FC Zürich

Fussballclub Zürich, commonly abbreviated to FC Zürich or simply FCZ, is a Swiss football men's club based in the city of Zürich, in the Canton of Zurich in the Super League, the top tier in its league. The club was founded in 1896 and has won the Swiss Super League 12 times and the Swiss Cup 10 times. The club won the 2009 Swiss Super League and last won the Swiss Cup in 2018. Their home games are played at the Letzigrund in Zürich, which seats 25,000 spectators. For the women's team see FC Zürich Frauen.

Zürich

Full name	Fussballclub Zürich
Nickname(s)	FCZ/ Zürich
Founded	1 August 1896
Ground	Letzigrund, Zürich
Capacity	26,105
Chairman	Ancillo Canepa
Manager	Massimo Rizzo
League	Super League
2019–20	Super League, 7th of 10
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours

History

1896–1924

The club was founded in summer 1896 by former members of the two local clubs FC Turicum and FC Excelsior. Later, the official founding date was set at 1 August 1896. One of the founding members was the later FC Barcelona founder, Joan Gamper, coaching and playing for FC Excelsior and its successor from 1894 to 1897.[1] The new club played its first game on 30 August 1896 on Velorennbahn Hardau in Zürich against FC Phönix St. Gallen with a 3:3 draw.[2] In 1898, FC Excelsior completely merged with FC Zürich and local club FC Victoria joined shortly thereafter.

The debut game was in 1896 with the colors blue and white.[3] The colors were changed to red and white; rivals Grasshopper Club Zürich had the same colors. When Grasshopper Club temporarily retired from the championship in 1909, FCZ returned to the colors blue and white which they continue to use.[4] Zürich won its first title in the Swiss Serie A in 1901–02, but did not win it again until 1923–24.

Until the 1930s, the club's sporting remit included rowing, boxing, athletics, and handball, but football would become the focus of the club.

1925–1960

Chart of FC Zürich table positions in the Swiss football league system

From 1925 to 1960, Zürich struggled to overcome an unsuccessful record and was described as the "wilderness years". They were relegated in 1933–34, playing in the 1. Liga to the 1941 season. In 1940–41, they returned to the Nationalliga, where they stayed until their relegation in 1945–46. They were back in the Nationalliga A in 1947–48 and stayed in the top flight until relegated in 1956–57. They were promoted from the Nationalliga B to contest the 1958–59 Nationalliga A, finishing in third place.

1960–1981

This period was known as the "Golden Years" by the FCZ faithful. At this time, the club was run by the legendary President Edwin Nägeli and had players such as Köbi Kuhn, Fritz Künzli, Ilija Katić, René Botteron, and many more. Zürich won seven championships in the years 1963, 1966, 1968, 1974, 1975, 1976 and 1981. They also won the Swiss Cup five times in 1966, 1970, 1972, 1973, and in 1976. FCZ also had some success in Europe getting to the semi-finals of the European Cup 1963–64, before losing to Real Madrid and also reaching the semi-finals in the European Cup 1976–77, where they lost to Liverpool.

1981–2005

Following the club's league title in 1981, the club went into a decline and in 1988 they were relegated to the Nationalliga B. Zürich returned to the top league in 1990. The club did make it to last 16 of the UEFA Cup 1998–99, but were beaten by Roma. The club won the Swiss Cup in 2000, beating Lausanne in the final and also in 2005 beating Luzern.

2006–2016

Season	Rank	League	Ø Attendance[5][6]
2006	1/10	SL	10,008
2007	1/10	SL	10,870
2008	3/10	SL	12,186
2009	1/10	SL	9,829
2010	7/10	SL	10,700
2011	2/10	SL	11,750
2012	6/10	SL	10,511
2013	4/10	SL	10,741
2014	5/10	SL	9,564
2015	3/10	SL	9,389
2016	10/10	SL	8,701
2017	1/10	CL	9,702
2018	4/10	SL	10,726
2019	7/10	SL	10,660
2020	7/10	SL	6,422[7]

On 13 May 2006, FCZ ended their 25 years effort to win Super League with a goal in the 93rd minute by Iulian Filipescu against FC Basel. The goal gave FCZ a 2 – 1 victory based on goal difference. They sustained the league title In 2006–07.

