Grasshopper Club Zürich

Grasshopper Club Zürich, commonly referred to as simply GC, GCZ, or Grasshoppers, is a multisports club based in Zürich, Switzerland. The oldest and best known department of the club is its football team. With 27 titles, Grasshopper holds the records for winning the most national championships and the Swiss Cups, 19 trophies in the latter.[1] The club is the oldest football team in Zürich and maintains a substantial rivalry with FC Zürich.[2]

Grasshopper Club Zürich

Full name	Grasshopper Club Zürich
Nickname(s)	GC, GCZ, Grasshoppers, Stadtclub
Founded	1 September 1886
Ground	Letzigrund
Capacity	17,666
Chairman	Sky Sun
Manager	João Carlos Pereira
League	Swiss Challenge League
2019–20	3rd
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours

The origin of Grasshopper's name is unknown, although the most common explanation refers to its early players' energetic post-goal celebrations and that their style of play was nimble and energetic.[3]

After a number of appearances in European Cups and the UEFA Champions League, Grasshopper has become one of Switzerland's most recognizable football clubs. Today, in addition to its main football squad, the club has competitive professional and youth teams in rowing, ice hockey, handball, lawn tennis, court tennis, field hockey, curling, basketball, rugby, squash, floorball and beach soccer.[4]

History

Chart of GCZ table positions in the Swiss football league system

Before 1920: Foundation and first championship wins

Grasshopper was founded on 1 September 1886 by Tom E. Griffith, an English student. Using a 20 Swiss franc donation, the club acquired an English football shirt in blue and white colours (as worn by Blackburn Rovers). The English students were from Manchester Grammar School in Manchester. Arthur J. Finck was one of the students who was part of the group that founded the club. Its first match came in October that year against ETH and ended in a goalless draw. In 1893, Grasshopper became the first Swiss team to play in (what was then) Germany, defeating Strasbourg 1–0.

The first Swiss championships (then called "Serie A") were held in 1897–98 and were won by Grasshopper, as was the first championship played using a league system in 1899–00.[5] After two more titles in 1901 and 1905, Grasshopper had to withdraw from the Swiss championships in 1909 because they lacked a suitable playing ground. They rejoined in 1916.

1920s: Dori Kürschner era

After rejoining the Swiss championship in 1916, GC won their fifth championship in 1921. In 1925 started the era of the Hungarian manager Izidor "Dori" Kürschner, a former member of the coaching staff of the Swiss national team that won the silver medal at the 1924 Olympics. Under Kürschner in the 1920s, Grasshopper won the championship twice (in 1927 and 1928) and also the first two editions of the Swiss Cup in 1925–26 and in 1926–27.

1930s: Beginning of Karl Rappan era

Dori Kürschner stayed with Grasshopper until 1934, winning another championship in 1931 and two more Swiss Cups in 1932 and 1934. Then started the era of Austrian coach Karl Rappan who managed also the Swiss national team for several years during that time. The first title under Rappan came in 1937 and the second one in 1939. They also won the Swiss Cup in 1937 and 1938.

1940s: More titles during World War II

Despite the turmoils of World War II the Swiss championships were held during the 1940s with the Grasshoppers winning in 1942, 1943 and 1945. Until Karl Rappan left the team in 1948, the team also won another five Cups (in 1940, 1941, 1942, 1943 and 1946).

1950s: Last successes for a long time

In 1952, Grasshopper won their 14th Swiss championship title and their 12th Swiss Cup. They managed to win the double again in 1956, but it turned out to be their last silverware for a long time, as they had to wait for 15 years until their next championship and for 27 years until their next Cup win. In 1956–57 Grasshopper participated for the first time in the European Cup which was founded in the previous season. They reached the quarter-finals where they were eliminated by Fiorentina.

Matches in European competitions in the 1950s:[6]

Season	Competition	Round	Opponent	Home	Away	Series
1956–57	European Cup	R1	Slovan UNV Bratislava	2–0	0–1	2–1
		QF	Fiorentina	2–2	1–3	3–5

1960s: No titles

During the 1960s, Grasshopper won no championships and no Cups. The best result was a second place in 1968, which qualified them to play in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, the predecessor of the UEFA Cup. However they had no success at European level either, and they were eliminated in the first round.

