Full name | Arbeiter Sport-Klub Voitsberg |
---|---|
Founded | 1921 (year of foundation) |
Ground | Hans Blümel Stadion, Voitsberg |
Capacity | 2000 |
Chairman | Frank Paizoni |
Manager | Jürgen Auffinger |
League | Austrian Regional League Central |
2010–11 | 16th |
ASK Voitsberg is an Austrian football club located in Voitsberg, a town in the state of Styria in the south-east of the country. They currently play in the Austrian Landesliga, the fourth tier of Austrian football.
ASK Voitsberg was formed in 1921 as part of a general sports club that also participated in other activities such as boxing; the ASK stands for Arbeiter Sports-Klub, the English translation being worker's sports club. In the first decades of existence the team played in black and white and competed in various regional leagues in Styria. In this period, they competed in the top state league only once, finishing 7th and bottom place in 1925. This league was known as the Steiermark 1. Klasse, the modern equivalent being the Landesliga Steiermark division of the fourth tier Austrian Landesliga.
During the annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany between 1938 and 1945, the club name was changed to Grün-Weiß Krems Voitsberg and the team colours became green and white.
In this period the club enjoyed its first league title, winning the Steiermark 2. Klasse or Styrian second league for the 1937–38 season. The club was promoted to a newly formed league for the 1938–39 season, the Bezirksklasse Süd, which included teams from the top state leagues in both Styria and neighbouring state Carinthia. The Bezirksklasse Süd was only in existence for one season, and Grün-Weiß Krems Voitsberg performed very poorly, finishing bottom of ten teams with no wins, two draws, 16 losses and 63 goals against.
After World War II, the club promptly reverted its official name back to ASK Voitsberg, and rejected the green and white colours in favour of their traditional black and white. The club languished in lower state leagues for several years until returning to the top Styria league, then known as Landesliga Steiermark, for the 1950–51 season. The team finished this campaign narrowly avoiding relegation in second-bottom ninth place. This league was extended to twelve teams for the 1951–52 season, and ASK Voitsberg finished in the bottom half of the table for several seasons until coming fifth in the 1956–57 season.