Fc Zürich

The club was founded in 1896 and has won the Swiss Super League 13 times and the Swiss Cup ten times. Their most recent titles are the 2022 Swiss Super League and the 2018 Swiss Cup. The club plays its home games at the Letzigrund, which reaches a capacity of 26,000 spectators for league games.

FC Zürich

Full name	Fussballclub Zürich
Nickname(s)	FCZ
Short name	FCZ
Founded	{Bollas}
Ground	Letzigrund
Capacity	26,105
President	Ancillo Canepa
Co-trainers	Murat Ural Umberto Romano
League	Swiss Super League
2022–23	Swiss Super League, 8th of 10
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours
Current season

FC Zürich is the only Swiss team to have reached the semi-finals of the European Cup more than once. This happened in 1964 and 1977, when the competition was played in its original format. FC Zürich co-founder, first captain, and honorary member Joan Gamper, who grew up in Zurich, later moved to Catalonia and founded Barcelona there in 1899. Since the 1960s, FC Zürich plays in all-white, which is one of the city colours, but has been mainly inspired by Real Madrid.

The women's club, FC Zürich Frauen, is the most successful in Switzerland, with 22 championship titles and multiple Champions League participations. The FC Zürich women's teams roots originate in the first Swiss women's football club, DFC Zürich. It features a top-flight team playing in the Swiss Women's Super League, the only existing women's U21 team in Switzerland (competing in the top ranks of second tier Nationalliga B), and U19, U17, U15 and U14 teams. The U17, U15 and U14 teams compete in junior leagues against boys teams.

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 Barcelona founder, Joan Gamper, coaching and playing for FC Excelsior and its successor from 1894 to 1897. The new club played its first game on 30 August 1896 on Velorennbahn Hardau in Zürich against St. Gallen, which resulted in a 3-3 draw. 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. The colors were changed to red and white; rivals Grasshoppers had the same colors. When Grasshoppers temporarily retired from the championship in 1909, FCZ returned to the colors blue and white which they continue to use. 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

 

Zürich struggled to overcome an unsuccessful record and was described as the "wilderness years" from 1925 to 1960. 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 much success internationally in reaching 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

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 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.

In the 2007–08 season, FCZ (men's team) finished in third place. In a 2008–09 season match, they edged pass 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 Basel 2-0.

In the 2015–16 season the club finished last, one point behind 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 Lugano 1-0.

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 fourth. On 27 May 2018 they won the Swiss Cup for the tenth time, beating Young Boys 2-1.

In the 2021–2022 season, FC Zürich won the Super League again after an interruption of 13 years. The club secured its 13th league title with a 2–0 away win over Basel, who finished second, on 1 May 2022 with five rounds to go. Despite this success, coach André Breitenreiter departed the club to join Bundesliga side TSG Hoffenheim on 24 May 2022. On 8 June 2022, former Austrian national coach Franco Foda was announced as the coach for the upcoming season. Despite being able to guide Zürich into the Europa League group stages, an abysmal start to the domestic campaign saw the side gain only two points out of a possible twenty-four in their title defence. The dreadful league form, combined with a shock cup defeat to Challenge League side Lausanne on 18 September, proved the final straw and Foda was subsequently sacked on 21 September.

• Super League/Nationalliga A
  • Champions (13): 1901–02, 1923–24, 1962–63, 1965–66, 1967–68, 1973–74, 1974–75, 1975–76, 1980–81, 2005–06, 2006–07, 2008–09, 2021–22
• Challenge League/Nationalliga B:
  • Winner (4): 1940–41, 1946–47, 1957–58, 2016–17
• 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

 

Grasshoppers, also from Zürich, and 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.^{[citation needed]}

To date, 251 official derbies have been held, with Grasshoppers leading with 121 wins to FC Zurich's 90, leaving 39 draws. However, since the reformation of the Swiss Super League in 2003, FCZ has frequently gotten the better of their city rivals, winning 33 out of 68 games (GC won 20 and 15 draws).

