Sturm Graz U18

Austrian Bundesliga U18
31 Aug 2027
Tuesday
Process
57 Edition

The Sturm Graz Sentinel

30 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

Sturm Graz tear Grodig apart

Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 4‑0 against Grodig, and it could have been more.

Player ratings

A brace, and Gizo Mamageishvili takes the afternoon — 8.50

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Gizo Mamageishvili provided it, and the 8.50 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Player ratings

Filip Rózga, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.00

A mark of 8.00 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.

Match

Nobody wants to play Sturm Graz right now

5 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.

Market

Léon Pöhls asks to leave Sturm Graz

“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.

Squad

Petter Nosa Dahl 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.

Market

Gizo Mamageishvili wants more than Sturm Graz are offering

“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.

Player ratings

Otar Kiteishvili was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 21. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

Market

Zorya watching Matteo Bignetti

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.

In brief

Back issues
56 Edition

The Sturm Graz Sentinel

23 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Nobody wants to play Sturm Graz right now

4 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.

Market

Petter Nosa Dahl raises the bar for Sturm Graz

“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Sturm Graz heard it as anything else.

Squad

A falling-out at Sturm Graz

Petter Nosa Dahl and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at Sturm Graz

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Arjan Malić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

Antonio Casas the difference as Sturm Graz beat Rapid Wien

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Antonio Casas. 2‑0 against Rapid Wien, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Antonio Casas

Marked 8.46 — 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.

Squad

Michael Lang signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Michael Lang commits to Sturm Graz for another 4 years.

Player ratings

One of those days for Otar Kiteishvili

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.03, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

Squad

Sturm Graz are still strangers to each other

7 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.

In brief

55 Edition

The Sturm Graz Sentinel

16 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Sturm Graz say no — this time

The offer from Wolfsberger AC for Luca Weinhandl 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.

Market

Matteo Bignetti says no to Apollon

“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Matteo Bignetti had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.

Squad

Johannes Eggestein takes the match ball home

3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.

Match

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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Sturm Graz

Petter Nosa Dahl and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Player ratings

Johannes Eggestein in the eights

A performance of 9.64 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

Match

Sturm Graz find a way past Red Bull Salzburg

Red Bull Salzburg made Sturm Graz work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑2 at the end and the table does not ask how.

Squad

Words at Sturm Graz training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Arjan Malić is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

The terraces

One of their own: Petter Nosa Dahl

He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.

In brief

54 Edition

The Sturm Graz Sentinel

9 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Johannes Eggestein breaks Altach hearts

Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Johannes Eggestein scored in the 89th minute, Altach had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Sturm Graz took the lot.

Market

Sturm Graz say no — this time

The offer from Zamalek for Matteo Bignetti 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.

Squad

Tempers go at Sturm Graz

Petter Nosa Dahl 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.

Squad

Words at Sturm Graz training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Arjan Malić is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Player ratings

Otar Kiteishvili runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Match

Johannes Eggestein the difference as Sturm Graz beat Altach

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Johannes Eggestein. 2‑1 against Altach, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

The dugout

No hiding place for Johannes Eggestein

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Johannes Eggestein, and the manager let it.

Squad

50 goals in the shirt for Seedy Jatta

50 for the club now, each one filed in somebody’s memory with a date and a scoreline. Numbers like this are what supporters argue about in twenty years.

Squad

Filip Rózga signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Filip Rózga commits to Sturm Graz for another 5 years.

In brief

53 Edition

The Sturm Graz Sentinel

2 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

The dugout

Johannes Eggestein: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Sturm Graz have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Player ratings

A brace, and Johannes Eggestein takes the afternoon — 8.77

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Johannes Eggestein provided it, and the 8.77 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Squad

Petter Nosa Dahl 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.

Match

Johannes Eggestein the difference as Sturm Graz beat Admira Wacker

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Johannes Eggestein. 3‑2 against Admira Wacker, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

Squad

Arjan Malić falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Match

Sturm Graz are shipping goals every week

Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.

The terraces

Sturm Graz supporters have found a favourite in Filip Rózga

There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Filip Rózga has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.

The dugout

Daniil Khudyakov 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.

Player ratings

Otar Kiteishvili beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 19. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

In brief

52 Edition

The Sturm Graz Sentinel

26 Jul 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Ivan Božić says no to Universitario

“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Ivan Božić had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.

Market

Aleksa Čolović asks to leave Sturm Graz

“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.

Squad

A falling-out at Sturm Graz

Petter Nosa Dahl and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Market

Matteo Bignetti attracts admirers

The name of Matteo Bignetti has come up in conversations Sturm Graz were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.

Boardroom

5 academy players handed senior numbers at Sturm Graz

The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.

Squad

A row about effort at Sturm Graz

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jon Gorenc Stankovič was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Market

Peter Kalajdzic steps up from the Sturm Graz academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Peter Kalajdzic has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.

The dugout

Otar Kiteishvili has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Sturm Graz will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

Looking ahead

A reunion for Paul Koller

He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Admira Wacker in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.

In brief

51 Edition

The Sturm Graz Sentinel

19 Jul 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Market

Sturm Graz turn down OH Leuven for Ivan Božić

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Market

Ander Marticorena asks to leave Sturm Graz

“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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Sturm Graz

Petter Nosa Dahl and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Market

Gizo Mamageishvili wants to know where this is going

“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Sturm Graz hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.

Squad

Jon Gorenc Stankovič falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Squad

The formation has left Antonio Casas behind

Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Sturm Graz will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.

Squad

Sturm Graz are still strangers to each other

9 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.

The dugout

No hiding place for Nikolai Rehnen

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nikolai Rehnen, and the manager let it.

The dugout

Paul Koller gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Paul Koller is on it.

In brief

50 Edition

The Sturm Graz Sentinel

12 Jul 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Market

Szymon Włodarczyk has said yes to Cracovia

The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Sturm Graz have lost him in all but the paperwork.

Market

Jhon Bello puts it in writing

“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.

Squad

Tempers go at Sturm Graz

Petter Nosa Dahl 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.

