FC Zürich

Fussballclub Zürich, commonly abbreviated to FC Zürich or simply FCZ, is a Swiss professional football club based in 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 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.

Honours

 * 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
 * runner-up (9): 1902–03, 1910–11, 1931–32, 1951–52, 1963–64, 1966–67, 1971–72, 1978–79, 2010–11,
 * Challenge League/Nationalliga B:
 * Winner (4): 1940–41, 1946–47, 1957–58, 2016–17
 * runner-up (2): 1988–89, 1989–90,
 * Swiss Cup
 * Winners (10): 1965–66, 1969–70, 1971–72, 1972–73, 1975–76, 1999–2000, 2004–05, 2013–14, 2015–16, 2017–18
 * runner-up (1): 1980–81,
 * Swiss League Cup
 * Winners: 1980–81
 * runner-up: 1974–75, 1975–76,
 * European Cup/UEFA Champions League
 * Semi-finalists: 1963–64, 1976–77

Rivalries


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.

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).

The October 2011 derby at Letzigrund was abandoned by the referee after rioting by FC Zürich fans. Earlier in the day, Grasshopper Club Zürich fans stole FC Zürich fan banners and displayed them with a message mocking FC Zürich.

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.

Infrastructure
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.

Reserve squad/Zürich U21
The Zürich II/U21 team plays in the Swiss Promotion League.

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

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 Mihaylov
 * 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 record
Players in bold are still part of the club.

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 October 2020 – 23 December 2020)
 * Massimo Rizzo (24 December 2020 – 30 June 2021)
 * 🇩🇪 André Breitenreiter (1 July 2021 – 24 May 2022)
 * 🇩🇪 Franco Foda (9 June 2022 – 21 September 2022)
 * Genesio Colatrella (interim) (22 September 2022 – 10 October 2022)
 * Bo Henriksen (11 October 2022 – 13 February 2024)
 * Murat Ural and Umberto Romano (interim co-trainers) (13 February 2024 – 22 April 2024)
 * Ricardo Moniz (22 April 2024 – present)

FC Zürich in European football
As of 18 August 2022.