SK Rapid Wien

Rapid Vienna

Full name	Sportklub Rapid Wien
Nickname(s)	Die Grün-Weißen (The Green-Whites), Hütteldorfer
Founded	1899
Ground	Gerhard Hanappi Stadium (Capacity: 18,500)
Chairman	Rudolf Edlinger
Manager	Peter Pacult
League	Austrian Football Bundesliga
2009–10	3rd
Home colours Away colours

The Sportklub Rapid Wien (English: Rapid Vienna) is an Austrian football club playing in the country's capital city of Vienna. Rapid is Austria's most successful side with 32 championships to its credit, as well as the German Championship in 1941 when Austria was part of Germany. It is one of the two best known sides in Vienna, the other being Rapid's eternal rival, FK Austria Wien. The Rapid squad is often known as the "Green-Whites" for its team colours or as Hütteldorfer for the location of the Gerhard Hanappi Stadium, which is in Hütteldorf, part of the city's 14th district, Penzing.

History

SK Rapid Wien was founded in 1898 (en:First Workers' Football Club of Vienna). The team's original colours were red and blue, which are still often used in away matches. On 8 January 1899 the club was re-named, taking on its present name of Sportklub Rapid Wien, following the example of Rapide Berlin. In 1904, the team colours were changed to green and white.

The 1. Arbeiter FC in 1898

One of the best teams in early European football, Rapid became a dominant side during the years between the world wars, when Austria was one of the leading football nations on the continent. After the Anschluss of Austria to Germany in 1938, Rapid played in that country's Gauliga Ostmark along with clubs such as First Vienna and Admira Vienna (playing then as Wacker Wien and Admira Wien). Rapid would be the most successful of these clubs. They won the Tschammerpokal, predecessor of today's German Cup, in 1938 with a 3–1 victory over FSV Frankfurt, and topped that with a German Championship in 1941 by defeating Schalke 04, the most dominant German club of the era. The team was able to overcome a 3–0 Schalke lead to win the match by a final score of 4–3 through strength and endurance – the traditional virtues of Rapid players known as the Rapidgeist or "Rapid Spirit".

Almost since the club's beginnings, Rapid fans have announced the last fifteen minutes of the game by way of the legendary "Rapidviertelstunde" – rhythmic clapping at home or away no matter what the score. The first mention of the practise goes back to 1913, and in 1919 a newspaper wrote about the fans clapping at the beginning of the "Rapidviertelstunde". Over the decades, there were many instances where Rapid managed to turn around a seemingly hopeless situation by not giving up and, with their fans' support, fighting their way to a win just before the final whistle.

Although Rapid is by far the most popular club in Austria, other teams like Red Bull Salzburg or FK Magna are able to spend significantly more money every year as they are owned by investors/billionaires. Rapid is trying to compensate for this lack of financial funds by supporting young and talented players.

Rapid were involved in a controversial episode in 1984 when they eliminated Celtic from the European Cup Winners Cup last 16. Strikes from Brian McClair (32 mins) Murdo MacLeod (45+5 mins) put Celtic 2-0 ahead at half time. After the interval Tommy Burns (68 mins) scored a controversial third goal to put Celtic 4-3 up on aggregate. With 14 mins left of the match, Rapid conceded a penalty, after Reinhard Kienast punched Burns on the back of the head whilst a corner kick was being taken. Rapid players, opposing the decision, crowded around the referee and linesman, close to the Celtic fans. Rapid defender Rudolf Weinhofer then fell to the ground, and claimed to have been hit by a bottle thrown from the terracing. TV pictures showed clearly that the bottle which was thrown onto the pitch did not hit the player. After a delay of some 10 minutes, the penalty was taken by Peter Grant, and he struck it wide. The match finished 3–0, giving Celtic a 4–3 win on aggregate. However, Rapid appealed to UEFA for a replay, and both teams were fined. The replay appeal was turned down initially, but Rapid appealed for a second time. On this occasion, Rapid's fine was doubled but UEFA also stipulated that the game be replayed 100 miles away from Celtic Park. The game was held on 12 December 1984 at Old Trafford, Manchester and Rapid won 1–0 through a Peter Pacult strike.