Market

Eyes on Ivan Božić again

The phone has started ringing about Ivan Božić again, and this time the name on the line is Maritimo. Sturm Graz are listening politely and promising nothing.

Squad

Late improvement for Szymon Włodarczyk

At 24 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.

Squad

Arjan Malić falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Squad

Axel Kayombo signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Axel Kayombo and Sturm Graz agree another 5 years.

The dugout

Petter Nosa Dahl has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Sturm Graz will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

The dugout

Daniil Khudyakov is still paying for one afternoon at Sturm Graz

Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.

In brief

49 Edition

The Sturm Graz Sentinel

5 Jul 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Boardroom

Philipp Lainer has until the next board meeting

What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Sturm Graz can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.

Boardroom

The silence upstairs is getting loud at Sturm Graz

Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.

Market

Matteo Bignetti turns Tractor down

“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.

Market

Pacos de Ferreira 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.

Market

Fábio Ferreira puts it in writing

“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.

Squad

Szymon Włodarczyk out for 47 days

The medical room confirms 47 days on the sidelines for Szymon Włodarczyk, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.

Squad

Petter Nosa Dahl 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.

Market

Elias Lorenz moves on

Wolfsberger AC pay $600.0K, 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Sturm Graz

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jon Gorenc Stankovič was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

In brief

48 Edition

The Sturm Graz Sentinel

28 Jun 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Marvin Knoll asks to leave Sturm Graz

“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.

Market

Leon Grgić moves on

Universitatea Craiova pay $6.4M, 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.

The terraces

Supporters turn on the $6.4M sale of Leon Grgić

He is going to Universitatea Craiova, the club has $6.4M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.

Market

Sturm Graz say no — this time

The offer from KV Kortrijk for Ivan Božić 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.

Squad

Daniil Khudyakov is a better footballer than he was

Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.

Squad

A falling-out at Sturm Graz

Petter Nosa Dahl and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Market

Eyes on Matteo Bignetti again

The phone has started ringing about Matteo Bignetti again, and this time the name on the line is Gil Vicente. Sturm Graz are listening politely and promising nothing.

Squad

Late improvement for Seedy Jatta

At 24 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.

Squad

Words at Sturm Graz training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Paul Koller is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

In brief

47 Edition

The Sturm Graz Sentinel

21 Jun 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Sturm Graz say no — this time

The offer from Red Bull Salzburg for Arjan Malić 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.

Market

Elias Lorenz puts it in writing

“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.

Squad

The step up is real for Nelson Weiper

At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.

Market

Universitatea Craiova join the queue for Leon Grgić

Add another name to the list: Universitatea Craiova have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Leon Grgić. The answer from Sturm Graz has not changed — yet.

Squad

Words exchanged at Sturm Graz

Petter Nosa Dahl and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Squad

A late step up for Gizo Mamageishvili

At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.

Squad

Words at Sturm Graz training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Arjan Malić is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

The dugout

Christoph Zimmermann 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.

The dugout

Paul Koller gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Paul Koller is on it.

In brief

46 Edition

The Sturm Graz Sentinel

14 Jun 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Matteo Bignetti turns Cesena down

“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.

The dugout

Christoph Zimmermann says Sturm Graz went back on their word

“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.

Market

Nimes 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.

Squad

Leon Grgić is a better footballer than he was

Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.

Market

Sturm Graz get their man

The chase for Erkin Yalcin ended with $720.0K changing hands and Altach out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.

Squad

Tempers go at Sturm Graz

Petter Nosa Dahl 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.

Squad

Gizo Mamageishvili signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Gizo Mamageishvili commits to Sturm Graz for another 5 years.

Squad

A row about effort at Sturm Graz

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Paul Koller was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Boardroom

Tobías Moriceau will join Sturm Graz for nothing

The paperwork is done long before the player is. Tobías Moriceau has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Sturm Graz have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.

In brief

45 Edition

The Sturm Graz Sentinel

7 Jun 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Transfer targets

No deal for Fredrik Sjøvold at that price

Sturm Graz offered $15.3M; Bodo/Glimt said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.

The dugout

Peter Wimmer: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Sturm Graz have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Market

Michael Krmenčík asks to leave Sturm Graz

“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.

Market

Red Bull Salzburg 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.

Boardroom

The scrutiny sharpens at Sturm Graz

Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Sturm Graz is running low.

Transfer targets

$720.0K settles it between the clubs for Erkin Yalcin

Altach have accepted the money. What Sturm Graz do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.

Squad

A falling-out at Sturm Graz

Rory Wilson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Paul Koller falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Squad

Home comes calling for Michael Krmenčík

A club from his own country has asked the question, and he has never pretended he did not want to be asked. Sturm Graz have a conversation ahead of them that they will not win with money.

In brief

44 Edition

The Sturm Graz Sentinel

31 May 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Leon Grgić is the young player of the season

Not a month, not a run of form — a whole season of being the best 21-year-old anybody in this division could put on a pitch. This is the honour that gets mentioned for the rest of his career.

Squad

Nelson Weiper honoured for the season

The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Sturm Graz had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.

Squad

A falling-out at Sturm Graz

Petter Nosa Dahl and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Leon Grgić is the real thing at 21

A season average of 7.00 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Sturm Graz know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.

Loan watch

Szymon Włodarczyk keeps scoring at Excelsior

33 appearances away from home and 13 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.

The dugout

Otar Kiteishvili has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Sturm Graz will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

The dugout

Matteo Bignetti 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 Matteo Bignetti trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

Market

The Petter Nosa Dahl story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Petter Nosa Dahl signs something — a contract at Sturm Graz or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

Match

Sturm Graz in the hunt for Europe

Position 6, 24 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.

In brief

43 Edition

The Sturm Graz Sentinel

24 May 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Words exchanged at Sturm Graz

Petter Nosa Dahl and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Squad

Words at Sturm Graz training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Paul Koller is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Loan watch

Filip Rózga counts the days

“I watch every Sturm Graz game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Altach runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.

