Leoben

Donawitz built its identity around the steelworks of Alpine Montan AG. It began on 1 February 1928 as WSV Donawitz, a works team fielded by the company's employees, and it stayed tied to the steel firm through name changes in 1970 and again in 1971, when it became Donawitzer SV Alpine. Only in 1992, when relegation from the Bundesliga coincided with the sponsors ALAG and Stahl Ges.m.b.H. pulling out, did the club merge with 1. FC Leoben and take the city's name for the first time, becoming DSV Leoben.

The black-and-white colours nod to that industrial past, and so does the nickname, Das Hochofenballett — the Blast Furnace Ballet. The club has never lifted the national league or cup, and its honours read as a regional record: titles in the Steirische Landesliga and three in the Regionalliga Mitte, most recently in 2022/23. Its closest brush with the big prize came in the 1994/95 Cup final, lost 0–1 to Rapid Wien — the winner scored by Peter Guggi, who had played for Leoben himself before moving on. Walter Schachner passed through earlier, in the late 1970s, before going on to earn 64 caps for Austria and score at two World Cups.

Financial trouble has followed the club into the present: denied a licence for the second division despite finishing runner-up, DSV Leoben was administratively sent down to the Regionalliga Mitte for 2024/25. Matches against Kapfenberger SV, the Obersteirisches Derby, remain the fixture that still draws the district in, played out now at the ground known as the KARTNIGs Werbeprofi Arena, where 6,900 is the standard capacity.