Matches in European competitions in the 1960s:[6]

Season	Competition	Round	Opponent	Home	Away	Series
1968–69	Inter-Cities Fairs Cup	R1	Napoli	1–0	1–3	2–3

1970s: Return to success and UEFA Cup semi-final

In 1971, Grasshopper finally returned to the top of the Swiss league. After the end of the season, GC and FC Basel were tied at the top of the table and thus a play-off match was played in Bern. In front of 51,000 spectators, GC defeated Basel 4–3 after extra time to win their 16th championship. Throughout the decade Grasshopper was among the best Swiss teams. Their next championship win came in 1978.

Thanks to their top finishes in the league, GC was able to play in European competitions almost every year. In 1978–79 they defeated Real Madrid in the second round of the European Cup, but lost the quarter-final against the eventual winner, Nottingham Forest. But their biggest European success to date came in the 1977–78 UEFA Cup where they reached the semi-final against French side Bastia. After a 3–2 win at home, they traveled to Corsica for the second leg but lost 0–1 and were eliminated due to the away goal rule.

Matches in European competitions in the 1970s:[6]

Season	Competition	Round	Opponent	Home	Away	Series
1970–71	Inter-Cities Fairs Cup	R1	Dundee United	0–0	2–3	2–3
1971–72	European Cup	R1	Reipas Lahti	8–0	1–1	9–1
		R2	Arsenal	0–2	0–3	0–5
1972–73	UEFA Cup	R1	Nîmes	2–1	2–1	4–2
		R2	Ararat Yerevan	1–3	2–4	3–7
1973–74	UEFA Cup	R1	Tottenham Hotspur	1–5	1–4	2–9
1974–75	UEFA Cup	R1	Panathinaikos	2–0	1–2	3–2
		R2	Real Zaragoza	2–1	0–5	2–6
1975–76	UEFA Cup	R1	Real Sociedad	3–3	1–1	4–4 (a)
1976–77	UEFA Cup	R1	Hibernians	7–0	2–0	9–0
		R2	Köln	2–3	0–2	2–5
1977–78	UEFA Cup	R1	BK Frem	6–1	2–0	8–1
		R2	TJ Internacionál	5–1	0–1	5–2
		R3	Dinamo Tbilisi	4–0	0–1	4–1
		QF	Eintracht Frankfurt	1–0	2–3	3–3 (a)
		SF	Bastia	3–2	0–1	3–3 (a)
1978–79	European Cup	R1	Valletta	8–0	5–3	13–3
		R2	Real Madrid	2–0	1–3	3–3 (a)
		QF	Nottingham Forest	1–1	1–4	2–4
1979–80	UEFA Cup	R1	Progrès Niedercorn	4–0	2–0	6–0
		R2	Ipswich Town	0–0	1–1	1–1 (a)
		R3	Stuttgart	0–2	0–3	0–5

1980s: Hat tricks

The 1980s were a successful decade for Grasshopper. In the years 1982, 1983 and 1984, GC won the championship three times in a row, achieving the "title hat trick". In all three seasons, Servette from Geneva was their strongest rival, and in 1984 a championship-deciding game had to be staged in Bern because the two teams were equal on points after the regular season. GC won that match 1–0 by a converted penalty kick by Andy Egli in the 104th minute.

Grasshopper were also successful in the Cup competition: after winning in 1983 they also achieved a hattrick in the Cup, winning in 1988, 1989 and 1990. The last two of those wins were achieved with German manager Ottmar Hitzfeld. A notable success in European competitions came in 1980–81 UEFA Cup when GC reached the quarter-finals, but then were eliminated by French side Sochaux.

Matches in European competitions in the 1980s:[6]

Season	Competition	Round	Opponent	Home	Away	Series
1980–81	UEFA Cup	R1	KB	3–1	5–2	8–3
		R2	Porto	3–0 (aet)	0–2	3–2
		R3	Torino	2–1	1–2	3–3 (p)
		QF	Sochaux	0–0	1–2	1–2
1981–82	UEFA Cup	R1	West Bromwich Albion	1–1	3–1	4–1
		R2	Radnički Niš	2–0	0–2	2–2 (p)
1982–83	European Cup	R1	Dynamo Kyiv	0–1	0–3	0–4
1983–84	European Cup	R1	Dinamo Minsk	2–2	0–1	2–3
1984–85	European Cup	R1	Budapest Honvéd	3–1	1–2	4–3
		R2	Juventus	2–4	0–2	2–6
1987–88	UEFA Cup	R1	Dynamo Moscow	0–4	0–1	0–5
1988–89	Cup Winners' Cup	R1	Eintracht Frankfurt	0–0	0–1	0–1
1989–90	Cup Winners' Cup	R1	Slovan Bratislava	0–3	4–0 (aet)	4–3
		R2	Torpedo Moscow	3–0	1–1	4–1
		QF	Sampdoria	0–2	1–2	1–4

1990s: Champions League

In 1995–96 Grasshoppers became the first Swiss team to play in the UEFA Champions League. After defeating Maccabi Tel Aviv to qualify, they played in group D against Ajax, Real Madrid and Ferencváros. They won no matches but achieved two draws, one against Ajax and one against Ferencváros.