The dugout

Arjan Malić has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Sturm Graz will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

Loan watch

6 goals on loan for Seedy Jatta

7 appearances at Rosenborg and the goals keep coming. Sturm Graz are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.

Market

The Gizo Mamageishvili question follows Sturm Graz around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Gizo Mamageishvili’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

The dugout

Marvin Knoll has been promised minutes

A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Marvin Knoll has written the date down.

The dugout

Paul Koller keeps his manager's vote

The message was aimed at the stands as much as the dressing room: Paul Koller plays, and the argument is closed until the manager decides otherwise.

Squad

Questions about Fábio Ferreira on the training pitch

The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.

In brief

42 Edition

The Sturm Graz Sentinel

17 May 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Tempers go at Sturm Graz

Petter Nosa Dahl 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.

Squad

Words at Sturm Graz training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Paul Koller is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

The dugout

Daniil Khudyakov is still paying for one afternoon at Sturm Graz

Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.

The dugout

When it matters, Paul Koller plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

Squad

Matteo Arrighi is a square peg at Sturm Graz

The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.

Loan watch

Seedy Jatta keeps scoring at Rosenborg

6 appearances away from home and 5 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.

Market

The Leon Grgić talk will not go away

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.

The dugout

A door opens for Nikolai Rehnen

He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.

Squad

A season on the outside for Matteo Arrighi

He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Sturm Graz has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.

In brief

41 Edition

The Sturm Graz Sentinel

10 May 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Petter Nosa Dahl 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.

Squad

Matteo Arrighi arrives at the club he grew up with

Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Matteo Arrighi has, at Sturm Graz, and the first month will show what that does to a man.

Squad

Arjan Malić falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Loan watch

Luis Balbo Vieira counts the days

“I watch every Sturm Graz game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Admira Wacker runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.

Market

Sturm Graz buy the years ahead of Matteo Arrighi

He is 20, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.

Squad

Matteo Arrighi signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Matteo Arrighi commits to Sturm Graz for another 3 years.

The dugout

Petter Nosa Dahl has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Sturm Graz will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

Market

The Arjan Malić story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Arjan Malić signs something — a contract at Sturm Graz or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

The dugout

Aleksa Čolović 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.

In brief

40 Edition

The Sturm Graz Sentinel

3 May 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A falling-out at Sturm Graz

Petter Nosa Dahl and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Remember the name: Leon Grgić

He is 21, he is averaging 7.00, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.

Squad

A row about effort at Sturm Graz

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Paul Koller was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Loan watch

Seedy Jatta counts the days

“I watch every Sturm Graz game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Rosenborg runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.

Loan watch

Szymon Włodarczyk keeps scoring at Excelsior

33 appearances away from home and 13 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.

Squad

Christoph Zimmermann slips down the pecking order

The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Christoph Zimmermann is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.

The dugout

When it matters, Otar Kiteishvili plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

Market

The Petter Nosa Dahl story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Petter Nosa Dahl signs something — a contract at Sturm Graz or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

The dugout

Tomás Bernardo 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.

In brief

39 Edition

The Sturm Graz Sentinel

26 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Sturm Graz turn down Portland Timbers for Leon Grgić

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Squad

Words exchanged at Sturm Graz

Petter Nosa Dahl and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Squad

Words at Sturm Graz training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Paul Koller is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Loan watch

Filip Rózga wants to come home

“I did not go to Altach to sit and watch. I want to come back to Sturm Graz and fight for my place.” 7 appearances in 33 matches say the rest.

The dugout

Arjan Malić gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Arjan Malić is on it.

The dugout

The manager makes Christoph Zimmermann a promise

Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Sturm Graz. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.

Market

The Gizo Mamageishvili question follows Sturm Graz around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Gizo Mamageishvili’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

Loan watch

4 goals on loan for Seedy Jatta

3 appearances at Rosenborg and the goals keep coming. Sturm Graz are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.

The dugout

Tomás Bernardo 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 Tomás Bernardo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

In brief

38 Edition

The Sturm Graz Sentinel

19 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Michael Krmenčík asks to leave Sturm Graz

“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.

Market

Eyes on Leon Grgić again

The phone has started ringing about Leon Grgić again, and this time the name on the line is Orlando City. Sturm Graz are listening politely and promising nothing.

Squad

Words exchanged at Sturm Graz

Petter Nosa Dahl and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Squad

Valentino Schlager signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Valentino Schlager commits to Sturm Graz for another 4 years.

Squad

Words at Sturm Graz training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Arjan Malić is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

The dugout

No hiding place for Nikolai Rehnen

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nikolai Rehnen, and the manager let it.

The dugout

Daniil Khudyakov is still being punished for one mistake

Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.

The dugout

Paul Koller has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Sturm Graz will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

The dugout

Michael Krmenčík 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.

In brief

37 Edition

The Sturm Graz Sentinel

12 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A falling-out at Sturm Graz

Petter Nosa Dahl and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Paul Koller falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

The dugout

When it matters, Petter Nosa Dahl plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

The dugout

Michael Krmenčík 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 Michael Krmenčík trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

Market

Arjan Malić linked with a move away

The name of Arjan Malić keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Sturm Graz say nothing, which says plenty.

The dugout

A door opens for Marvin Knoll

He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.

In brief

36 Edition

The Sturm Graz Sentinel

5 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Petter Nosa Dahl 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.

Squad

At 21, Leon Grgić is already the best thing here

An average of 7.00 in a first team he is several years too young for. Sturm Graz have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.

Squad

Christoph Zimmermann signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Christoph Zimmermann and Sturm Graz agree another 2 years.

Squad

Michael Krmenčík wants to go home

“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Sturm Graz can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.

Loan watch

Szymon Włodarczyk keeps scoring at Excelsior

33 appearances away from home and 13 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Christoph Zimmermann

“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.

Loan watch

Luis Balbo Vieira counts the days

“I watch every Sturm Graz game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Admira Wacker runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.

