It's finally time this Friday! At 20:30 CEST we are to open the 2024/25 ADMIRAL Bundesliga season away at GAK!

You may well be wondering what our opponents have been up to over the past few weeks and months. You can read about which club signed former Salzburg player David Atanga and who broke a record in the ÖFB Cup here in our big Bundesliga opposition lowdown.

SK Sturm Graz

The great majority of the double-winning squad has remained intact. While rumours continue to swirl around possible transfer dealings, a few are already confirmed. David Schnegg, David Affengruber and loan players Javi Serrano plus Vitezslav Jaros have already left the club. Mika Biereth and Dimitri Lavalee have been signed permanently. The loan of goalkeeper Kjell Scherpen has been extended, while sporting director Andreas Schicker has signed Daniil Khudyakov from Russia. The highest-profile new signing is Emanuel Aiwu (formerly of Rapid and Admira), who is returning from Cremonese to the ADMIRAL Bundesliga.

The defending champions have not exactly shown their finest form in pre-season. Friendly defeats against Domzale (0-3), Rukh Lviv (1-4) and FC Porto (0-2) show that Sturm still have some room for improvement. Christian Ilzer's side also needed extra-time to make the second round of the UNIQA ÖFB Cup against regional league side Kremser SC.

LASK

The biggest transfer story of the summer in Austria was without doubt LASK signing Jerome Boateng on a free transfer. The Linz side have recruited from Russia - like Sturm - signing right-back Tomas Tavares from Spartak Moscow (on loan). Alexis Tibidi (on loan from Troyes, formerly from Altach) - as well as Maximilian Entrup (permanently from TSV Hartberg) - have boosted Thomas Darazs's attack. There have been no major departures yet.

LASK have prepared well for the new season, taking an impressive 3-2 win against Galatasaray. They started the cup with a comfortable 3-0 win over Union Gurten.

Rapid Vienna

There has been plenty going on in Vienna over the summer! Several players such as Fally Mayulu, Leopold Querfeld, Marco Grüll plus loan players Neraysho Kasanwirjo and Terence Kongolo have left the club, with the Green and Whites recruiting a lot of new faces. One of them is Mamadou Sangare, who was on our books and on loan to Hartberg most recently. Louis Schaub (Hannover 96) has also returned to the capital and loan player Isak Jansson was retained. Further exciting new signings include Dion Beljo (on loan from Augsburg), Benjamin Böckle (Düsseldorf), Bendeguz Bolla (Wolves) and Serge-Philippe Raux-Yao.

The season has started well. Robert Klauß's side won their second UEFA Europa League qualifying round tie against Wisla Krakow 2-1 and took a comfortable if unspectacular 2-0 win in the cup at Neusiedl am See.

TSV Egger Glas Hartberg

There has been great demand for Hartberg players after their strong 2023/24 season. Top scorer Maximilian Entrup has been hired by LASK, while Dominik Frieser (GAK) and Ousmane Diakite (West Brom) have left on free transfers, while loan players like Mamadou Sangare have also gone. Elias Havel (LASK), Youba Diarra (Cadiz) and Justin Omoregie of our Red Bulls will be in Hartberg for the next year, however - all well-known faces from the Red Bull Football Academy. A new goalkeeper has been signed in Luka Maric from SK Sturm Graz.

The side coached by Markus Schopp can't be faulted in any way for their performance in the ÖFB Cup. They started the season with an 11-1 win against Bischofshofen - the biggest win in club history.

RZ Pellets WAC

Having filled their coffers with the sale of Mo Bamba in the winter – Augustine Boakye has now moved to Ligue 1 and AS St.-Etienne for several million Euro. Nikolas Veratschnig has gone to the German Bundesliga and FSV Mainz, while Samson Tijani and Lukas Ibertsberger (now at Blau-Weiß Linz) left the team after loan spells. A 23-year-old attacker has been signed from the Serbian top flight in Dajan Zukic, along with a former Salzburg man in David Atanga. Nicolas Wimmer has also swapped Klagenfurt for nearby WAC.

They took a comfortable 7-0 win against ASV Draßburg in their ÖFB Cup opener, along with taking a few good results against international opponents in pre-season.

