The Wörthersee Stadium in Klagenfurt has a capacity of 30,800 spectators, and 26,500 tickets have been sold for champions Sturm Graz’s first appearance in the Champions League on Wednesday evening against Club Brügge. This means that the move to Carinthia, forced by the Graz stadium problem, is at least a financial success, even if Thomas Tebbich, as chief economic officer, would of course have hoped for a sold-out house. In Graz there would only have been 15,000 spectators. Despite the absences of captain Jon Gorenc Stankovic and defense chief Gregory Wüthrich, it could also be a sporting success: Sturm hasn’t lost a game there in the last six years. There were three wins in the finals of the Uniqa Cup. 2018 1-0 after extra time against Red Bull Salzburg, 2023 2-0 against Rapid, this year 2-1 against Rapid. In the Bundesliga it was 3-0, 2-1 against Austria Klagenfurt, 2-0 three times in a row and most recently even 4-0. The goal difference from these nine wins is 20:2!
Of course, the Belgian champions are of a different caliber and, at 136.85 million euros, have a market value that is 68.95 million higher than Sturm’s. A Danish striker has the highest for both teams: Storm Mika Biereth has seven million, while Bruges has the right winger Andreas Skov Olsen, who was brought in from Bologna, with 18! To become champions, Club Bruges needed a bit of luck: in 2023/24 they only finished fourth in the regular round, 19 points behind Union St. Gilloise. Before the championship round of the best six, the points were halved, as in Austria. Brugge fired coach Ronny Della and let U23 coach Nicky Hayen take over. With the 44-year-old there was no defeat in ten games and he won his 19th championship title. Also thanks to VAR help in the last game, in the Bruges derby, when a goal from city rivals Cercle was canceled shortly before the end due to a narrow offside. Since it is difficult to fire a master coach, Hayen’s contract was extended. Which wasn’t actually planned.
The start of the Champions League failed with a 3-0 defeat against Borussia Dortmund in the Breydelstadion. It was 0-0 until the 76th minute. The best result in the Champions League was the round of 16 in the tenth attempt two years ago. As a rule, the Belgian series champion is usually eliminated in the group phase. In the Conference League last season, Brugge made it to the semi-finals, where Fiorentina were the final destination. If Bruges got anywhere close to that in the premier class, the fans in Bruges would probably stage spontaneous street parties. Nevertheless: This is a team that Sturm actually has to score points against.
