Graz Giants

Spielberg Graz Giants project
City:	Graz
Founded:	1981
Team colors:	Blue & gold
Head coach:	Martin Kocian
League (2018):	Austrian Football League
Greatest successes
Austrian champion	1986, 1987, 1988, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1995, 1997, 1998, 2008
EFAF Cup winner	2002, 2006, 2007
EFAF Fed Cup finalist	1998
Stadion
Surname:	ASKÖ Stadium Graz-Eggenberg
Address:	Schloßstraße 20 A-8020 Graz
Play surface:	Natural grass
Capacity:	8,500
Contact
Internet:	grazgiants.at
Data status
March 26, 2011

Turek Graz Giants against Raiffeisen Vikings Vienna in the Casino-Stadion Hohe Warte ( 2010 )

The Graz Giants are an American football team from the Styrian capital Graz in Austria . The team plays in the ASKÖ stadium in Graz-Eggenberg and wears the club colors blue and gold .

history

Inspired by a youth broadcast in March 1981, in which the first Austrian football team, the Vienna Ramblocks , was presented, Stefan Herdey decided to found a team. About a dozen interested parties responded to a newspaper advertisement in a local newspaper and founded the 1st Graz Football Team , which later became the Graz Giants . The Giants were part of the first game between two Austrian teams in which they lost 0:44 against the Ramblocks. With the dissolution of the Ramblocks, the Giants became the oldest still existing football team in Austria.

successes

Entrance area to the home stadium of the Graz Giants

The Graz Giants are ten-time Austrian champions and have only missed the semi-finals since they were founded. In the 2002 season, the Giants won the EFAF Cup , which made the club the first European Cup winner in Austrian football history. This success could be repeated in 2006 with a 37:20 against Eidsvoll 1814s from Norway. In 2007 they were the first team to win the EFAF Cup for the third time in the first purely Austrian EFAF Cup final against the Blue Devils from Hohenems with a 28:26 victory. In the same year, the Giants became Austrian runners-up, as they were beaten 42:14 in the Austrian Bowl XXIII against the Vienna Vikings .

In 2008 the Austrian championship title was surprisingly secured in the Austrian Bowl XXIV when the Graz Giants won against the favored Swarco Raiders Tirol with 31:21.

In 2009, the Giants went into the season as championship favorites, and they were able to complete the season as the second best team behind the Raiders. In the play-offs they defeated the Danube Dragons 35:28 in the semifinals , before surprisingly lost to the Vienna Vikings 19:22 in the Austrian Bowl XXV. In the EFL, the promotion to the Eurobowl XXIII could not be made because the Giants were narrowly inferior to La Courneuve Flash from France with 33:35.

In the years 2010 to 2013, the Giants took third place in the AFL after the basic round. The semi-finals achieved in this way were lost in 2010 after overtime against the Swarco Raiders Tirol, 2011 against the Raiffeisen Vikings Vienna and again in 2012 and 2013 against the Swaro Raiders Tirol and the entry into the Austrian Bowl was missed.

In 2016 they made it back into the Austrian Bowl XXXII, but then had to admit defeat to the Swarco Raiders Tirol in Klagenfurt's Wörthersee Stadium .

Teams

Current squad

As of October 10, 2015

Squad of the Graz Giants
Quarterbacks 5 Christoph Gubisch   7 Moritz Profant  Running backs  1 Alexander Sanz  20 Mathias Kiegerl  Wide receiver  2 Daniel Scharf   3 Florian Lenz   4 Philipp Sommer  14 Florian Wolf  80 Patrick Ehmann  82 Dominik Szecsi  83 Benjamin Lenz  15 Armando Ponce de Leon  Tight ends 11 Maximilian Herdey  84 Christoph Friedl  87 Mario Greil		Offensive linemen 78 Daniel Fankhauser  72 Armin Mrsic  58 Clemens Lughofer  75 Christian Spitzer  54 Lukas Peßenhofer  77 Michael Pribyl  62 Benjamin Bierbaumer  73 Benjamin Stoderegger  Defensive linemen 56 Alexander Weinberger  94 Sebastian Schreiner  21 Daniel Schönet		Linebacker  6 Marco Zöchner  33 Dusan Rupnik  48 Florian Probst  51 Lukas Resch  52 Benedikt Zipper  53 Thomas Schnurrer  54 Leo Sumnitsch  Defensive backs  3 Dominik Pötsch   7 Manuel Schneeweiss   8 Bernd Petutschnig  16 Stefan Lechner  25 Johannes Winter  27 Jan Unteregger  30 Severin Haidacher

Graz Giants 2014 youth game

In addition to the fighting team playing in the AFL, there are also:

• Graz Giants Team Division II ( Austrian Football Division II )
• Junior teams: U18, U15, U13 and U11
• Ladies

Cheerleading

Due to the increasing popularity of the Graz Giants, the cheerleading area has also grown significantly over the years. There are now six teams that meet regularly to train and improve their athletic skills. Since March 2007 the cheerleaders have been looking forward to the first male members in Austria, which gives hope for interesting developments.

There are currently six different cheer teams at Projekt Spielberg Graz Giants:

• G6 - Dynasty
• G5 - ladies
• G4 - ambition
• G3 - Royals
• G2 - Littles
• G1 - Tinies

Web links

Commons : Graz Giants  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Official website of the Graz Giants

Individual evidence

1. ↑ 43 years are enough. In: football-austria.com. September 29, 2005, accessed June 5, 2018 . 
2. ^ Hall of Fame - Players - AFBÖ. Retrieved June 6, 2018 . 
3. ^ "Giants I - Roster" online at grazgiants.com; As of March 13, 2014.

Coordinates: 47 ° 4 '24.7 "  N , 15 ° 23' 49.1"  E