FK Austria Vienna

The Violets have been busy, not only with resigning Aleksandar Dragovic. Matthias Braunöder is remaining in Como, while Christian Früchtl has also switched to Serie A and Lecce. In addition to the departures of Manuel Polster and Alexander Schmidt, loan players Frans Krätzig and Fisnik Asllani have left.

New in Stephan Helm's ranks on loan are Maurice Malone (from FC Basel, once of WAC), Nik Prelec (Cagliari, formerly of WSG), Matteo Perez Vinlöf (FC Bayern II) and Cristiano (Sao Bento-SP). Newly signed to boost the midfield is Gambia's Abubakr Barry (24).

UEFA Conference League qualification began with a 1-2 defeat to Ilves Tampere in Finland, with the return leg this Wednesday. The ÖFB Cup saw a superb 6-0 win against regional league side FC Pinzgau-Saalfelden.

FC Blau-Weiß Linz

The side who ensured safety in their first season after promotion have seen a quiet summer on the transfer front. Tobias Koch has moved to Klagenfurt, and Stefan Haudum to Admira Wacker in the second flight. Gerald Scheiblehner has signed former Salzburg academy graduate and left-back Lukas Ibertsberger, while Anderson has been recruited from relegated Lustenau to fill the right-back berth. Also new are Thomas Goiginger, Oliver Wähling (both from VfL Osnabrück), Alexander Schmidt (FAK), Martin Moormann (Rapid), Patrick Moser (Ried) and Brazilian Lucas Dantas (Lemense-SP).

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The Blue and Whites suffered a bit of a humbling in a friendly against Slovan Bratislava (1-5), but the Upper Austrians bounced back to take a 5-0 win in the cup against regional league side SV Wildon.

Cashpoint SCR Altach

Altach are ready for the last season under the name of their long-term sponsor Cashpoint, with Felix Strauß (FC Lahti), Jakob Odehnal (FAC), Jan Zwischenbrugger (Ravensburg) and Alexander Eckmayr (WSG) leaving the ship. Loan player Vesel Demaku from SK Sturm has been signed permanently, as has Filip Milojevic from the youth ranks of Bayer 04 Leverkusen and striker Lukas Fridrikas from relegated Austria Lustenau.

The side from the western tip of Austria have plenty of work to do - Joachim Standfest's side became the only top-flight team to exit the cup at the first round with a 0-2 defeat to regional league club Donaufeld!

WSG Tirol

In the first season of the post-Silberberger era, Tirol have made a couple of changes to their squad. Among the regulars to leave for pastures new are Felix Bacher (Estoril Praia), as well as Kofi Schulz and Sandi Ogrinec (end of contract). The attack will have to do without loan players Nik Prelec, Luca Kronberger and Aleksander Buksa, who are returinng to their clubs. These have been replaced by new free-agent signings Tobias Anselm (LASK), Lukas Hinterseer (Hansa Rostock) and Quincy Butler (TSG Hoffenheim). FC Bayern youth player and centre-back Jamie Lawrence has also been signed on a permanent deal.

After some disappointing friendly results (0-5 v Copenhagen, 2-4 v Vaduz), WSG gained courage with a narrow 2-3 defeat against Olympique Lyon. The Tyrolians won in the cup with a 3-0 victory against Imst.

GAK

The historic side back in the Bundesliga have made plenty of changes over the summer without losing too many key players. Thomas Mayer (SKU Amstetten) and Levan Eloshvili (Kapfenberg) have stayed in the second flight, while loan striker Lenn Jastremski has returned to FC Bayern reserves. Additional quality for the top flight has hopefully been secured in Dominik Frieser (Hartberg) and Petar Filipovic (AEL Limassol), while two youngsters have been signed on loan in Tio Cipot (Spezia Calcio) and Romeo Vucic (Austria Vienna).

The team coached by Gernot Messner still have a bit of fine tuning to do, as their experience in the ÖFB Cup showed. Just like their local rivals, GAK narrowly averted an upset, beating Velden on a penalty shoot-out.

Do you want to support us away at our Bundesliga opener in Graz? All the information is here:

to the away info

The big Bundesliga lowdown