Wolfsberger Athletik Club (commonly known as Wolfsberger AC or WAC) is a professional Austrian football club based in Wolfsberg, Carinthia. The team competes in the Austrian Football Bundesliga, the top flight of Austrian football, and is known as RZ Pellets WAC for sponsorship purposes.
Founded in 1931, Wolfsberger spent most of their history in the lower divisions before rising to prominence in the 21st century. Between 2007 and 2012 they operated in a joint venture with SK St. Andrä, competing as WAC/St. Andrä. In 2012, the club won the First League title, securing promotion to the Bundesliga for the first time, where they finished fifth in their debut top-flight campaign.
Wolfsberger established themselves as a stable Bundesliga side and qualified for European competition on multiple occasions, most notably reaching the 2019–20 UEFA Europa League group stage after finishing third in the 2018–19 Bundesliga. The club claimed its first major honour in 2025, winning the Austrian Cup with a 1–0 victory over TSV Hartberg.[1]
History
Wolfsberger AC was founded by Adolf Ptazcowsky, Karl Weber, Hermann Maierhofer, Franz Hafner and Michael Schlacher in 1931. After spending the first thirty-seven years of its existence on lower tiers of the Austrian league pyramid, the club eventually achieved promotion to the Austrian Regional League, which was on the second tier of the pyramid at that time, in 1968. WAC stayed at this level, with one exception during the 1977–78 season, for the next seventeen years, establishing themselves as a mid-table side.
At the end of the 1984–85 season, Wolfsberger AC eventually dropped back to the third level. The club returned for two further second-level appearances during the 1988–89 and 1990–91 seasons, but was immediately relegated each time. In 1994, the club was a founding member of the reactivated Regional League as the third tier of the pyramid. After being in the promotion race for the first few years in the new league, strength of the club gradually declined and eventually led to relegation at the end of the 2001–02 season.
Historical chart of Worfsberger AC league performance
In 2007, WAC and neighbours SK St. Andrä decided to enter a cooperation. While both clubs remained as separate entities, they closely worked together on almost all aspects: "Central areas of both clubs like administration, management, economy, marketing, gastronomy, as well as the athletic section as the core (both the senior and junior teams) will be centrally administered from the newly created offices of WAC/St. Andrä at Wolfsberg."[citation needed] Since SK St. Andrä were playing at the Regional League, the team began at this level, from which it was promoted to the First League in 2010. At the end of the 2011–12 season, the cooperation secured promotion to the Bundesliga with one round of matches to go. Soon afterwards, the cooperation was dissolved; Wolfsberger AC thus competed as an independent club on the highest level of Austrian football for the first time in their history.
After their first year in the highest class they came in 5th. After the season manager Nenad Bjelica left the club and became manager of FK Austria Wien, the champion of the 2012–13 season. Slobodan Grubor replaced him but after weak performances in the new season he was replaced by Dietmar Kühbauer.
The team became known as 'RZ Pellets WAC' from the 2014–15 season, due to sponsorship.[2]
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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