From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market1 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.
Market1 Feb 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad1 Feb 2027
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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
58 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad1 Feb 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 watch1 Feb 2027
22 appearances at Excelsior and the goals keep coming. Sturm Graz are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad25 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.
Squad25 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.
Market25 Jan 2027
The phone has started ringing about Matteo Bignetti again, and this time the name on the line is NK Celje. Sturm Graz are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad25 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Andreas Weimann
“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.
Boardroom25 Jan 2027
87% of the income goes out in wages at Sturm Graz
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Albert Vallci asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market18 Jan 2027
The offer from Red Bull Salzburg for Gizo Mamageishvili 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Seedy Jatta 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 Seedy Jatta trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market18 Jan 2027
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Market18 Jan 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Sturm Graz know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Albert Vallci 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
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
Upbeat
Market4 Jan 2027
Rapid Wien come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Sturm Graz did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market4 Jan 2027
The name of Daniil Khudyakov has come up in conversations Sturm Graz were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Maurice Malone 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Gennaro Farina
“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.
Market4 Jan 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Angelo Gattermayer signs something — a contract at Sturm Graz or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market28 Dec 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 Sturm Graz can pretend not to have heard.
Squad28 Dec 2026
“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.
Squad28 Dec 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.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
157% of the income goes out in wages at Sturm Graz
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Squad28 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Seedy Jatta
“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.
Market28 Dec 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Andreas Weimann’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 Dec 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.
Market21 Dec 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Sturm Graz know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Daniil Khudyakov is not doing himself any favours
A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
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
Upbeat
Squad7 Dec 2026
Maurice Malone 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
46 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad7 Dec 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
The award is a small thing with a heavy meaning: for four weeks nobody in this division did his job better. Sturm Graz have the trophy on a shelf and the player in the side.
Loan watch7 Dec 2026
The goals keep arriving from Szymon Włodarczyk’s exile
9 goals in 15 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.
Market7 Dec 2026
Seedy Jatta linked with a move away
The name of Seedy Jatta keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Sturm Graz say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match25 Nov 2026
A 1‑0 win over Wolfsberger AC, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 28. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match25 Nov 2026
Still nobody has beaten Sturm Graz
The unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad30 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.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
181% of the income goes out in wages at Sturm Graz
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Marked 8.00 — 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Arjan Malić
“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.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Defensive actions: 16, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Loan watch30 Nov 2026
14 appearances at Excelsior and the goals keep coming. Sturm Graz are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market23 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 ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 32. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 25 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Maurice Malone 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.
Match21 Nov 2026
Whatever happens, Sturm Graz do not lose
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
The afternoon belonged to Paul Koller
A mark of 7.72, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Squad23 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 ratings23 Nov 2026
Shots: 7, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
Match21 Nov 2026
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Wolfsberger AC will be the happier side with the point.
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
Upbeat
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
A defender's afternoon for Paul Koller
Defensive actions: 30. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad9 Nov 2026
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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
76 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
A performance of 9.07 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.07, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match7 Nov 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Angelo Gattermayer. 2‑0 against SV Ried, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
A performance of 8.67 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Daniil Khudyakov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad2 Nov 2026
There were 10 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad2 Nov 2026
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
A performance of 9.64 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match31 Oct 2026
It finished 3‑1, and it was Stefan Schimmer’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Sturm Graz.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Arjan Malić 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.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
181% of the income goes out in wages at Sturm Graz
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Squad2 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Albert Vallci, and the manager let it.
Market2 Nov 2026
“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
Steady
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 37. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market26 Oct 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.
Squad26 Oct 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Stefan Schimmer, and the manager let it.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Defensive actions: 18. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Shots: 12. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
Match24 Oct 2026
Point won or two lost for Sturm Graz?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Grodig? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Emanuel Aiwu knocks on the manager's door
“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.
Loan watch26 Oct 2026
9 appearances at Excelsior and the goals keep coming. Sturm Graz are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
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
Steady
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 42. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad12 Oct 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.
Squad12 Oct 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
108 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Match10 Oct 2026
0‑1 to Red Bull Salzburg, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Arjan Malić, and the manager let it.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
3.78 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
The terraces12 Oct 2026
Everybody has an opinion about Stefan Schimmer
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
5.65 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market5 Oct 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.
Squad5 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 ratings5 Oct 2026
Marked 9.27 — 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.
Match3 Oct 2026
It finished 2‑1, and it was Stefan Schimmer’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Sturm Graz.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
282% of the income goes out in wages at Sturm Graz
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Squad5 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Florian Kainz
“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.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Marked 8.16 — 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.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
A performance of 8.16 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market28 Sep 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Maurice Malone 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Nikolay Obolskiy. 3‑2 against Admira Wacker, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.39, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad28 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Stefan Schimmer
“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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
A performance of 8.11 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
A performance of 8.07 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Ryan Fosso knocks on the manager's door
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Sep 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Sturm Graz may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 26. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad21 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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Defensive actions: 22, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad21 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Andreas Weimann
“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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
“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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Shots: 11, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
Match19 Sep 2026
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Wolfsberger AC defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Market21 Sep 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Albert Vallci’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
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
Uneasy
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 34. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market31 Aug 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
The wait goes on for Sturm Graz
5 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Maurice Malone 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Maurice Malone, and the manager let it.
Market31 Aug 2026
He is 19, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
Match29 Aug 2026
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The terraces31 Aug 2026
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
Squad31 Aug 2026
The competition arrived without a word said to him about it. Daniil Khudyakov keeps the shirt for now, at Sturm Graz's convenience rather than his own.
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market17 Aug 2026
Malmo FF come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Sturm Graz did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 30. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Maurice Malone 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.
Squad17 Aug 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.
Match15 Aug 2026
0‑1 to Rapid Wien, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Shots: 10, 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
Market10 Aug 2026
The bid was some way short and Sturm Graz did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market10 Aug 2026
Emanuel Aiwu hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sturm Graz can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 27. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market10 Aug 2026
The paperwork is done: Gennaro Farina joins from Mattersburg in a deal worth $1.1M. Now comes the harder part.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Daniil Khudyakov commits to Sturm Graz for another 4 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Maurice Malone 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.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
A performance of 8.62 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
A performance of 8.07 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Belmin Beganović, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market3 Aug 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.
Market3 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Otar Kiteishvili commits to Sturm Graz for another 3 years.
Squad3 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 Sturm Graz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market3 Aug 2026
Still no offer on the table, and Jon Gorenc Stankovič’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
Squad3 Aug 2026
This league is too small for Florian Kainz
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Sturm Graz will not keep him by pretending otherwise.