The dugout

Otar Kiteishvili has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Sturm Graz will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

Market

Petter Nosa Dahl linked with a move away

The name of Petter Nosa Dahl keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Sturm Graz say nothing, which says plenty.

In brief

35 Edition

The Sturm Graz Sentinel

29 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Tempers go at Sturm Graz

Petter Nosa Dahl 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.

Squad

Words at Sturm Graz training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Arjan Malić is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Loan watch

The goals keep arriving from Seedy Jatta’s exile

12 goals in 12 games at Rosenborg — 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 watch

Szymon Włodarczyk keeps scoring at Excelsior

32 appearances away from home and 12 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.

Loan watch

Filip Rózga counts the days

“I watch every Sturm Graz game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Altach runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.

The dugout

When it matters, Arjan Malić plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

The dugout

Christoph Zimmermann 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 Christoph Zimmermann trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

Market

The Gizo Mamageishvili talk will not go away

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.

Market

The shop window has Michael Krmenčík in it

Sturm Graz have let the market know Michael Krmenčík can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.

In brief

34 Edition

The Sturm Graz Sentinel

22 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Michael Krmenčík puts it in writing

“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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Sturm Graz

Petter Nosa Dahl and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Squad

A row about effort at Sturm Graz

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Paul Koller was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

10 new faces, and Sturm Graz are still learning each other

A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.

The dugout

No hiding place for Nikolai Rehnen

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nikolai Rehnen, and the manager let it.

The dugout

Daniil Khudyakov is still paying for one afternoon at Sturm Graz

Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.

In brief

33 Edition

The Sturm Graz Sentinel

15 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A falling-out at Sturm Graz

Petter Nosa Dahl and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at Sturm Graz

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Paul Koller was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

Petter Nosa Dahl gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Petter Nosa Dahl is on it.

Market

Arjan Malić linked with a move away

The name of Arjan Malić keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Sturm Graz say nothing, which says plenty.

Squad

A season on the outside for Peter Wimmer

He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Sturm Graz has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.

The dugout

The manager makes Peter Wimmer a promise

Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Sturm Graz. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.

In brief

32 Edition

The Sturm Graz Sentinel

8 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Petter Nosa Dahl 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.

Squad

Leon Grgić is the real thing at 21

A season average of 7.00 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Sturm Graz know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.

Squad

A row about effort at Sturm Graz

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Arjan Malić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Loan watch

Luis Balbo Vieira wants to come home

“I did not go to Admira Wacker 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.

The dugout

Otar Kiteishvili gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Otar Kiteishvili is on it.

Market

Petter Nosa Dahl linked with a move away

The name of Petter Nosa Dahl keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Sturm Graz say nothing, which says plenty.

Squad

A season on the outside for Michael Krmenčík

He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Sturm Graz has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.

Match

Sturm Graz have something to play for

Position 6 on 24 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.

The dugout

Nikolai Rehnen has been promised minutes

A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Nikolai Rehnen has written the date down.

In brief

31 Edition

The Sturm Graz Sentinel

1 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Player ratings

Otar Kiteishvili beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 34. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Match

The cup run ends for Sturm Graz

2‑3 against Austria Wien, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.

Player ratings

Nelson Weiper scores twice — 8.31

Two goals and a mark of 8.31 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Squad

Tempers go at Sturm Graz

Petter Nosa Dahl 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.

Squad

Peter Wimmer signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Peter Wimmer and Sturm Graz agree another 3 years.

Squad

A row about effort at Sturm Graz

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Paul Koller was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The terraces

Sturm Graz supporters have found a favourite in Nelson Weiper

There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Nelson Weiper has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Peter Wimmer

“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.

Loan watch

The goals keep arriving from Seedy Jatta’s exile

12 goals in 12 games at Rosenborg — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Sturm Graz updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.

In brief

30 Edition

The Sturm Graz Sentinel

22 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Michael Krmenčík puts it in writing

“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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Sturm Graz

Petter Nosa Dahl and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Squad

Words at Sturm Graz training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Paul Koller is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Squad

Michael Krmenčík wants one last season at home

Every long career reaches the week the last one is thought about. He would like it to be where he started, and Sturm Graz know now that the thought has arrived.

Squad

Too much change too quickly at Sturm Graz

10 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.

The dugout

Daniil Khudyakov is still being punished for one mistake

Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.

The dugout

When it matters, Paul Koller plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

The dugout

Michael Krmenčík 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 Michael Krmenčík trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

The dugout

The manager makes Christoph Zimmermann a promise

Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Sturm Graz. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.

In brief

29 Edition

The Sturm Graz Sentinel

15 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Johannes Eggestein signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Johannes Eggestein and Sturm Graz agree another 5 years.

Squad

At 21, Nelson Weiper is already the best thing here

An average of 7.18 in a first team he is several years too young for. Sturm Graz have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.

Squad

A falling-out at Sturm Graz

Petter Nosa Dahl and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at Sturm Graz

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Arjan Malić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

Arjan Malić gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Arjan Malić is on it.

The dugout

Johannes Eggestein 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 Johannes Eggestein trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

Market

Arjan Malić linked with a move away

The name of Arjan Malić keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Sturm Graz say nothing, which says plenty.

The dugout

No hiding place for Fábio Ferreira

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Fábio Ferreira, and the manager let it.

The dugout

A door opens for Peter Wimmer

He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.

In brief

28 Edition

The Sturm Graz Sentinel

8 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Sturm Graz say no — this time

The offer from Maccabi Haifa for Leon Grgić 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.

Squad

Petter Nosa Dahl 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.

Squad

Leon Grgić is the real thing at 21

A season average of 7.00 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Sturm Graz know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.

Squad

Daniil Khudyakov signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Daniil Khudyakov commits to Sturm Graz for another 5 years.

Squad

A row about effort at Sturm Graz

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Paul Koller was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Loan watch

Szymon Włodarczyk keeps scoring at Excelsior

26 appearances away from home and 11 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.

The dugout

Petter Nosa Dahl gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Petter Nosa Dahl is on it.