In 2008 the local women's team FFC Zürich Seebach was combined with FC Zürich and would play under the name FC Zürich Frauen in the Swiss national league. FC Zürich Frauen is Swiss record champion and 2nd in the alltime table only behind FFC Bern.

In the 2007–08 season, FCZ (men's team) finished in third place. In a 2008–09 season match, they edged pass BSC Young Boys to win the league title. In 2009, they made their debut play for the group-stage of the UEFA Champions League. In the 2010–11 season FCZ finished second. The following seasons they finished mostly in mid-table positions. FCZ won the Swiss Cup 2014 in extra time against FC Basel 2 to 0.

In the 2015–16 season the club finished last, one point behind FC Lugano and was relegated to the Swiss Challenge League. Four days after the final game of the season FCZ won the Swiss Cup 2016 beating FC Lugano 1 to 0.

Recent years

In the 2016–17 season FC Zürich won the Challenge League ahead of Neuchâtel Xamax and returned after one year to the Super League. In the 2017–2018 season they finished 4th. On 27 May 2018 they won the Swiss Cup for the tenth time, beating BSC Young Boys 2:1.

Honours

• Swiss Super League
  • Champions (12): 1901–02, 1923–24, 1962–63, 1965–66, 1967–68, 1973–74, 1974–75, 1975–76, 1980–81, 2005–06, 2006–07, 2008–09
• Swiss Cup
  • Winners (10): 1965–66, 1969–70, 1971–72, 1972–73, 1975–76, 1999–2000, 2004–05, 2013–14, 2015–16, 2017–18
• Swiss League Cup
  • Winners: 1980–81
• European Cup/UEFA Champions League
  • Semi-finalists: 1963–64, 1976–77
• Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy
  • Fourth place: 1911

Rivalries

Letzigrund

Grasshopper, also from Zürich, and FC Basel are the main rivals of FCZ. Due to the intense rivalry, these matches are so-called high-risk fixtures, with an increased police presence in and around the stadium.

Zürich

Since its inception, FCZ has always had a fiery relationship with neighbouring club Grasshopper over sporting supremacy in the city.

Final vs. FC Basel, 13 May 2006

Before the last round of the 2005–06 Swiss Super League, Zürich were three points behind FC Basel in the league table. The last game of the season was contested by these two clubs vying for the league title at St. Jakob Park, Basel. Alhassane Keita scored the match first goal, for Zürich. In the second half, Mladen Petrić equalised. FC Basel were seconds away from the title when in the 93rd minute, Florian Stahel passed the ball to Iulian Filipescu, who scored. Zürich's success at 2 – 1 was attributed to their superior goal difference. Following the final whistle, Basel supporters stormed the pitch and attacked players on both teams (SEE:2006 Basel Hooligan Incident).

Players

Current squad

As of 9 January 2021

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK   SUI Zivko Kostadinovic 3 DF  BRA Nathan Cardoso 4 DF   SUI Bećir Omeragić 5 DF  GER Lasse Sobiech (on loan from Köln) 6 DF  KVX Fidan Aliti (on loan from Kalmar) 7 MF   SUI Adrian Winter 8 MF   SUI Vasilije Janjičić 9 FW  GAM Assan Ceesay 10 MF   SUI Antonio Marchesano 14 MF   SUI Toni Domgjoni 15 FW  NGA Tosin Aiyegun 18 FW  SVN Blaž Kramer 19 DF   SUI Tobias Schättin 20 MF  CIV Ousmane Doumbia