In the following year, Grasshoppers qualified a second time for the Champions League, this time after defeating Slavia Prague. In group A with opponents Auxerre, Glasgow Rangers and again AFC Ajax, a more positive result was achieved. After home wins over Rangers and Auxerre and an away win at Ajax, a draw in the last game at home against Ajax would have secured qualification for the quarter finals. However, the game was lost 0–1 and Ajax advanced instead.

2000s: Incorporation

With title wins in 2000–01 and 2002–03, the first decade of the 21st century started well, but since then no further successes were achieved. In 1997, Grasshopper incorporated and as of May 2005, it is formally organized as Neue Grasshopper Fussball AG. In doing so, Grasshopper became the first Swiss sports club to go public.[7]

On 20 May 2013, Grasshopper ended a ten-year trophy drought with a penalty shoot-out victory over FC Basel in the Swiss Cup final at the Stade de Suisse in Bern.[8] With a second-place finish in the 2012–13 Swiss Super League campaign, Grasshopper qualified for the Champions League for the first time in a decade, entering the competition at the third qualifying round.[9]

However the club entered a period of decline after their last championship in 2003. In 2011 they would likely have been relegated except for Sion's 36-point deduction and Neuchatel Xamax's expulsion from the league in January, and eight years later, in 2019, Grasshopper were relegated to the second division for the first time in 68 years.[10] The 2019 season included two abandoned matches due to Grasshopper fan behaviour.[11]

Matches in European competitions since 2002:[6]

Season	Competition	Round	Opponent	Home	Away	Series
2002–03	UEFA Cup	R1	Zenit St. Petersburg	3–1	1–2	4–3
		R2	PAOK	1–1	1–2	2–3
2003–04	UEFA Champions League	Q3	AEK Athens	1–0	1–3	2–3
	UEFA Cup	R1	Hajduk Split	1–1	0–0	1–1 (a)
2005–06	UEFA Cup	Q2	Wisła Płock	1–0	2–3	3–3 (a)
		R1	MYPA	1–1	3–0	4–1
		Group	Middlesbrough	0–1		5th place
			Litex Lovech		1–2
			Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	2–3
			AZ		0–1
2006–07	UEFA Cup	Q2	Videoton	2–0	1–1	3–1
		R1	Åtvidabergs	5–0	3–0	8–0
		Group	AZ	2–5		5th place
			Slovan Liberec		1–4
			Sevilla	0–4
			Braga		0–2
2008–09	UEFA Cup	Q2	Lech Poznań	0–0	0–6	0–6
2010–11	UEFA Europa League	Play-off	Steaua București	1–0	0–1	1–1 (p)
2013–14	UEFA Champions League	Q3	Lyon	0–1	0–1	0–2
2013–14	UEFA Europa League	Play-off	Fiorentina	1–2	1–0	2–2 (a)
2014–15	UEFA Champions League	Q3	Lille	0–2	1–1	1–3
2014–15	UEFA Europa League	Play-off	Club Brugge	1–2	0–1	1–3
2016–17	UEFA Europa League	Q2	KR	2–1	3–3	5–4
		Q3	Apollon Limassol	2–1	3–3	5–4
		Play-off	Fenerbahçe	0–2	0–3	0–5

Stadium and grounds

Since September 2007, Grasshopper-Club Zürich has played all of its home matches in the Letzigrund stadium which is the regular home ground of FC Zürich. After the completion of the new Stadion Zürich (currently in planning stage), both teams are expected to play there.

From 1929 to 2007, Grasshopper had their own home ground in the Hardturm stadium. Before 1929, home matches were played at various other venues.

Training facilities are located in Niederhasli, where in 2005 the club opened a comprehensive facility including five practice pitches, apartments for youth players and offices.

