Countdown to kick-off: The lowdown on LASK

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Celtic F.C.

·17 August 2026

Countdown to kick-off: The lowdown on LASK

Wednesday’s UEFA Champions League play-off round first leg is the first time that Celtic have faced LASK in a competitive match, and it’s an important match with a place in the league phase as a reward for the winners of the tie.

The Hoops are playing host to the Austrian champions, who secured only the second league title in their history when they topped the Bundesliga, finishing two points ahead of Sturm Graz. Their last title came back in 1965.

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They kicked off the new league campaign with a 3-0 home win over GAK 1902, with American forward, Samuel Adeniran, scoring twice, and they followed that up with a 2-0 away to Austria Vienna. And on Friday night, they beat Ried 4-1 at home before turning their attentions to Celtic.

Ahead of the game at Paradise this week, the official match programme takes a brief look at the Austrian champions.

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ORIGINS

Founded as a club mainly focused on heavy athletics (eg, weightlifting, shot-put etc…) under the name of Linzer Athletik Sportklub Siegfried in 1899, it was in 1908 that Albert Siems decided the time was right to form a football team within the ranks of the club. Initially known as Linzer Sportclub, in 1919, the name was changed to Linzer Athletik Sport-Klub, or Linzer ASK in short form, and most supporters simply used LASK as the name. Of course, the name stuck. However, it wasn’t until 1940/41 that the team played in top-tier football in the Gauliga Ostmark but were relegated at the end of that season. The side continued to yo-yo between the top two divisions. However, in 1949/50 they became professional for the first time, but still with fluctuating movement between the divisions, until the early 1960s when they reached the cup final as well as finishing as high as second before finally winning the league in 1964/65. It was in 1997 and, after financial troubles, the club merged with FC Linz and became LASK Linz. However, in 2017 the name returned to just LASK.

STADIUM

From 1952 onwards, LASK played their home games at the Gugl-Stadion, more properly known as the Linzer Stadion, a multi-purpose arena also used by fellow Linz club, FC Blau-Weiss for their home games. The nickname, Gugl-Stadion, came from ‘Auf der Gugl’, the hill on which the stadium was built. Among the other sports hosted by the stadium was speedway, and the Speedway World Championship was held there in 1961. In later years, the stadium also hosted gigs. It was in 2020 that LASK announced their plans to demolish the Linzer Stadion and build a new ground to replace it. The new stadium is the Raiffeisen Arena but is known as the Oberosterreich Arena for European matches.

MANAGER

Dietmar Kühbauer returned to LASK last year after spending two years as manager of Wolfsberger AC where he moved after his first spell as manager of LASK. Indeed, he has managed both clubs in two different spells. Kühbauer started his playing career with Admira Wacker, making his debut as a 16-year-old in 1987 before moving to Rapid Vienna in 1992 where he helped lift the Austrian Cup in 1994/95 and followed that up the next year with the Bundesliga. The midfielder them moved to Spain and Real Sociedad in 1997 for three years before signing for VfL Wolfsburg in Germany for two seasons, and then finishing his playing career with six seasons back in his homeland with SV Mattersburg. He retired with 654 club games, 55 Austrian caps and 102 goals under his belt. Kühbauer quickly moved up the coaching ladder, though, and he equalled his feat as a player by lifting the cup and Bundesliga again, this time with LASK and both last season for a league and cup double. Indeed, he has the distinction of winning the Austrian Cup two years in a row with different teams – Wolfsberger AC in 2024/25, and LASK in 2025/26.

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The goalscoring heroes of last season’s Austrian Cup win helped LASK come back from a goal down twice against SCR Altach who were playing in their first ever final. The first equaliser came from Nigerian winger, Moses Usor who joined from Slavia Prague three years ago, and the 24-year-old netted 15 goals in 35 games last term. The next equaliser came from Texan-born, Samuel Adeniran, and the 27-year-old striker had played for a host of clubs in the States, Spain and Germany, as well as having spells as a youth player in England and Portugal, before moving to Austria last year. Like Usor, he was in scoring form last term with 14 goals in 34 appearances. The goal that put LASK in the lead during extra-time was scored by Nigerian-born United States internationalist, George Bello. The 24-year-old left-back played for Atlanta United in the States before moving to Germany with Arminia Bielefeld and joined LASK in 2023. The fourth goal in LASK’s 4-2 extra-time cup win was a second strike by Adeniran.

LAST SEASON

The aforementioned Austrian Cup win, wasn’t, of course, LASK’s only trophy success as their place in this season’s UEFA Champions League automatic play-off place would suggest. They lifted the Austrian Bundesliga title for the first time since 1964/65, and, interestingly, the last time they won the Austrian Cup was also back in 1964/65, meaning that they have completed the Double 61 years apart, and in both cases, these are the only times they have won either trophy. In last year’s title campaign, LASK finished third in the 22-game regular league table, just one point off Sturm Graz at the top who were on 38. In the nine-game Championship round LASK won five, drew three and lost just one match to finish top of the table and take the title.

EURO RECORD

This will be the first time LASK have travelled to Celtic Park, but it’s not the first time they have played in Scotland, nor indeed played a team from Glasgow. In the UEFA Cup of 1984/85, they encountered Dundee United in the second round, but lost 2-1 at home and 5-1 at Tannadice to go out 7-2 on aggregate. Their Glasgow connection in European football comes from meeting Partick Thistle in the 1995 Intertoto Cup, with the games either played home or away, but not both, the sides drew 2-2 in Linz. LASK’s most recent trip to Scotland was in 2021 when the Austrian side beat St Johnstone 3-1 on aggregate in a UEFA Europa Conference League play-off. Last season LASK had four draws and three defeats in the league phase of THE UEFA Europa Conference League after dropping in there following a 2-1 aggregate defeat to Steaua Bucharest in a UEFA Europa League play-off.