LASKLASK, founded in 1908, became the first club outside Vienna ever to win the Austrian championship, claiming the league and cup double in the 1964-65 season. A key figure in that side was midfielder Helmut Köglberger, who around the same time became the first Black footballer to play for and captain the Austria national team. For decades that triumph remained an isolated episode — the club twice teetered on the edge of bankruptcy, and in 2012, despite finishing third in the second division, was administratively relegated all the way down to the third tier over unpaid financial obligations.
A takeover in 2013 sparked a spectacular revival: after winning promotion to the top flight in 2016/17, LASK topped the Bundesliga table in 2019/20 and were drawn against Manchester United in the Europa League round of 16, prompting Gary Lineker's tongue-in-cheek tweet: "Who the hell are LASK? Don't worry, I'll ask someone." Along the way the club recorded memorable wins over PSV Eindhoven (4-1) and Sporting CP (3-0), though their title bid was derailed by a points deduction for breaching COVID-era training restrictions, and the tie against Manchester United itself ended in a 1-7 aggregate defeat.
That patience finally paid off in the 2025/26 season, when the Black-and-Whites — exactly 61 years after their 1965 triumph — repeated the historic feat by claiming a second double: the Austrian championship, sealed with a 3-0 away win at FK Austria Wien, and the Austrian Cup, won 4-2 after extra time in the final against Altach. The team plays its home matches at the modern Raiffeisen Arena in Linz (opened in 2023), which competes under the neutral name Oberösterreich Arena in UEFA competitions, and the club remains one of the few in Austrian football never to have added a title sponsor's name to its official name.