Honours

• Swiss Championship
  • Winners (27): 1897–98, 1899–00, 1900–01, 1904–05, 1920–21, 1926–27, 1927–28, 1930–31, 1936–37, 1938–39, 1941–42, 1942–43, 1944–45, 1951–52, 1955–56, 1970–71, 1977–78, 1981–82, 1982–83, 1983–84, 1989–90, 1990–91, 1994–95, 1995–96, 1997–98, 2000–01, 2002–03
• Swiss Cup
  • Winners (19): 1925–26, 1926–27, 1931–32, 1933–34, 1936–37, 1937–38, 1939–40, 1940–41, 1941–42, 1942–43, 1945–46, 1951–52, 1955–56, 1982–83, 1987–88, 1988–89, 1989–90, 1993–94, 2012–13
• Swiss League Cup
  • Winners (2): 1973, 1975
• Swiss Super Cup
  • Winners (1): 1989

Players

Current squad

As of 22 January 2021[12]

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 Mirko Salvi 2 DF  DEN Oskar Buur (on loan from Wolverhampton) 3 FW  BRA Léo Bonatini (on loan from Wolverhampton) 4 DF  POR Miguel Nóbrega 5 DF  SRB Aleksandar Cvetković 7 FW   SUI Oscar Correia 8 MF  POR André Santos 9 FW  KVX Shkelqim Demhasaj 10 MF   SUI Petar Pusic 11 FW  NED Hicham Acheffay 14 MF  IRL Connor Ronan (on loan from Wolverhampton) 17 FW  POR Cristian Ponde 21 MF   SUI Ming-yang Yang 22 DF  GNB Nadjack

No. Pos. Nation Player 23 MF  MKD Nikola Gjorgjev 24 DF  POR Tote Gomes (on loan from Wolverhampton) 27 GK   SUI Mateo Matić 30 MF  POR Nuno Henrique (on loan from Chievo) 31 DF   SUI Dominik Schmid 33 MF   SUI Giotto Morandi 34 DF   SUI Allan Arigoni 36 GK   SUI Marvin Keller 44 DF   SUI Elias Mesonero 47 MF   SUI Fabio Fehr 48 MF  GER Robin Kalem 57 GK   SUI Matthias Minder 89 DF  ALB Ermir Lenjani

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 29 MF  FRA Djibril Diani (at Livingston until 30 June 2021) — DF   SUI Baba Souare (at Kriens until 30 June 2021) — MF   SUI Amel Rustemoski (at Kriens until 30 June 2021)

U21 squad

As of 19 February 2020[12]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player — GK  CIV Kader Abubakar — GK  GRE Kosta Makripodis — GK   SUI David Schiesser — DF  KVX Mersim Asllani — DF   SUI Yacine Benbiri — DF   SUI Andri Hadorn — DF   SUI Florian Hoxha — DF  IND Armaan Kalra — DF   SUI Mihailo Mijatovic — DF   SUI Arber Sacipi

No. Pos. Nation Player — DF   SUI Mile Vukelic — MF  KVX Miralem Amzi — MF  FRA David Moke — MF   SUI Elmin Rastoder — MF   SUI Yannick Scheidegger — MF   SUI Simon Tschopp — FW   SUI Metin Bahtiyari — FW  NGA Momoh Francis — FW   SUI Leonardo Uka

Notable former players

Players for the Swiss national football team

Alfred "Fredy" Bickel Thomas Bickel Stéphane Chapuisat Patrick de Napoli Ricardo Cabanas Diego Benaglio Christoph Spycher

Christian Gross Marcel Koller Stephan Lichtsteiner Patrick Müller Boris Smiljanić Roman Bürki Pajtim Kasami

Ciriaco Sforza Alain Sutter Kubilay Türkyilmaz Johann Vogel Eldin Jakupović Blaise Nkufo Yann Sommer

Hakan Yakin Murat Yakin Reto Ziegler Raimondo Ponte Claudio Sulser Stéphane Grichting Haris Seferović Philippe Senderos

Players with World Cup appearances for their national teams

Kurt Jara Izet Hajrović Senad Lulić Günter Netzer Daniel Davari

Vittorio Pozzo Wynton Rufer Efan Ekoku Femi Opabunmi Franco Navarro

Tomasz Rząsa Viorel Moldovan Tosh McKinlay Papa Bouba Diop

Henri Camara Ove Grahn Mats Gren Kim Källström

Coaching staff

Current coaching staff

Position	Name	Since
Manager	João Carlos Pereira	2020
Assistant manager	Zoltán Kádár	2019
Assistant manager	Gilberto Freitas	2020
Assistant manager	João Gião	2020
Assistant manager	Lino Godinho	2020
Assistant manager	Bruno Ferreira	2020
Assistant manager	Christoph Born	2011
Doctor	Arya Pradana	2017

