The Swarco Raiders were founded by a small number of American Football fans and volunteers back in 1992. Starting in Austria's 3rd division in the 1993 season, the team went unbeaten with an overall score of 158โ11. After being promoted to the 2nd division, the team failed to continue its run of 1993, and posted a record of 2โ14 in 1994 and 1995. The next two seasons, the Raiders reached the playoffs but lost their semifinals. Due to a league expansion they were promoted to Austria's top division, the AFL, in 1998.
The first two-season on the top level the Raiders lost most of their games. In the 2000 season they made it to the playoffs and played its first championship game, losing to the then Chrysler Vikings Vienna. A year later they repeated their appearance in the final, but again lost to the Vikings.
Beginning from the 2022 European League of Football season the now named Raiders Tirol compete with 11 other European teams for the ELF trophy. They start in the central conference together with long-term rival Vienna Vikings, 2021 season champion Frankfurt Galaxy and Stuttgart Surge. The Raiders finished the 2022 ELF season with an 8-4 record and reached the semi-finals of the playoffs. This they lost with 7:19 against Hamburg Sea Devils.
In the opening game of the ELF, the Raiders lost for the first time in years at home to the Vienna Vikings. After a loss at the Cologne Centurions, the Raiders managed their first win on the third matchday against the Berlin Thunder with 28:16. Three more wins followed before they had to go to Vienna on July 31, 2022. After the 13:29 defeat against the Vikings there, the race for first place in the Central Division was practically already lost. However, the Raiders were subsequently able to secure second place in the division and moved into the semifinals as the best runner-up. There they lost to the Hamburg Sea Devils with 7:19.
The Raiders ended the 2023 season with eight wins in twelve games and missed out on a place in the play-offs due to a poor points difference. The dismissal of quarterback Christian Strong, with whom the Raiders had won six out of eight games, caused a stir during the season. Wide receiver Jarvis McClam also left the Raiders with Strong, as he has a strong loyalty to Strong. After the end of the season, the Raiders announced that they would not be renewing the contract of head coach Kevin Herron and were parting ways with him.
On October 16, 2023, the Raiders introduced Jim Herrmann as the new head coach for the 2024 ELF season.
After a win against the Milano Seamen and a loss against the Vienna Vikings, the Raiders announced before the third game week that they were parting ways with starting quarterback D'Angelo Fulford. For the third game, the Tyroleans announced their Austrian Football League US import Kason Martin as quarterback. However, they added that this was only the solution for the game against the Barcelona Dragons and that a replacement for Fulford had already been found in N'Kosi Perry. [1]
The Raiders finished the regular season with a record of 8-4, narrowly missing the playoffs.
The Tivoli Stadion Tirol (formerly named Tivoli-Neu) is a multi-purpose stadium in Innsbruck, Austria. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home ground of Bundesliga club WSG Tirol and Raiders Tirol of the European League of Football. The stadium capacity was 17,400 when it was built in 2000. For the UEFA Euro 2008 the stadium was temporarily expanded to 30,000 people.