No. Pos. Nation Player 21 MF   SUI Blerim Džemaili 22 FW  ITA Wilfried Gnonto 23 MF   SUI Fabian Rohner 25 GK   SUI Yanick Brecher 26 MF  TUN Salim Khelifi 27 MF   SUI Marco Schönbächler 31 DF  KVX Mirlind Kryeziu 33 MF   SUI Stephan Seiler 36 DF   SUI Filip Frei 38 GK   SUI Novem Baumann 42 DF   SUI Silvan Wallner 70 MF  KVX Benjamin Kololli 71 MF  KVX Hekuran Kryeziu

Out on loan

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

No. Pos. Nation Player — DF   SUI Ilan Sauter (at FC Wil until 30 June 2021) — MF   SUI Bledian Krasniqi (at FC Wil until 30 June 2021) — MF   SUI Izer Aliu (at SC Kriens until 30 June 2021) — DF   SUI Lindrit Kamberi (at FC Winterthur until 30 June 2021)

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF   SUI Maren Haile-Selassie (at FC Wil until 30 June 2021) — FW   SUI Henri Koide (at FC Wil until 30 June 2021) — DF  CIV Willie Britto (at Pohronie until 30 June 2021)}}

Reserve squad/Zürich II

The Zürich II/U21 team plays in the Swiss Promotion League.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  GER Soheil Arghandewall — DF   SUI Lenny Janko — GK   SUI Novem Baumann — GK   SUI Serkan Polat — DF   SUI Silvan Wallner — FW   SUI Nedim Omeragić — DF  POR José Gonçalves — MF   SUI Diego Corvalan — MF   SUI Luka Frei — MF  KVX Lavdrim Rexhepi — DF   SUI Basil Erne — GK   SUI Nico Feusi

No. Pos. Nation Player — DF   SUI Kenith Catari — MF   SUI Kedus Haile-Selassie — DF   SUI Alain Fuchs — DF   SUI Jahaim Kissling — MF   SUI Yasha Schärer — MF   SUI Nils Reichmuth — FW   SUI Arber Jusufi — DF   SUI David Brunner — MF   SUI Leandro Aversa — FW   SUI Junior Eyamba — FW   SUI Shpetim Sulejmani

Notable former players

Players and managers admitted to the FC Zurich Hall of Fame

Jakob Kuhn Walter Bosshard Urs Fischer Fritz Künzli Rosario Martinelli Almen Abdi Lucien Favre Joan Gamper

Karl Grob Daniel Gygax Daniel Jeandupeux Timo Konietzka Werner Leimgruber Louis Maurer Raimondo Ponte Ike Shorunmu

Klaus Stürmer Hannu Tihinen René Botteron Frédéric Chassot Josip Drmić Blerim Džemaili Iulian Filipescu Jurica Jerković

Alhassane Keita Shabani Nonda Peter Risi Wynton Rufer Albert Schnorf Paul Sturzenegger

source:[8]

Players for the Swiss national football team

Almen Abdi Heinz Bäni Heinz Barmettler Loris Benito Thomas Bickel René Botteron René Brodmann Patrick Bühlmann Sandro Burki Pierre-Albert Chapuisat Frédéric Chassot Davide Chiumiento Joël Corminbœuf Francesco Di Jorio Josip Drmić Blerim Džemaili Ruedi Elsener Nico Elvedi Urs Fischer

Mario Gavranović Christoph Gilli Marco Grassi Karl Grob René Hasler Marc Hodel Josef Hügi Gökhan Inler Daniel Jeandupeux Sébastien Jeanneret Stephan Keller Fritz Kehl Jakob Kuhn Fritz Künzli Adrian Kunz August Lehmann Werner Leimgruber Johnny Leoni Heinz Lüdi

