LASK Linz

Linzer Athletik-Sport-Klub, commonly known as LASK (), or Linzer ASK, is an Austrian professional football club based in Upper-Austrian state capital Linz. It is the oldest football club in that region, and plays in the Austrian Football Bundesliga, the top tier of Austrian football. The club's colours are black and white. The women's team plays in the second highest division of Austrian women's football.

It is one of the few clubs of the country's higher divisions that, since coming into existence, never exhibited a sponsor in the official club name.

In 1965, the club became the first team outside Vienna to win the Austrian football championship, with this being its only league title to date. The club currently plays its home games at the Raiffeisen Arena in Linz.

History

In the winter of 1908, Albert Siems, head of the royal post-office garage at Linz, who had already been a member of an 1899-founded club for heavy athletics, ''Linzer Athletik Sportklub Siegfried'', decided to establish a football club. At that time, the side already played in the black-and-white lengthwise-touched shirts.

The club's first name was ''Linzer Sportclub''. During an extraordinary general meeting on 14 September 1919, the final change of name, to ''Linzer Athletik Sport-Klub'' (short form ''Linzer ASK'') took place, its forerunner setting the example. Nevertheless, the public denomination of the team was largely LASK. The club first appeared in top-flight competition in the Gauliga Ostmark in 1940–41, coming last and being relegated. In 1949–50, LASK was promoted, becoming professional for the first time in its history. However, years in the top flight were tough, and the club was involved in a relegation battle most of the time, until it was finally relegated in 1953–54.

In 1957–58, LASK won the second division and was promoted again. In 1961–62, the club finished runner up to Austria Wien, their best position in history up to that time, and in 1962–63 they played their first cup final, losing 1–0 to Austria Wien. Two years later, LASK achieved its greatest success, winning the Austrian League in 1965. No club outside Vienna had ever won before. Additionally, the club won the Austrian cup that same year, completing a domestic double and becoming one of the only Austrian clubs to do so. In 1967, the club reached the cup final again, losing again to Austria Wien on a coin toss after extra time was played. Three years later the club reached the cup final again, losing to Wacker Innsbruck. The club spent most of the 70s in mid table, but were relegated in 1977–78, although achieving immediate promotion for the 1980–81 season.

In the 1985–86 UEFA Cup, the side beat European giants Internazionale Milan at home (1–0), on 23 October 1985, eventually bowing out 4–1 on aggregate (second round).

In 1995, the club slipped into a financial crisis, and filed for bankruptcy. The president fled to Ivory Coast with large chunks of money, leaving the club with severe debt, and forcing the sale of several key players. In May 1997, the club merged with city rivals '' FC Linz'', and the new official name became ''LASK Linz'', as officials wanted to bring out the city's name as a complement to the LASK designation, which had constituted itself as a brand name. The club name, colours, chairmen and members remained the same, effectively saving the club from dissolving. However, this merger angered many people, who believed that FC Linz were a more successful club than LASK. Curiously, just ten days before the merger, FC Linz beat LASK 3–0 in the city derby. For the next few years, the players that LASK took from FC Linz made a big part of the starting lineup.

Despite the financial struggles, the club still managed to steer away from relegation and qualify for the 1996 Intertoto Cup. In the Intertoto Cup, LASK had a great participation, finishing first in its group with no losses, with notable wins over Werder Bremen (3–1) and Djurgården (2–0). In the semi-finals, the club was eliminated 7–2 on aggregate by Rotor Volgograd. In the 1998–99 season they reached their fourth Austrian cup final, losing to Sturm Graz on penalties.

In 2000–01, the club was relegated, and at one point was close to being relegated to the third division. In August 2004, the club suffered an 8–0 home defeat to FC Kärnten. In 2007, after six years in the second division, they were promoted to the highest division again. However, just four years later, the club was relegated back to the second division, followed by relegation to the ''3. Liga'' in 2012 due to a license withdrawal caused by bankruptcy. The club was taken over by a consortium of local entrepreneurs called "Friends of LASK" in December 2013. By this time the club was on the verge of being shut down, and the players received no salary. They could not afford the city stadium, so they moved to a stadium 50 km away. It was only because of the tremendous cohesion of the coach and the team that the club was able to keep the championship going at that time.

In the first season after the takeover, LASK finished first in the Regionalliga Central Division, and qualified for the promotion playoffs, but lost 5–0 on aggregate to FC Liefering and had to stay another season in the third division.

Promotion to the ''2. Liga was'' secured on 5 June 2014 after a 2–1 victory on aggregate over Parndorf 1919 in front of 13,000 fans at the Linzer Stadion. On 21 April 2017, the club returned to the Bundesliga with six rounds to go after a 3–0 victory over Liefering. During this time, head coach Oliver Glasner and Vice President Jürgen Werner constructed a team with an unmistakable style of play.

