Wolfsberger AC

Wolfsberger AC
Full name Riegler & Zechmeister Pellets Wolfsberger Athletik Club
Nickname(s) GAM FC
Founded 1931 (1931)
Ground Lavanttal-Arena, Wolfsberg
Capacity 7,300
Chairman Dietmar Riegler
Manager Robert Ibertsberger (caretaker)
League Austrian Bundesliga
2017–18 Austrian Bundesliga, 9th

Wolfsberger AC are an Austrian association football club from Wolfsberg, Carinthia. The club competed twenty seasons on the second level of the Austrian football pyramid. Between the 2007–08 and 2011–12 seasons, Wolfsberger AC entered a cooperation with SK St. Andrä, competing under the name WAC/St. Andrä during that period. The team is currently called RZ Pellets WAC for sponsorship reasons.

After having played the majority of its existence in the lower leagues, Wolfsberger AC finished their 2011–12 season as champions of the 2011–12 Austrian Football First League and earned promotion to the Austrian Bundesliga for the first time in the club's history. At the end of the season they finished 5th.

History

Wolfsberger AC was founded by Adolf Ptazcowsky, Karl Weber, Hermann Maierhofer, Franz Hafner and Michael Schlacher in 1931. They are not in any way affiliated with the Bundesliga team VfL Wolfsburg. After spending the first thirty-seven years of its existence on lower tiers of the Austrian league pyramid, the club eventually achieved promotion to the Austrian Regional League, which was on the second tier of the pyramid at that time, in 1968. WAC stayed at this level, with one exception during the 1977–78 season, for the next seventeen years, establishing themselves as a middle table side.

At the end of the 1984–85 season, Wolfsberger AC eventually dropped back to the third level. The club returned for two further second-level appearances during the 1988–89 and 1990–91 seasons, but was immediately relegated each time. In 1994, the club was a founding member of the reactivated Regional League as the third tier of the pyramid. After being in the promotion race for the first few years in the new league, strength of the club gradually declined and eventually led to relegation at the end of the 2001–02 season.

Historical chart of Worfsberger AC league performance

In 2007, WAC and local neighbours SK St. Andrä decided to enter a cooperation. While both clubs remained as separate entities, they closely worked together at almost all aspects: "Central areas of both clubs like administration, management, economy, marketing, gastronomy, as well as the athletic section as the core (both the senior and junior teams) will be centrally administered from the newly created offices of WAC|ST.ANDRÄ at Wolfsberg." Since SK St. Andrä were playing at the Regional League, the corporation began at this level, from which it was promoted to the First League in 2010. At the end of the 2011–12 season, the cooperation secured promotion to the Bundesliga with one round of matches to go. Soon afterwards, the cooperation was dissolved; Wolfsberger AC thus competed as an independent club on the highest level of Austrian football for the first time in their history.

After their first year in the highest class they came in 5th. After the season manager Nenad Bjelica left the club and became manager of FK Austria Wien, the champion of the 2012/13 season. Slobodan Grubor replaced him but after weak performances in the new season he was replaced by Dietmar Kühbauer.

Honours

European record

Season Competition Round Opponent Home Away Aggregate
2015–16 UEFA Europa League 2Q Belarus Shakhtyor Soligorsk 2–0 1–0 3–0
3Q Germany Borussia Dortmund 0–1 0–5 0–6

Current squad

As of 31 July, 2018

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player
1 Austria GK Christian Dobnik
4 Austria DF Manfred Gollner
7 Germany MF Lukas Schmitz
8 Austria MF Marcel Ritzmaier
9 Austria FW Bernd Gschweidl
10 Austria MF Michael Liendl
11 Serbia MF Saša Jovanović
12 Jamaica FW Dever Orgill
14 Austria DF Stefan Gölles
15 Serbia DF Nemanja Rnić
17 Austria MF Joshua Steiger
18 Austria MF Mario Leitgeb
19 Austria MF Sven Sprangler
No. Position Player
20 Austria MF Bajram Syla
21 Serbia DF Bojan Avramović
23 Austria MF Lukas Schöfl
24 Austria MF Christopher Wernitznig
25 Austria DF Fabian Tauchhammer
26 Austria DF Michael Sollbauer
27 Austria DF Michael Novak
29 Austria MF Gerald Nutz
30 Austria FW Amar Hodzić
31 Austria GK Alexander Kofler
32 Austria GK Marko Soldo
34 Austria MF Marc Andre Schmerböck
47 England DF Ash Kigbu

Managers

  • Austria Helmut Kirisits (7 April 1989 – 4 Nov 1990), (7 June 1991 – 30 June 1991), (13 Oct 1992 – 17 Oct 1995)
  • Austria Hans-Peter Buchleitner (1 July 1995 – 30 June 1997)
  • Austria Peter Hrstic (1 July 2007 – 26 Oct 2008)
  • Austria Hans-Peter Buchleitner (27 Oct 2008 – 9 May 2010)
  • Croatia Nenad Bjelica (10 May 2010 – 17 June 2013)
  • Austria Slobodan Grubor (17 June 2013 – 1 Sept 2013)
  • Austria Dietmar Kühbauer (2 Sept 2013 – 25 Nov 2015)
  • Austria Heimo Pfeifenberger (25 Nov 2015 –)[1]

References

  1. ↑ m.b.H., STANDARD Verlagsgesellschaft. "WAC setzt Trainer Kühbauer vor die Tür". Retrieved 2016-09-04.
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