Sturm Graz are an established Austrian club, founded in 1909 and based at Stadion Graz-Liebenau. They went into the 2026-27 pre-season off the back of a fifth-place Bundesliga finish, with a young squad of 29 players carrying an average age of 23.
Their previous campaign also took them into the ÖFB Cup second round and the third qualifying round of the Champions League. In the league, recent form was steady rather than spectacular: draws with WSG Tirol, Red Bull Salzburg, Austria Vienna and LASK sat around wins over Rapid Vienna and TSV Hartberg.
Goals were shared rather than concentrated. Simon Seidl and Szymon Włodarczyk led the scoring with two each, while Ryan Fosso, Jon Gorenc Stanković and Jürgen Heil also contributed. They struck first inside 20 minutes in six of 18 league matches, a useful habit for a side not built around heavy scoring.
For Celtic supporters, Sturm Graz are a familiar sort of European opponent: organised, youthful and competitive enough to punish carelessness. They are not entering the new campaign with league fixtures already behind them, but their recent record points to a side with structure and resilience.