Erni Maissen Ludovic Magnin Xavier Margairaz Peter Marti Giuseppe Mazzarelli Admir Mehmedi Severino Minelli André Muff Alain Nef Dimitri Oberlin Bećir Omeragić Marco Pascolo Yvan Quentin Peter Risi Alain Rochat Ricardo Rodríguez Ernst Rutschmann Marco Schönbächler Werner Schley

Walter Schneiter David Sesa Simon Sohm Adolf Stelzer Jörg Stiel Pirmin Stierli Xavier Stierli Jürg Studer Scott Sutter Markus Tanner Sirio Vernati Steve von Bergen Johan Vonlanthen René Weiler Adrian Winter Rolf Wüthrich Gian-Pietro Zappa Hans-Peter Zwicker

Players with World Cup appearances for their national teams

Borislav Mikhailov Jan Berger Peter Møller Jean-Marc Ferreri Norbert Eder Roberto Di Matteo Kanga Akale

Wynton Rufer Ike Shorunmu Rashidi Yekini Iulian Filipescu Adrian Ilie Aleksandr Kerzhakov Shaun Bartlett

Tomas Brolin Roger Ljung Jonas Thern Conny Torstensson Francileudo Santos Yassine Chikhaoui Mirsad Baljić Jurica Jerković

Player records

Most appearances (Swiss League since 1955)     Player Apps 1 Karl Grob 513 2 Jakob Kuhn 398 3 Rudolf Landolt 353 4 Rosario Martinelli 344 5 Werner Leimgruber 314 6 Urs Fischer 303 7 Alain Nef 277 8 Marco Schönbächler 266 9 Pirmin Stierli 248 10 Heinz Lüdi 244

Top scorers (Swiss League since 1955)     Player Goals 1 Fritz Künzli 158 2 Rosario Martinelli 126 3 Jakob Kuhn 79 4 Peter Risi 76 5 Bruno Brizzi 74 5 Werner Leimgruber 74 7 Walter Seiler 62 8 Ercument Sahin 60 9 Alhassane Keita 58 9 Klaus Stürmer 58

source appearances:[9]

source scorers:[10]

Managers

József "Csiby" Winkler (1920–22) Johann Studnicka (1922–25) Severino Minelli (1943–46) Willy Iseli (1946–48) Theodor Lohrmann (1948–53) Joksch Fridl (1953–55) Ossi Müller (1955–57) Fernando Molina and Max Barras (1957–58) Karl Rappan (1958–59) Max Barras (1959–60) Georg Wurzer (1960–62) Louis Maurer (1962–66) László Kubala (July 1966 – Feb 67) René Brodmann (Feb 1967 – July 67) Lev Mantula (1967–69) Georg Gawliczek (1 July 1969 – 31 December 1970) Juan Schwanner (November 1970 – July 71) Friedhelm Konietzka (1971–78)

Zlatko Čajkovski (July 1978 – March 80) Albert Sing and R. Martinelli (29 Feb 1980 – 30 June 1980) Daniel Jeandupeux (1 July 1980 – March 83) Heini Glättli (March 1983 – April 83) Max Merkel (April 1983 – May 83) Köbi Kuhn (May 1983 – July 83) Hans Kodric (July 1983 – November 83) Köbi Kuhn (November 1983 – July 84) Vaclav Jezek (1984–86) Hermann Stessl (1 July 1986 – 1 November 1987) Friedhelm Konietzka (Sept 1987 – July 88) Hans Bongartz (1 July 1988 – 30 June 1989) Walter Iselin (July 1989 – October 89) Herbert Neumann (October 1989 –1 October 1991) Kurt Jara (1 October 1991 – 1 April 1994) Bob Houghton (April 1994 – March 95) Raimondo Ponte (March 1995 – 16 April 2000) Gilbert Gress (16 April 2000 – 30 June 2001)