The dugout

Johannes Eggestein 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 Johannes Eggestein trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

Market

Petter Nosa Dahl linked with a move away

The name of Petter Nosa Dahl keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Sturm Graz say nothing, which says plenty.

In brief

27 Edition

The Sturm Graz Sentinel

1 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Niklas Geyrhofer damages knee ligaments — 15 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 15 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

Market

Sturm Graz turn down Torreense for Michael Krmenčík

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Market

Johannes Eggestein is a Sturm Graz player

The fee is $2.7M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Austria Wien drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.

Boardroom

Deadline passes with 11 signed and 1 gone

That is the business done at Sturm Graz until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.

Market

Maccabi Haifa watching Leon Grgić

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.

Squad

Tempers go at Sturm Graz

Petter Nosa Dahl 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.

Squad

Michael Krmenčík wants to go home

“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Sturm Graz can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.

Squad

Paul Koller falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Transfer targets

Rapid Wien tell Sturm Graz: Yusuf Demir is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

In brief

26 Edition

The Sturm Graz Sentinel

25 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Niklas Geyrhofer damages knee ligaments — 24 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 24 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

Transfer targets

$2.7M settles it between the clubs for Johannes Eggestein

Austria Wien have accepted the money. What Sturm Graz do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.

Market

Michael Krmenčík asks to leave Sturm Graz

“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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Sturm Graz

Petter Nosa Dahl and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Squad

Words at Sturm Graz training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rory Wilson is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Haissem Hassan

Sturm Graz asked and Bloemfontein Celtic said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Christoph Zimmermann

“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.

Squad

Sturm Graz are still strangers to each other

10 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.

Loan watch

Szymon Włodarczyk keeps scoring at Excelsior

24 appearances away from home and 10 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.

In brief

25 Edition

The Sturm Graz Sentinel

18 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Niklas Geyrhofer damages knee ligaments — 33 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 33 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

Market

Petter Nosa Dahl says no to Plymouth Argyle

“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Petter Nosa Dahl had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.

Market

Sturm Graz turn down Austria Wien for Leon Grgić

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Market

Eyes on Michael Krmenčík again

The phone has started ringing about Michael Krmenčík again, and this time the name on the line is Leiria. Sturm Graz are listening politely and promising nothing.

Transfer targets

Javohir Esonqulov will not be coming to Sturm Graz

Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Merani is saying, and nobody at Sturm Graz is enjoying the guessing.

Squad

Nelson Weiper is the real thing at 21

A season average of 7.18 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Sturm Graz know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.

Squad

A falling-out at Sturm Graz

Petter Nosa Dahl and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Words at Sturm Graz training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Paul Koller is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Transfer targets

Sturm Graz rebuffed over Frederik Ihler

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. IF Elfsborg have kept their man, and Sturm Graz go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

In brief

24 Edition

The Sturm Graz Sentinel

11 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Niklas Geyrhofer

41 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sturm Graz lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

The dugout

Michael Krmenčík: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Sturm Graz have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Market

Sturm Graz say no — this time

The offer from St. Gallen for Michael Krmenčík 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.

Market

Plymouth Argyle join the queue for Petter Nosa Dahl

Add another name to the list: Plymouth Argyle have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Petter Nosa Dahl. The answer from Sturm Graz has not changed — yet.

Transfer targets

Austria Wien tell Sturm Graz: Johannes Eggestein is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

Squad

At 20, Leon Grgić is already the best thing here

An average of 7.00 in a first team he is several years too young for. Sturm Graz have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.

Squad

A falling-out at Sturm Graz

Rory Wilson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Tomás Bernardo arrives at the club he grew up with

Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Tomás Bernardo has, at Sturm Graz, and the first month will show what that does to a man.

Transfer targets

Sturm Graz ask about Javohir Esonqulov

A loan enquiry to Merani: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.

In brief

23 Edition

The Sturm Graz Sentinel

4 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

The knee: Niklas Geyrhofer out for 50 days

50 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Sturm Graz lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Market

Sturm Graz turn down Aris Thessaloniki for Daniil Khudyakov

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

The dugout

Michael Lang keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Sturm Graz may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Squad

Nelson Weiper honoured for the season

The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Sturm Graz had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.

Squad

Tempers go at Sturm Graz

Petter Nosa Dahl 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.

Squad

Mauro Muhlethaler arrives at the club he grew up with

Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Mauro Muhlethaler has, at Sturm Graz, and the first month will show what that does to a man.

Transfer targets

Sturm Graz rebuffed over Andrea Adorante

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Venezia have kept their man, and Sturm Graz go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Loan watch

Seedy Jatta keeps scoring at Rosenborg

12 appearances away from home and 12 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.

Transfer targets

Sturm Graz try to borrow Frederik Ihler

IF Elfsborg have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.

In brief

22 Edition

The Sturm Graz Sentinel

28 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Niklas Geyrhofer

58 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sturm Graz lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Market

Michael Krmenčík 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.

Squad

Jon Gorenc Stankovič 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.

Squad

Words at Sturm Graz training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Paul Koller is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Loan watch

Matteo Bignetti has seen enough of Bristol City

“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Sturm Graz, and 6 appearances in 18 say he has earned the hearing.

The dugout

No hiding place for Marvin Knoll

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Marvin Knoll, and the manager let it.

The dugout

When it matters, Arjan Malić plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

Market

The Leon Grgić question follows Sturm Graz around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Leon Grgić’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

The dugout

A door opens for Nikolai Rehnen

He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.

In brief

21 Edition

The Sturm Graz Sentinel

21 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Albert Vallci damages knee ligaments — 39 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 39 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

Squad

Nelson Weiper is the real thing at 21

A season average of 7.18 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Sturm Graz know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.

Squad

A falling-out at Sturm Graz

Petter Nosa Dahl and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at Sturm Graz

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Paul Koller was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

Christoph Zimmermann 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.

Loan watch

The goals keep arriving from Szymon Włodarczyk’s exile

9 goals in 19 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.