Final vs. Basel, 13 May 2006

Before the last round of the 2005–06 Swiss Super League, Zürich were three points behind 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. 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.

In 2010, the youth and women's teams of the club moved their homebase to the Heerenschürli sport park in the city quarter of Hirzenbach where the academy and women's teams play also their home matches. In June 2022, the club moved with the opening of a newly built "House of FCZ" also their Super League team and offices there in order to have the whole organisation under one roof.

Current squad

As of 8 February 2024

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   BIH Živko Kostadinović 2 DF   SUI Lindrit Kamberi 3 DF   ESP Adrià Guerrero 4 DF   SUI Silvan Wallner 5 DF   SUI Fabio Daprelà 7 MF   SUI Bledian Krasniqi 9 FW   CRO Ivan Santini 10 MF   SUI Antonio Marchesano 11 FW   COD Jonathan Okita 12 MF   NGA Ifeanyi Mathew 16 DF   GER Marc Hornschuh 17 MF   GUI Cheick Condé 18 FW   GHA Daniel Afriyie 19 DF   SRB Nikola Boranijašević 20 FW   SUI Calixte Ligue

No. Pos. Nation Player 22 FW   IRL Armstrong Oko-Flex 23 MF   SUI Fabian Rohner 24 DF   CRO Nikola Katić 25 GK   SUI Yanick Brecher (captain) 26 MF   SUI Miguel Reichmuth 27 DF   POR Rodrigo Conceição 28 DF   SUI Ramon Guzzo 29 FW   SUI Labinot Bajrami 31 DF   KOS Mirlind Kryeziu 32 MF   SUI Selmin Hodza 33 FW   ZAM Joseph Sabobo 37 MF   SUI Nils Reichmuth 40 GK   SUI Alan Omerovic 44 DF   MLI Amadou Danté (on loan from Sturm Graz)

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 — GK   SUI Gianni De Nitti (at Schaffhausen until 30 June 2024) — DF   CUB Fabian Gloor (at Baden until 30 June 2024)

Reserve squad/Zürich U21

As of 14 August 2022
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 1 GK   SUI Robin Riedi 2 DF   SUI Colin Erdin 5 DF   SUI Zlatko Hebib 6 DF   SUI Ardi Morina 7 MF   SUI Mats Hanke 8 MF   SUI Roberto Rodríguez 11 MF   SUI Luka Frei 12 DF   SUI Lenny Janko 13 MF   CRO Mijo Jakovljevic

No. Pos. Nation Player 15 DF   SUI Sven Kunz 20 MF   SRB Mihail Stefanovic 22 MF   SUI Arbër Jusufi 23 MF   SUI Nevio Di Giusto 24 MF   SUI Luka Frei — GK   GER Patrick Zajac — MF   SUI Daniel Denoon — MF   HUN Peter Sebök — FW   SUI Pirosch Fischer

Notable former players

As of 15 March 2016

Players and managers admitted to the FC Zurich Hall of Fame

Players for the Swiss national football team

Players with World Cup appearances for their national teams

Player record

Players in bold are still part of the club.

Most appearances (Swiss League since 1955) # Nat. 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   Marco Schönbächler 292 8   Alain Nef 277 9   Pirmin Stierli 248 10   Heinz Lüdi 244

Top scorers (Swiss League since 1955) # Nat. 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

As of 18 August 2022.

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 Eindhoven	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	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	—	2–1	3rd
			Toulouse	2–0	—
			Spartak Moscow	—	0–1
			Bayer Leverkusen	0–5	—
		R32	Hamburger SV	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
			Villarreal	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	Villarreal	1–1	1–2	3rd
			FCSB	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
2022–23	UEFA Champions League	2QR	Qarabağ	2–2 (a.e.t.)	2–3	4−5
	UEFA Europa League	3QR	Linfield	3–0	2–0	5–0
		PO	Heart of Midlothian	2–1	1–0	3–1
		Group A	Arsenal	1–2	0–1	4th
			Bodø/Glimt	2–1	1–2
			PSV	1–5	5–0