Sturm out to shut down Dinamo

SK Sturm Graz go in to their Group F opener against FC Dinamo 1948 Bucureşti with the form book on their side, but past experience of UEFA Cup group stage competition may stand the visitors in good stead.

Previous meetings

• Sturm and Dinamo have never met before and this will also be the Romanian side's first meeting with Austrian opponents. Sturm took on Dinamo's neighbours FC Sportul Studentesc Bucureşti in the 1983/84 UEFA Cup first round, winning 2-1 away and drawing 0-0 at home.

Match background

• Sturm never competed in the UEFA Cup group stage. However, Dinamo did so twice, missing the cut in 2005/06 but making it through to the round of 32 the following season.

• Sturm are unbeaten in 12 European games since losing 3-1 at home to VfL Wolfsburg in the second leg of a 2005 UEFA Intertoto Cup tie. Their six games in Europe this season have produced four wins, two draws and 12 goals – an average of two a game.

• The last team to keep a clean sheet against Sturm in Europe were Budapest Honvéd FC, who drew 0-0 at the Stadion Graz Liebenau in the third round of the 2008 UEFA Intertoto Cup. The Austrian outfit have scored at least once in each of their nine subsequent matches.

• Dinamo have a decent record over their last ten European away games of W4 D3 L3.

Team facts

• Austria and Romania have four representatives each in the UEFA Europa League.

• Sturm's German coach Franco Foda has been with the club for over a decade, having joined as a defender in 1997. The former 1. FC Kaiserslautern, Bayer 04 Leverkusen and VfB Stuttgart player counts son Sandro Foda, a midfielder, among his players at Sturm.

• A losing European Champion Clubs' Cup finalist with UC Sampdoria (1991/92), Dinamo's coach is former Serie A central defender Dario Bonetti, who replaced Mircea Rednic in June.

• Sturm were founded in 1902 by local students and academics to serve as a more working-class counterpart to Grazer AK. They reputedly took the name Sturm after a thunderstorm which struck Graz in May 1909.

• Daniel Beichler and Andreas Hölzl played in Austria's 2-1 FIFA World Cup qualifying win against Romania in Klagenfurt on 1 April. Dinamo's Marius Niculae and Gabriel Tamaş featured on the losing side.

• Founded under the aegis of the Romanian Internal Affairs Ministry, Dinamo are the second most popular team in Romania after FC Steaua Bucureşti, their rivals in the capital's 'Eternul Derby'.

• Dinamo play at home against Panathinaikos FC on Matchday 2, while Sturm visit Galatasaray AŞ on the same night, 1 October.