Georges Bregy (1 July 2001 – 27 March 2003) Walter Grüter (interim) (27 March 2003 – 30 June 2003) Lucien Favre (1 July 2003 – 30 June 2007) Bernard Challandes (1 July 2007 – 19 April 2010) Urs Fischer (interim) (19 April 2010 – 30 June 2010) Urs Fischer (1 July 2010 – 12 March 2012) Harald Gämperle (interim) (13 March 2012 – 8 June 2012) Urs Meier (interim) (14 April 2012 – 24 May 2012) Rolf Fringer (1 July 2012 – 26 November 2012) Urs Meier (interim) (26 November 2012 – 30 December 2012) Urs Meier (1 Jan 2013 – 3 August 2015) Massimo Rizzo (interim) (3 August 2015 – 31 August 2015) Sami Hyypiä (31 August 2015 – 12 May 2016) Uli Forte (13 May 2016 – 20 February 2018) Ludovic Magnin (20 February 2018 – 5 October 2020) Massimo Rizzo (interim) (5 Octobet 2020 – 23 December 2020) Massimo Rizzo (24 December 2020 – Present)

FC Zürich in Europe

As of 2019

Competition	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
UEFA Champions League	48	16	4	28	50	77
UEFA Europa League	78	25	18	35	92	125
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	12	4	4	4	24	16
Inter-Cities Fairs Cup	10	4	0	6	12	12
Total	148	49	26	73	178	230

Season	Competition	Round	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
1963–64	European Cup	PR	Dundalk	1–2	3–0	4–2
		1R	Galatasaray	2–0	0–2	2–2
		QF	PSV	3–1	0–1	3–2
		SF	Real Madrid	1–2	0–6	1–8
1966–67	European Cup	1R	Celtic	0–3	0–2	0–5
1967–68	Inter-Cities Fairs Cup	1R	Barcelona	3–1	0–1	3–2
		2R	Nottingham Forest	1–0	1–2	2–2(a)
		3R	Sporting CP	3–0	0–1	3–1
		QF	Dundee	0–1	0–1	0–2
1968–69	European Cup	1R	AB	1–3	1–2	2–5
1969–70	Inter-Cities Fairs Cup	1R	Kilmarnock	3–2	1–3	4–5
1970–71	European Cup Winners' Cup	1R	Knattspyrnufélag Akureyrar	7–0	7–1	14–1
		2R	Club Brugge	3–2	0–2	3–4
1972–73	European Cup Winners' Cup	1R	Wrexham	1–1	1–2	2–3
1973–74	European Cup Winners' Cup	1R	Anderlecht	1–0	2–3	3–3(a)
		2R	Malmö FF	0–0	1–1	1–1(a)
		QF	Sporting CP	1–1	0–3	1–4
1974–75	European Cup	1R	Leeds United	2–1	1–4	3–5
1975–76	European Cup	1R	Újpest	5–1	0–4	5–5(a)
1976–77	European Cup	1R	Rangers	1–0	1–1	2–1
		2R	Turun Palloseura	2–0	1–0	3–0
		QF	Dynamo Dresden	2–1	2–3	4–4(a)
		SF	Liverpool	1–3	0–3	1–6
1977–78	UEFA Cup	1R	CSKA Sofia	1–0	1–1	2–1
		2R	Eintracht Frankfurt	3–4	0–3	3–7
1979–80	UEFA Cup	1R	Kaiserslautern	1–3	1–5	2–8
1981–82	European Cup	1R	Dynamo Berlin	3–1	0–2	3–3(a)
1982–83	UEFA Cup	1R	Pezoporikos Larnaca	1–0	2–2	3–2
		2R	Ferencváros	1–0	1–1	2–1
		3R	Benfica	1–1	0–4	1–5
1983–84	UEFA Cup	1R	Antwerp	2–4	1–4	3–8
1998–99	UEFA Cup	2QR	Shakhtar Donetsk	4–0	2–3	6–3
