UEFA Europa League: uncovering SK Sturm Graz

Matchday 3 of Group D will see Atalanta off to Graz to play SK Sturm Graz for the UEFA Europa League outing scheduled for Thursday the 26th of October and to kick-off at 18:45 CEST.

With over 100 years of history (namely founded in 1909), Sportklub Sturm Graz have won the Austrian football championship three times, six times the ÖFB-Cup (the National Cup)- of which they are the current titleholders- and three Austrian Supercups. Last season, they garnered runner-up honors in the league and were crowned champions of the National Cup having defeated Rapid Wein 2-0 in the final.

23/24 Season: The team is coached by Austrian trainer Christian Ilzer, at the helm of the Club since the 2020/21 season. After 11 fixtures in the Austrian Bundesliga, the team is currently on top of the league with 27 points on the grounds of 8 wins, 3 draws and the best defence in the domestic competition (with only 7 goals conceded, tied with Lask's). On the grounds of the the  2-1 home win  clinched over Hartberg courtesy of Jatta and Prass last Saturday, Sturm Graz widened the gap over title-rivals R.B. Salzburg, having the latter come off worst from their home fixture against Lask. As far as the UEFA Europa League Group D standings are concerned, the Austrian team is currently on 3 points: bouncing back from the home defeat (1-2) in the curtain-opener against Sporting CP, Sturm Graz came out on top in the away game against Raków thanks to a narrow 1-0 win courtesy of Boeving - who also scored on Matchday 1.

Previous encounter(s): None