Managers since 1925

• Izidor "Dori" Kürschner (1925–34)
• Karl Rappan (1935–48)
• Gerhard "Hardy" Walter (1948–50)
• Willi Treml (1950–55)
• Willi Hahnemann (1955–58)
• Svetislav Glišović (1958)
• Antun Pogačnik and Alfred "Fredy" Bickel (1958–60)
• Branislav Vukosavljević (1960–63)
• Alfred "Fredy" Bickel (1963–64)
• Albert Sing (1964–66)
• Walter Brunner and Werner Schley (1966–67)
• Henri Skiba (1967–69)
• Walter Brunner and Werner Schley (1969–70)
• René Hüssy (1970–73)
• Erich Vogel and István Szabó (1973–76)
• Helmuth Johannsen (1 July 1976 – 30 June 1979)
• Jürgen Sundermann (1 July 1979 – 30 June 1980)
• Friedhelm Konietzka (1980–82)
• Hennes Weisweiler (1 July 1982 – 5 July 1983)
• Miroslav Blažević (1983 – 30 June 1985)
• Friedhelm Konietzka (1985–86)
• Kurt Jara (1 November 1986 – 30 June 1988)
• Ottmar Hitzfeld (1 July 1988 – 30 June 1991)
• Oldrich Svab (1991–92)
• Leo Beenhakker (1 July 1992 – 30 June 1993)
• Christian Gross (1 July 1993 – 23 November 1997)
• Hanspeter Latour (interim) (1997)
• Rolf Fringer (1 January 1998 – 17 December 1998)
• Roger Hegi (1 January 1999 – 1 August 1999)
• Roy Hodgson (1 July 1999 – 30 June 2000)
• Piet Hamberg (interim) (2000)
• Hanspeter Zaugg (22 June 2000 – 8 January 2002)
• Marcel Koller (1 January 2002 – 2 October 2003)
• Carlos Bernegger (interim) (3 October 2003 – 22 December 2003)
• Alain Geiger (23 December 2003 – 4 October 2004)
• Carlos Bernegger (interim) (4 October 2004 – 31 December 2004)
• Krassimir Balakov (16 January 2006 – 21 May 2007)
• Carlos Bernegger (interim) (2007)
• Hanspeter Latour (1 July 2007 – 30 June 2009)
• Ciriaco Sforza (1 July 2009 – 15 April 2012)
• Uli Forte (16 April 2012 – 30 June 2013)
• Michael Skibbe (1 July 2013 – 8 January 2015)
• Pierluigi Tami (15 January 2015 – 12 March 2017)
• Carlos Bernegger (12 March 2017 – 24 August 2017)
• Murat Yakin (28 August 2017 – 10 April 2018)
• Mathias Walther (10 April 2018 – 23 April 2018) (caretaker)
• Thorsten Fink (23 April 2018 – 4 March 2019)
• Tomislav Stipic (6 March 2019 – 9 April 2019)
• Uli Forte (9 April 2019 – 7 February 2020)
• Goran Djuricin (10 February 2020 – 15 May 2020)
• Zoltán Kádár (15 May 2020 – 5 August 2020) (caretaker)
• João Carlos Pereira (6 August 2020 – )

References

1. "Vilotić seals Swiss Cup success for Grasshoppers". UEFA. 20 May 2013. Retrieved 9 June 2013.
2. "The great Zurich divide". FIFA. Retrieved 9 June 2013.
3. "GESCHICHTE DES GRASSHOPPER CLUB ZÜRICH". GCZ. Retrieved 9 June 2013.
4. "Sektionen". GCZ. Retrieved 9 June 2013.
5. "Grasshopper Club Zürich". FIFA. Retrieved 9 June 2013.
6. "Search UEFA European Cup Matches".
7. "White Papers – Resource Library". TechRepublic.
8. "Soccer-Grasshoppers win Swiss Cup, end 10-year trophy drought". Reuters. 20 May 2013. Retrieved 9 June 2013.
9. "Soccer-Basel on verge of fourth successive title, Servette down". Reuters. 29 May 2013. Retrieved 9 June 2013.
10. Homewood, Brian (16 May 2019). "Relegation completes demise of most successful Swiss club". Reuters. Retrieved 27 June 2019.
11. Reidy, Paul (13 May 2019). "Relegated Grasshopper fans demand players surrender shirts". as.com.
12. Zürich, Grasshopper Club. "Kader – Grasshopper Club Zürich". www.gcz.ch.

External links

Fan sites

• GCZForum – Bulletin Board (Forum) for Fans of GCZ (in German)
• GCZone – Fansite of GCZ (in German)
• Grassmokers – Oldest unofficial fanclub of GCZ (in German)
• Main fan page with organisation for away games (in German)