		1R	Anorthosis Famagusta	4–0	3–2	7–2
		2R	Celtic	4–2	1–1	5–3
		3R	Roma	2–2	0–1	2–3
1999–00	UEFA Cup	QR	Sliema Wanderers	1–0	3–0	4–0
		1R	Lierse	4–3	1–0	5–3
		2R	Newcastle United	1–2	1–3	2–5
2000–01	UEFA Cup	1R	Genk	1–2	0–2	1–4
2005–06	UEFA Cup	2QR	Legia Warsaw	4–1	1–0	5–1
		1R	Brøndby	2–1	0–2	2–3
2006–07	UEFA Champions League	2QR	Red Bull Salzburg	2–1	0–2	2–3
2007–08	UEFA Champions League	3QR	Beşiktaş	1–1	0–2	1–3
	UEFA Cup	1R	Empoli	3–0	1–2	4–2
		Group E	Sparta Prague	N/A	2–1	3rd
			Toulouse	2–0	N/A
			Spartak Moscow	N/A	0–1
			Bayer Leverkusen	0–5	N/A
		R32	Hamburg	1–3	0–0	1–3
2008–09	UEFA Cup	2QR	Sturm Graz	1–1	1–1	2–2 (4–2 p)
		1R	Milan	0–1	1–3	1–4
2009–10	UEFA Champions League	3QR	Maribor	2–3	3–0	5–3
		PO	Ventspils	2–1	3–0	5–1
		Group C	Real Madrid	2–5	0–1	4th
			Milan	1–1	1–0
			Marseille	0–1	1–6
2011–12	UEFA Champions League	3QR	Standard Liège	1–0	1–1	2–1
		PO	Bayern Munich	0–1	0–2	0–3
	UEFA Europa League	Group D	Sporting CP	0–2	0–2	4th
			Vaslui	2–0	2–2
			Lazio	1–1	0–1
2013–14	UEFA Europa League	3QR	Slovan Liberec	1–2	1–2	2–4
2014–15	UEFA Europa League	PO	Spartak Trnava	1–1	3–1	4–2
		Group A	Apollon Limassol	3–1	2–3	3rd
			Borussia Mönchengladbach	1–1	0–3
			Villareal CF	3–2	1–4
2015–16	UEFA Europa League	3QR	Dinamo Minsk	0–1	1–1	1–2
2016–17	UEFA Europa League	Group L	Villareal CF	1–1	1–2	3rd
			Steaua București	0–0	1–1
			Osmanlıspor	2–1	0–2
2018–19	UEFA Europa League	Group A	Bayer Leverkusen	3–2	0–1	2nd
			Ludogorets Razgrad	1–0	1–1
			AEK Larnaca	1–2	1–0
		R32	Napoli	1–3	0–2	1–5

References

1. "Biography on fcwinterthur1896.com". fcwinterthur1896.com. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
2. "Erinnerung an unser erstes Matsch". fcz.ch. Retrieved 8 February 2019.
3. "Erinnerung an unser erstes Matsch". fcz.ch. Retrieved 8 February 2019.
4. Lütscher, Michael (2010). Eine Stadt, ein Verein, eine Geschichte. Verlag Neue Zürcher Zeitung. p. 47. ISBN 9783038236436.
5. "Schweiz " Super League " Zuschauer". weltfussball.at. Retrieved 8 September 2016.
6. "Zuschauerzahlen Super League". sfl.ch. Retrieved 8 September 2016.
7. "COVID-19 outbreak: Swiss Super League to admit 1,000 fans". coliseum-online.com. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
8. "Hall of Fame (Auswahl des FCZ-Museums)". dbfcz.ch. dbfcz. Retrieved 15 March 2016.
9. "Top 10 Einsätze für den FCZ". dbfcz.ch. dbfcz. Retrieved 15 May 2017.
10. "Top 10 Tore für den FCZ". dbfcz.ch. dbfcz. Retrieved 15 May 2017.

External links

• FC Zürich stats (in German)
• Archive FC Zürich (in German)