In the winter of 1908, Albert Siems, head of the royal post-office garage at Linz, who had already been a member of an 1899-founded club for heavy athletics,
Linzer Athletik Sportklub Siegfried, decided to establish a football club. At that time, the side already played in the black-and-white lengthwise-touched shirts. The club's first name was
Linzer Sportclub. During an extraordinary general meeting on 14 September 1919, the final change of name, to
Linzer Athletik Sport-Klub (short form
Linzer ASK) took place, its forerunner setting the example. Nevertheless, the public denomination of the team was largely LASK. The club first appeared in top-flight competition in the
Gauliga Ostmark in 1940–41, coming last and being relegated. In 1949–50, LASK was promoted, becoming professional for the first time in its history. However, years in the top flight were tough, and the club was involved in a relegation battle most of the time, until it was finally relegated in 1953–54. In 1957–58, LASK won the second division and was promoted again. In 1961–62, the club finished runner up to
Austria Wien, their best position in history up to that time, and in
1962–63 they played their first cup final, losing 1–0 to Austria Wien. Two years later, LASK achieved its greatest success, winning the
Austrian League in
1965. No club outside Vienna had ever won before. Additionally, the club won the
Austrian cup that same year, completing a domestic double and becoming one of the only Austrian clubs to do so. In 1967, the club reached the cup final again, losing again to Austria Wien on a coin toss after extra time was played. Three years later the club reached the cup final again, losing to
Wacker Innsbruck. The club spent most of the 70s in mid table, but were relegated in
1977–78, although achieving immediate promotion for the
1980–81 season. In the
1985–86 UEFA Cup, the side beat European giants
Internazionale Milan at home (1–0), on 23 October 1985, eventually bowing out 4–1 on aggregate (second round). In 1995, the club slipped into a financial crisis, and filed for bankruptcy. The president fled to
Ivory Coast with large chunks of money, leaving the club with severe debt, and forcing the sale of several key players. In May 1997, the club merged with city rivals
FC Linz, and the new official name became
LASK Linz, as officials wanted to bring out the city's name as a complement to the LASK designation, which had constituted itself as a brand name. The club name, colours, chairmen and members remained the same, effectively saving the club from dissolving. However, this merger angered many people, who believed that FC Linz were a more successful club than LASK. Ten days before the merger, FC Linz beat LASK 3–0 in the city derby. For the next few years, the players that LASK took from FC Linz made a big part of the starting lineup. Although LASK were eliminated with a large score margin, this was their best European campaign and the club gained attention as an underdog after their victories against PSV and Sporting On 24 February 2023, LASK officially opened their new stadium called
Raiffeisen Arena in a victory against
Austria Lustenau. == Logos ==