In brief

20 Edition

The Sturm Graz Sentinel

14 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Albert Vallci

49 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sturm Graz lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Match

A chastening European night for Sturm Graz

0‑8 against Porto. The honest reading is not that the players were poor; it is that the distance between this club and that one is currently measured in things money takes years to buy.

Squad

At 20, Leon Grgić is already the best thing here

An average of 7.00 in a first team he is several years too young for. Sturm Graz have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.

Squad

Petter Nosa Dahl 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.

Match

Nobody could stop scoring

8 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Sturm Graz and Porto in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.

Squad

Niklas Geyrhofer signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Niklas Geyrhofer commits to Sturm Graz for another 3 years.

The dugout

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.

Market

Raphael Dragovic steps up from the Sturm Graz academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Raphael Dragovic has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.

Market

One of our own: Andreas Lazaro joins the Sturm Graz first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Andreas Lazaro is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

In brief

19 Edition

The Sturm Graz Sentinel

7 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Albert Vallci

57 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sturm Graz lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

Otar Kiteishvili signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Otar Kiteishvili commits to Sturm Graz for another 3 years.

Squad

Tempers go at Sturm Graz

Petter Nosa Dahl 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.

Squad

Words at Sturm Graz training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Paul Koller is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Loan watch

Seedy Jatta keeps scoring at Rosenborg

12 appearances away from home and 12 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.

The dugout

Otar Kiteishvili gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Otar Kiteishvili is on it.

The dugout

Rory Wilson 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 Rory Wilson trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

Market

The Petter Nosa Dahl talk will not go away

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.

The dugout

The manager makes Christoph Zimmermann a promise

Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Sturm Graz. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.

In brief

18 Edition

The Sturm Graz Sentinel

30 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

The knee: Albert Vallci out for 64 days

64 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Sturm Graz lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Match

Sturm Graz do the business in Europe

2‑2. Continental football is where a club finds out what it actually is, and Sturm Graz came through the finding-out well against Podbrezova.

Match

Sturm Graz march on in the cup

Altach are out and Sturm Graz go through, 1‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.

Market

Michael Krmenčík 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 ratings

Nelson Weiper, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.24

A mark of 8.24 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.

Squad

Michael Krmenčík wants to go home

“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Sturm Graz can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.

Squad

Words exchanged at Sturm Graz

Petter Nosa Dahl and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Player ratings

Petter Nosa Dahl was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 22. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

Squad

Words at Sturm Graz training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Paul Koller is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

In brief

17 Edition

The Sturm Graz Sentinel

23 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Albert Vallci

72 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sturm Graz lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Match

Chastening afternoon for Sturm Graz

A 0‑5 beating by Wolfsberger AC was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.

Squad

7 saves: Daniil Khudyakov was the team

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.

Match

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.

Squad

Nelson Weiper is the real thing at 21

A season average of 7.18 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Sturm Graz know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.

Squad

Arjan Malić 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.

Match

Sturm Graz leaking at the back

5 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.

Boardroom

Nobody left the Sturm Graz dressing room in a hurry

The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.

Loan watch

Matteo Bignetti has seen enough of Bristol City

“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Sturm Graz, and 3 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.

In brief

  • The dugout The manager’s verdict
  • Loan watch The goals keep arriving from Szymon Włodarczyk’s exile
  • The dugout Arjan Malić gets picked when it counts
16 Edition

The Sturm Graz Sentinel

16 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Albert Vallci damages knee ligaments — 79 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 79 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

Squad

10 saves: Daniil Khudyakov was the team

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 10 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.

Match

4 matches without a win for Sturm Graz

The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Sturm Graz are no longer polite ones.

Squad

Remember the name: Leon Grgić

He is 20, he is averaging 7.00, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.

Squad

Words exchanged at Sturm Graz

Albert Vallci and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Match

Rory Wilson’s goal not enough for Sturm Graz

Rory Wilson scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑3 to Austria Wien, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.

Match

Sturm Graz are shipping goals every week

Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.

Match

No time for Austria Wien to settle

The goal that put Austria Wien ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Sturm Graz equalised, 4 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Christoph Zimmermann

“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.

In brief

15 Edition

The Sturm Graz Sentinel

9 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Albert Vallci

88 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sturm Graz lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Match

A chastening European night for Sturm Graz

0‑3 against Slavia Prague. The honest reading is not that the players were poor; it is that the distance between this club and that one is currently measured in things money takes years to buy.

Player ratings

Otar Kiteishvili beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 24. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Squad

A falling-out at Sturm Graz

Jon Gorenc Stankovič and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Daniil Khudyakov signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Daniil Khudyakov commits to Sturm Graz for another 4 years.

Squad

Words at Sturm Graz training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Paul Koller is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Market

Sturm Graz promote Raphael Trimmel from within

The academy exists for exactly this morning. Raphael Trimmel has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.

Market

Sturm Graz promote Wolfgang Trimmel from within

The academy exists for exactly this morning. Wolfgang Trimmel has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.

Match

Sturm Graz rescue it on 90 minutes

Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 90. SV Ried had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.

In brief

14 Edition

The Sturm Graz Sentinel

2 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

The knee: Albert Vallci out for 96 days

96 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Sturm Graz lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Squad

Words exchanged at Sturm Graz

Petter Nosa Dahl and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Squad

Words at Sturm Graz training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rory Wilson is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

The dugout

Michael Krmenčík 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.

Match

Mattersburg snatch it back from Sturm Graz

A goal on 91 minutes turned three points into one and a good afternoon into an argument about game management that will run until Saturday.

Squad

8 new faces, and Sturm Graz are still learning each other

A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.

Match

Otar Kiteishvili rescues a point for Sturm Graz

It needed Otar Kiteishvili to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Mattersburg, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.

The dugout

When it matters, Otar Kiteishvili plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

The dugout

Philipp Lainer on the point

“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Philipp Lainer after the 2‑2 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.

In brief

13 Edition

The Sturm Graz Sentinel

26 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

The knee: Albert Vallci out for 104 days

104 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Sturm Graz lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Squad

Daniil Khudyakov keeps Sturm Graz in it on his own

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 11 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.

