of Nicklas Helenius keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Aalborg say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match8 Feb 2027
Sturm Graz are in among the leaders
Position 2 and 26 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Market8 Feb 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad8 Feb 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sturm Graz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Loan watch8 Feb 2027
The goals keep arriving from Szymon Włodarczyk’s exile
12 goals in 23 games at Excelsior — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Sturm Graz updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Loan watch8 Feb 2027
“I watch every Sturm Graz game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Aalborg runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Market8 Feb 2027
Sturm Graz bring in an old head
Chouaib El Maftoul is 33 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market1 Feb 2027
Viborg come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Aalborg did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Kelvin John was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad1 Feb 2027
No hiding place for Luan
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Luan, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad11 Jan 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Aalborg may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad11 Jan 2027
33 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Kelvin John in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Aalborg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Jan 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Loan watch11 Jan 2027
“I did not go to Hobro to sit and watch. I want to come back to Aalborg and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 21 matches say the rest.
Market11 Jan 2027
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match11 Jan 2027
26 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Market11 Jan 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market11 Jan 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad11 Jan 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market11 Jan 2027
Red Bull Salzburg pay $2.7M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Squad11 Jan 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Daniil Khudyakov and Sturm Graz agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Market11 Jan 2027
The paperwork is done: Ercan Kara joins from Rapid Wien in a deal worth $360.0K. Now comes the harder part.
Squad11 Jan 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sturm Graz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Loan watch11 Jan 2027
“I watch every Sturm Graz game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Aalborg runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad4 Jan 2027
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Aalborg have had the benefit of it.
Squad4 Jan 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Aalborg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Jan 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match14 Dec 2026
26 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Market14 Dec 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Seedy Jatta was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Loan watch14 Dec 2026
“I did not go to Aalborg to sit and watch. I want to come back to Sturm Graz and fight for my place.” 3 appearances in 13 matches say the rest.
Loan watch14 Dec 2026
16 appearances away from home and 10 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Salko Hamzić gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Maurice Malone knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Maurice Malone trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Maurice Malone has seen what the next man earns
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Sturm Graz that is a harder question to answer.
Market14 Dec 2026
Sturm Graz have let the market know Maurice Malone can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match21 Nov 2026
10 unbeaten for Aalborg
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 10 matches without defeat is a foundation Aalborg did not have in the autumn.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 27. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match21 Nov 2026
The wait goes on for Aalborg
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad23 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Aalborg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
A performance of 8.56 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.44, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad23 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Luis Fariña, and the manager let it.
Squad23 Nov 2026
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Aalborg pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Match21 Nov 2026
It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match16 Nov 2026
Sturm Graz are in among the leaders
Position 2 and 25 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Market16 Nov 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Defensive actions: 29. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Defensive actions: 25, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Match14 Nov 2026
Nobody wants to play Sturm Graz right now
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad16 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sturm Graz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
A performance of 9.45 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad16 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Daniil Khudyakov, and the manager let it.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad9 Nov 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match7 Nov 2026
Still nobody has beaten Aalborg
The unbeaten run reaches 8. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad9 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Aalborg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.87, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
A performance of 8.22 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
The one thing Ivo Mammini could not do
Shots: 9, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sturm Graz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Marked 9.06 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad19 Oct 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad19 Oct 2026
31 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad19 Oct 2026
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Daniil Khudyakov knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
Loan watch19 Oct 2026
“I did not go to Aalborg to sit and watch. I want to come back to Sturm Graz and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
Match17 Oct 2026
It needed Maurice Malone to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Rapid Wien, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The terraces19 Oct 2026
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match14 Sep 2026
Aalborg are in real trouble now
Position 10, 6 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad14 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Aalborg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match12 Sep 2026
FC Midtjylland left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.75, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad14 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mikkel Kallesøe, and the manager let it.
Squad14 Sep 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Lucas Villarruel trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Kelvin John finally opens his account
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Aalborg have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
The one thing Ivo Mammini could not do
Shots: 9, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 40. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 28 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Defensive actions: 25, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Stefan Schimmer was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad14 Sep 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Paul Koller and Sturm Graz agree another 3 years.
Match12 Sep 2026
It finished 1‑0, and it was Stefan Schimmer’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Sturm Graz.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.28, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad14 Sep 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Florian Kainz has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 36. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match7 Sep 2026
Every point is an argument now for Sturm Graz
Position 9 and 4 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Market7 Sep 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Sturm Graz, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match5 Sep 2026
6 matches without a win for Sturm Graz
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Sturm Graz are no longer polite ones.
Squad7 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sturm Graz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match5 Sep 2026
SV Ried left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Wages eat 172% of everything Sturm Graz earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Squad7 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Angelo Gattermayer, and the manager let it.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 26. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market24 Aug 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mattersburg can pretend not to have heard.
Match22 Aug 2026
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Mattersburg have 3 straight wins of it.
Market24 Aug 2026
Sturm Graz paid $1.3M and Mattersburg took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Defensive actions: 23. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad24 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mattersburg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Marked 9.64 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Match22 Aug 2026
Three points for Mattersburg, 1‑0 the final word against SV Ried in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad24 Aug 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 35. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market24 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Sturm Graz have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Market24 Aug 2026
The offer from Pontedera for Florian Junuzovic was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Market24 Aug 2026
The fee is $1.3M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Mattersburg drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Match22 Aug 2026
No end in sight to Sturm Graz's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Sturm Graz has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Seedy Jatta was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad24 Aug 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Marked 8.26 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Match22 Aug 2026
A 2‑2 draw with Grodig leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.