Stadium

Rapid Wien now plays at the Gerhard Hanappi Stadium which was opened on 10 May 1977 in a game against FK Austria.

Honours

Steffen Hofmann celebrating the championship 2008.

Rapid Vienna is also Austria's record titleholder when including Vienna-only titles and titles won in Germany during the time of the Third Reich, winning the Austrian Championship title 32 times to date. Supporters of other teams sometimes argue that the 16 championship wins before the establishment of a nation wide all-Austrian league should not be counted. However, those titles are credited by most observers, since Viennese league play was virtually synonymous with Austrian football at that time. The wins of the German Championship and German Cup were possible due to Austria's annexation by Germany on March 12, 1938.

• Austrian Championship (32): 1912, 1913, 1916, 1917, 1919, 1920, 1921, 1923, 1929, 1930, 1935, 1938, 1940, 1941, 1946, 1948, 1951, 1952, 1954, 1956, 1957, 1960, 1964, 1967, 1968, 1981-82, 1982-83, 1986-87, 1987-88, 1995-96, 2004-05, 2007-08

• Austrian Cup (14): 1919, 1920, 1927, 1946, 1961, 1968, 1969, 1972, 1976, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1995

• Austrian Supercup: 1986, 1987, 1988, 2008 (Unofficial edition)

• German Championship: 1941

• German Cup: 1938

• Mitropa Cup: 1930, 1951

• Intertoto Cup: 1992, 1993

• Cup Winners' Cup Runners Up: 1985, 1996

Team photo for the 2010-2011 season

Current squad

As of 5 August 2010 Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Raimund Hedl 2 DF Andrey Lebedzew 3 DF Jürgen Patocka 6 DF Mario Sonnleitner 7 MF Stefan Kulovits 8 MF Markus Heikkinen 9 FW Hamdi Salihi 11 MF Steffen Hofmann (captain) 14 DF Markus Katzer 15 FW Atdhe Nuhiu 17 MF Veli Kavlak 18 DF Hannes Eder 19 MF Christopher Drazan

No. Position Player 20 FW René Gartler 21 MF Christoph Saurer 22 DF Ragnvald Soma 23 DF Andreas Dober 24 GK Helge Payer 25 DF Tanju Kayhan 26 DF Thomas Hinum 28 FW Christopher Trimmel 29 DF Thomas Bergmann 30 GK Lukas Königshofer 33 FW Mario Konrad 35 MF Yasin Pehlivan

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 6 MF Christian Thonhofer (to SC Magna Wiener Neustadt) 13 DF Christoph Schösswendter (to FC Lustenau) 30 GK Andreas Lukse (to First Vienna FC) 36 MF Muhammed Ildiz (to FC Wacker Innsbruck)

Retired numbers

5 – Peter Schöttel

Notable players

Managers since 1910

SK Rapid Wien II Squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Ertan Uzun 2 DF Oliver Mohr 3 DF Philipp Schöberl 4 DF Nermin Jusić 6 DF Emanuel Sakić 8 FW Christopher Trimmel 9 MF Marcel Toth 11 MF Serkan Ciftci 12 DF Stefan Holzmeier 13 MF Matthias Muhr 15 FW Richard Jicinsky 16 DF Stephan Palla 17 MF Thomas Bergmann

No. Position Player 18 FW Mehmet Sütcü 19 MF Muhammed Ildiz 20 MF Michel Sandić 21 GK Nikola Kovacević 23 FW Thomas Fröschl 24 DF Cem Tosun 25 MF Arvedin Terzić 26 FW Daniel Luxbacher 27 MF Patrik Nagy 28 DF Dominik Huber 29 FW René Gartler - FW Bojan Malinić - DF Andrey Lebedzew

See also

• List of SK Rapid Wien records and statistics

References

External links

• Official Homepage
• Rapid at UEFA.COM
• Rapid at EUFO.DE
• Rapid at Weltfussball.de