Match

Sturm Graz beaten on the continent

0‑2 against Slavia Prague, and an evening that measured the gap rather than the ninety minutes. Nothing about it was a disgrace and nothing about it was close.

Player ratings

No sign of nerves from Nelson Weiper at 21 — 8.90

The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Nelson Weiper did not need any: 8.90, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.

Squad

Nelson Weiper is the real thing at 21

A season average of 7.21 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Sturm Graz know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.

Squad

A falling-out at Sturm Graz

Petter Nosa Dahl and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

The terraces

Sturm Graz supporters have found a favourite in Rory Wilson

There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Rory Wilson has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.

Match

Sturm Graz see off Grodig

Three points for Sturm Graz, 2‑0 the final word against Grodig in a contest settled by the finer margins.

Match

At last: Sturm Graz win one

5 matches without a win, and then this, against Grodig. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.

In brief

12 Edition

The Sturm Graz Sentinel

19 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Albert Vallci damages knee ligaments — 115 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 115 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

Squad

Daniil Khudyakov stands alone

13 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

Match

4 matches without a win for Sturm Graz

The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Sturm Graz are no longer polite ones.

Squad

Remember the name: Leon Grgić

He is 20, he is averaging 7.01, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.

Squad

Petter Nosa Dahl 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.

The terraces

One of their own: Daniil Khudyakov

He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.

Player ratings

Gizo Mamageishvili in the eights

A performance of 8.29 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

Match

Sturm Graz hit back inside 3 minutes

Rapid Wien held the lead for 3 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Sturm Graz answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.

The dugout

Christoph Zimmermann 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.

In brief

11 Edition

The Sturm Graz Sentinel

12 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Albert Vallci damages knee ligaments — 124 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 124 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

Match

Nowhere to hide for Sturm Graz

2‑5 against Red Bull Salzburg, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.

Squad

Paul Koller signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Paul Koller commits to Sturm Graz for another 3 years.

Squad

Words exchanged at Sturm Graz

Michael Krmenčík and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Match

Nobody could stop scoring

7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Sturm Graz and Red Bull Salzburg in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.

Market

One of our own: Guido Grillitsch joins the Sturm Graz first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Guido Grillitsch is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

Market

One of our own: Philipp Sabitzer joins the Sturm Graz first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Philipp Sabitzer is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

Squad

Leon Grgić falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Loan watch

12 goals on loan for Seedy Jatta

9 appearances at Rosenborg and the goals keep coming. Sturm Graz are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.

In brief

10 Edition

The Sturm Graz Sentinel

5 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Albert Vallci damages knee ligaments — 133 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 133 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

Squad

Daniil Khudyakov keeps Sturm Graz in it on his own

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 12 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.

Match

A European night to forget for Sturm Graz

1‑4. Porto play this football every year and it showed in every part of the pitch. The lesson is expensive and, for a club at this stage, probably necessary.

Squad

Michael Krmenčík wants to go home

“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Sturm Graz can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.

Squad

Tempers go at Sturm Graz

Michael Krmenčík 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.

Match

Altach take the points off Sturm Graz

Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Player ratings

Otar Kiteishvili was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 18. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

Boardroom

Nobody left the Sturm Graz dressing room in a hurry

The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.

The dugout

Philipp Lainer answers for it

“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.

In brief

9 Edition

The Sturm Graz Sentinel

28 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

The knee: Albert Vallci out for 140 days

140 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Sturm Graz lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Match

Gizo Mamageishvili leads the rout of Admira Wacker

4‑1, and Gizo Mamageishvili took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Sturm Graz tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.

Player ratings

Nelson Weiper scores twice — 9.27

Two goals and a mark of 9.27 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Player ratings

A brace, and Gizo Mamageishvili takes the afternoon — 8.40

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Gizo Mamageishvili provided it, and the 8.40 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Player ratings

Arjan Malić, 21, steals the show — 7.67

Marked 7.67 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.

Squad

Remember the name: Nelson Weiper

He is 21, he is averaging 7.14, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.

Squad

Tempers go at Sturm Graz

Albert Vallci 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 ratings

Otar Kiteishvili runs at them all day

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.

The terraces

The crowd has taken to Gizo Mamageishvili

At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.

In brief

  • Squad Leon Grgić falls out with a teammate over standards
  • Match Halfway: Sturm Graz sit in position 2
  • The dugout The view from the dugout
8 Edition

The Sturm Graz Sentinel

21 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Albert Vallci

149 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sturm Graz lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Match

A statement in Europe from Sturm Graz

5‑1 against Podbrezova, and a performance that will change how the rest of the competition talks about this club. Reputations in continental football are built in single evenings and this was one.

Match

Sturm Graz up to position 2

15 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.

Player ratings

Both of them Leon Grgić's — 9.10

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.10, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Player ratings

Otar Kiteishvili scores twice — 8.31

Two goals and a mark of 8.31 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Player ratings

No sign of nerves from Nelson Weiper at 21 — 7.94

The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Nelson Weiper did not need any: 7.94, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.

Squad

Daniil Khudyakov stands alone

6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

Squad

At 20, Leon Grgić is already the best thing here

An average of 7.01 in a first team he is several years too young for. Sturm Graz have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.

Squad

Words exchanged at Sturm Graz

Jon Gorenc Stankovič and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

In brief

7 Edition

The Sturm Graz Sentinel

14 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

Axel Kayombo was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 33. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

Player ratings

Rory Wilson, 20, steals the show — 7.61

Marked 7.61 at 20, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.

Squad

Tempers go at Sturm Graz

Petter Nosa Dahl 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.

Squad

Albert Vallci falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Match

Rory Wilson’s goal not enough for Sturm Graz

Rory Wilson scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Austria Wien, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.

Market

One of our own: Stefan Fuchs joins the Sturm Graz first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Stefan Fuchs is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

Market

Sturm Graz promote Markus Dragovic from within

The academy exists for exactly this morning. Markus Dragovic has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.

