Sturm Graz vs Sporting CP facts

Sturm Graz will look to get their first UEFA Champions League points of 2024/25 at the third attempt as they welcome Sporting CP, who beat the Austrian champions twice last season.

Sturm's first game in the competition proper for 23 years ended in a 2-1 loss at European debutants Brest before a 0-1 home reverse against Club Brugge; Sporting kicked off with a 2-0 home win against LOSC Lille and drew 1-1 at PSV Eindhoven on Matchday 2.

Previous meetings

2023/24 UEFA Europa League group stage
Sturm 1-2 Sporting CP
Sporting CP 3-0 Sturm
Sporting engineered a late turnaround in Graz on Matchday 1 last season, William Bøving giving the home side a 58th-minute lead only for strikes in the closing stages from Viktor Gyökeres (76) and Ousmane Diomande (84) to take the points to Portugal.

Gyökeres opened the scoring in the 39th minute of Sporting's Matchday 6 victory in Lisbon, Gonçalo Inácio (60, 70) sealing the win in the second half.

Form guide

Sturm Graz

Record vs Portuguese clubs: W0 D0 L2 F1 A5
Home record vs Portuguese clubs: W0 D0 L1

Last season's two losses to Sporting are Sturm's only games against a team from Portugal.

This is the fourth time Sturm have featured in the Champions League proper – and the first since 2001/02, their third successive appearance.

That most recent campaign is the only one in which the Austrian side survived the initial group stage. First in their section ahead of Galatasaray, Rangers and Monaco, Sturm were third behind Valencia and Manchester United in the second group stage, though they did end with six points thanks to two wins against Panathinaikos.

Sturm have lost five times in Champions League qualifying since that last group appearance 23 seasons ago. This is the first time they have qualified direct for the group stage.

In 2023/24, Sturm were beaten 7-2 on aggregate by PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League third qualifying round, and then finished third in their Europa League group behind eventual champions Atalanta and Sporting CP. That sent them into the UEFA Europa Conference League, where they eventually lost to LOSC Lille in the last 16 (0-3 h, 1-1 a).

The Austrian club lost four of their six home European games in 2023/24 (W1 D1) and have only five victories in their last 26, a sequence that stretches back to 2011 and includes 18 defeats.

There was domestic success for Christian Ilzer's side last season, Sturm finishing top of the Austrian Bundesliga to end Salzburg's run of ten titles in a row. It was the club's fourth league triumph and a first since 2010/11; they also claimed the Austrian Cup for the seventh time, winning a second domestic double.

Sporting CP

Record vs Austrian clubs: W7 D1 L5 F20 A20
Away record vs Austrian clubs: W1 D1 L4

Last season's victory at Sturm was Sporting's first in Austria, where they had lost four of their first five games.

The Portuguese club had one win in four matches against Austrian clubs before beating Sturm twice last season, most recently losing 3-0 at LASK on Matchday 6 of the 2019/20 Europa League and 1-4 at home to the same opponents in the following season's qualifying play-offs.

The Lions are making their 11th appearance in the Champions League proper, and a third in four seasons.

The most recent came in 2022/23, when the Lions finished third in their section behind Tottenham and Eintracht Frankfurt.

Sporting have lost ten of their last 16 away matches in the Champions League; a 3-0 win at Frankfurt on Matchday 1 two seasons ago is one of only three in their last 18 away games in the competition proper (D4 L11).

Second in their Europa League section behind Atalanta in 2023/24, Rúben Amorim's side beat Young Boys 4-2 on aggregate in the knockout round play-offs only to again lose out to Atalanta in the round of 16 (2-3 agg).

Sporting have lost just three of their last 13 away European games (W4 D6).

Sporting claimed their 20th league title – and a second in four years, having not lifted the crown between 2001/02 and 2020/21 – last season.

Links and trivia

Sporting midfielder Morten Hjulmand played in Austria for Admira Wacker from 2018 to 2020, losing all five of his games against Sturm.

Hjulmand's Admira team-mates included Emanuel Aiwu.

International team-mates:
Jusuf Gazibegović & Vladan Kovačević (Bosnia and Herzegovina)

Latest news

Sturm Graz

Sturm have scored five goals in both of their last two games, beating Grazer AK 5-2 on Saturday to make it three victories in their last seven games in all competitions (D1 L3).

They were 5-0 winners at home to Salzburg on 6 October, Mika Biereth scoring the first hat-trick of his career. He was also on target on Saturday and has five goals in his last three league appearances and eight overall.

The Austrian champions had won five successive games in all competitions before their Matchday 1 loss at Brest.

Gregory Wüthrich has been out since suffering a hand injury early in the defeat at Brest.

Jon Gorenc Stanković fractured his forearm on 28 September and has not played since.

Erencan Yardımcı scored in Türkiye's 3-0 2025 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifying win against Latvia on 11 October.

Tochi Chukwuani was on target as Denmark beat Iceland 2-0 in U21 qualifying on 15 October.

Sporting CP

On Friday two Conrad Harder goals gave Sporting a 2-1 win at Portimonense in the Portuguese Cup third round.

The Lions have won all eight Portuguese Liga games this season, scoring 27 goals and conceding only two.

A 2-0 home victory against Casa Pia on 5 October gave Sporting their best start to a league campaign since 1990/91; they have scored in their last 50 Liga matches, their longest streak for 86 years.

Gonçalo Inácio and Eduardo Quaresma were both replaced against Casa Pia with muscular problem; the former returned on Friday, when Quaresma remained absent.

Matheus Reis (out since 27 September, muscle) and Ousmane Diomande (1 October, sprained ankle) have also been sidelined.

Viktor Gyökeres scored one goal and set up another as Sweden won 3-0 in Estonia in the UEFA Nations League on 14 October.

The same day, Geny Catamo got Mozambique's final goal in a 3-0 2025 CAF Africa Cup of Nations qualifying victory in Eswatini.