In 2016, the club moved to Pasching after disagreements with the city council. In 2018, the club returned to the European competitions, but they were eliminated from the Europa league qualifiers after a 2–1 win against Beşiktaş in the second leg due to the away goals rule.

In the 2019–20 UEFA Europa League, LASK had an excellent campaign, topping their group which consisted of European champions Sporting Lisbon and PSV Eindhoven. LASK began their campaign with a 1–0 win over Rosenborg, and later beat PSV 4–1, concluding their group stage campaign with a 3–0 home victory against Sporting on 12 December 2019. In the round of 32, LASK faced Dutch club AZ Alkmaar. The first leg finished 1–1, but in the second leg LASK had a stellar performance, winning 2–0 and qualifying to the round of 16, where they were eliminated by Manchester United with a 7–1 aggregate score. Although LASK were eliminated with a large score margin, this was their best European campaign and the club gained attention as an underdog after their victories against PSV and Sporting

On 24 February 2023, LASK officially opened their new stadium called Raiffeisen Arena in a victory against Austria Lustenau.

Logos

Logo LSK.jpg, Logo of the Linz Sports Club (LSK) 1908–1919 on the jerseys.
LASK Linz.png, Old logo until 2017
LASK logo.svg, Old logo (2017–2023)
LASK-Logo 2023.svg, New logo since May 2023

In 2017, the club removed the "Linz" part of their name and returned it to LASK. The merger with FC Linz has long fallen apart and the club have now removed "Linz" from the name.

Players

Current squad

Other players under contract

Out on loan

Club officials

Historical list of coaches

* Georg Braun (1946–1952)
* Walter Alt (1950–1953)
* Ernst Sabeditsch (1953–1955)
* Josef Epp (1958–1960)
* Pál Csernai (1960–1962)
* Karl Schlechta (1962–1964)
* František Bufka (1965–1968)
* Vojtech Skyva (1969–1970)
* Wilhelm Kment (1970–1972)
* Otto Barić (1972–1974)
* Felix Latzke (1974–1976)
* Wilhelm Huberts (1976–1978)
* Wolfgang Gayer (1978)
* Laszlo Simko (1978)
* Adolf Blutsch (1978–1983)
* Johann Kondert (1983–1987)
* Adolf Blutsch (1987)
* Ernst Hložek (1987–1988)
* Ernst Knorrek (1988)
* Lothar Buchmann (1989)
* Adam Kensy (1989)
* Aleksander Mandziara (1989–1990)
* Erwin Spiegel (1990)
* Adolf Blutsch (1990)
* Ernst Weber (1990)
* Erwin Spiegel (1990–91)
* Helmut Senekowitsch (1991–1993)
* Dietmar Constantini (1993)
* Walter Skocik (1993–1995)
* Günter Kronsteiner (1995–1996)
* Max Hagmayr (1996)
* Friedel Rausch (1996–1997)
* Per Brogeland (1997–1998)
* Adam Kensy (1998, caretaker)
* Otto Barić (1998–1999)
* Marinko Koljanin (1999–2000)
* Johann Kondert (2000–2001)
* František Cipro (2001)
* Johann Kondert (2001)
* Dieter Mirnegg (2001–2002)
* Norbert Barisits (2003–2004)
* Klaus Lindenberger (2004)
* Werner Gregoritsch (2004–2006)
* Karl Daxbacher (2006–2008)
* Andrej Panadić (2008)
* Klaus Lindenberger (2008–2009)
* Hans Krankl (2009)
* Matthias Hamann (2009–2010)
* Helmut Kraft (2010)
* Georg Zellhofer (2010–2011)
* Walter Schachner (2011–2012)
* Karl Daxbacher (2012–2015)
* Martin Hiden (2015)
* Alfred Olzinger (2015)
* Oliver Glasner (2015–2019)
* Valérien Ismaël (2019–2020)
* Dominik Thalhammer (2020–2021)
* Andreas Wieland (2021–2022)
* Dietmar Kühbauer (2022–2023)
* Thomas Sageder (2023–2024)
* Thomas Darazs (2024–2024)
* Markus Schopp (2024-present)

Honours

League

* Austrian League
**Winners (1): 1964–65
**Runners-up: 1961–62, 2018–19
* Austrian Second Division
**Winners (5): 1957–58, 1978–79, 1993–94, 2006–07, 2016–17

Cups

* Austrian Cup
**Winners (1): 1964–65
**Runners-up: 1962–63, 1966–67, 1969–70, 1998–99, 2020–21

European competition history

UEFA Club Ranking

UEFA coefficient

References

External links

*
UEFA.com club profileWeltfussball.de club profile

NationalFootballTeams dataLASK Linz at Football-Lineups.comUnofficial weblog about LASK

{{Authority control

Association football clubs established in 1908
Football clubs in Austria
Football clubs from former German territories
1908 establishments in Austria