Looking ahead

Sturm Graz and Wolfsberger AC meet at the summit

The fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.

The dugout

Christoph Zimmermann 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.

In brief

  • Loan watch The goals keep arriving from Seedy Jatta’s exile
  • Squad 13 new faces, and Sturm Graz are still learning each other
  • The dugout The view from the dugout
6 Edition

The Sturm Graz Sentinel

7 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

The view from the top for Sturm Graz

15 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.

Market

Axel Kayombo turns Austria Wien down

“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.

Market

The Borussia Mönchengladbach deal is off

Everything was agreed until it was not, and Leon Grgić reports back to Sturm Graz with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.

Squad

Daniil Khudyakov keeps Sturm Graz in it on his own

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.

Player ratings

No sign of nerves from Rory Wilson at 20 — 7.70

The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Rory Wilson did not need any: 7.70, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.

Boardroom

Window shuts: 25 in, 4 out at Sturm Graz

The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 25 arrived, 4 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Nikki Havenaar

Sturm Graz asked and SV Ried said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

Squad

Words exchanged at Sturm Graz

Petter Nosa Dahl and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Squad

A muscle injury and 14 days out for Gizo Mamageishvili

The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Sturm Graz will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.

In brief

5 Edition

The Sturm Graz Sentinel

31 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Squad

A day Leon Grgić will not forget

5 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.

Match

Sturm Graz run riot against Mattersburg

9‑2, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.

Player ratings

No sign of nerves from Leon Grgić at 20 — 10.00

The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Leon Grgić did not need any: 10.00, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.

Player ratings

Otar Kiteishvili scores twice — 8.04

Two goals and a mark of 8.04 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Transfer targets

Sturm Graz baulk at the price for Bruno Ogbus

SC Freiburg wanted more than $8.6M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.

Match

Nobody wants to play Sturm Graz right now

5 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.

Match

Leon Grgić among the goals in a wild afternoon

11 goals in one match, Leon Grgić on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Sturm Graz and Mattersburg.

Squad

A falling-out at Sturm Graz

Petter Nosa Dahl and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

The terraces

The crowd has taken to Gizo Mamageishvili

At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.

In brief

4 Edition

The Sturm Graz Sentinel

24 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

Sturm Graz run riot against Grodig

5‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.

Player ratings

Nelson Weiper scores twice — 9.38

Two goals and a mark of 9.38 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Transfer targets

Sturm Graz make their move for Bruno Ogbus

$8.6M on the table at SC Freiburg. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.

Market

Sturm Graz pay Rapid Wien $4.8M for a proper upgrade

Rapid Wien did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $4.8M for Petter Nosa Dahl, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.

Market

Sturm Graz say no — this time

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.

Player ratings

Filip Rózga, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.26

A mark of 8.26 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.

Match

Sturm Graz cannot stop winning

4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.

Transfer targets

No deal for Ousmane Diawara at that price

Sturm Graz offered $150.0K; Altach said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.

The terraces

Sturm Graz spend $4.8M on the signing the town wanted

It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $4.8M for Petter Nosa Dahl, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.

In brief

3 Edition

The Sturm Graz Sentinel

17 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Market

Sturm Graz turn down Austria Wien for Otar Kiteishvili

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Match

Otar Kiteishvili breaks Rapid Wien hearts

Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Otar Kiteishvili scored in the 86th minute, Rapid Wien had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Sturm Graz took the lot.

Transfer targets

Sturm Graz bid $4.8M for Petter Nosa Dahl

The offer went to Rapid Wien this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.

Transfer targets

Sturm Graz rebuffed over Maurits Kjærgaard

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Red Bull Salzburg have kept their man, and Sturm Graz go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Squad

Daniil Khudyakov keeps Sturm Graz in it on his own

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.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Otar Kiteishvili

Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Market

Business is business: Jacob Peter Hödl goes

Wolfsberger AC paid $1.8M and Sturm Graz took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.

Match

Sturm Graz cannot stop winning

3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.

Transfer targets

Too dear: Sturm Graz walk away from Marco Tilio

$690.0K was the most the club would pay and Rapid Wien were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.

In brief

2 Edition

The Sturm Graz Sentinel

10 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Daniil Khudyakov

There were 9 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.

Match

Sturm Graz win it in stoppage time

The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 91th minute. Red Bull Salzburg will replay every second of the added time for a week.

Player ratings

Both of them Seedy Jatta's — 9.13

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.13, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Market

Empoli 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.

Transfer targets

Sturm Graz agree $30.0K for Philipp Maybach

The clubs have shaken hands with Austria Wien; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.

Transfer targets

Too dear: Sturm Graz walk away from Matthias Seidl

$2.0M was the most the club would pay and Rapid Wien were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.

Transfer targets

Sturm Graz bid $690.0K for Marco Tilio

The offer went to Rapid Wien this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.

Transfer targets

Léon Pöhls due for a Sturm Graz medical

Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.

Player ratings

Otar Kiteishvili was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 23. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

In brief

1 Edition

The Sturm Graz Sentinel

3 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Market

Vitesse 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 ratings

Leon Grgić, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.07

A mark of 8.07 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.

Market

Seedy Jatta attracts admirers

The name of Seedy Jatta has come up in conversations Sturm Graz were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.

Squad

Jon Gorenc Stankovič signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Jon Gorenc Stankovič commits to Sturm Graz for another 3 years.

Player ratings

Otar Kiteishvili scored one and made one — 7.95

Two of the goals had his name somewhere on them, which is the afternoon a manager wants from anybody asked to both create and finish. 7.95, and 2 involvements.

Squad

A move Ivan Božić would have made for nothing

There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Ivan Božić is living that version at Sturm Graz, and it tends to show in the first month.

Squad

Words at Sturm Graz training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Otar Kiteishvili is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Match

Gizo Mamageishvili sends Sturm Graz past Altach

It finished 3‑1, and it was Gizo Mamageishvili’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Sturm Graz.

Transfer targets

Sturm Graz rebuffed over Gustavo Varela

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Monza have kept their man, and Sturm Graz go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

In brief