FC Zürich

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.[3] 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.[4] 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.[5] 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.[6] 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.

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

Zürich struggled to overcome an unsuccessful record and was described as the "wilderness years" from 1925 to 1960.[7] 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 FC 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 1899 Hoffenheim on 24 May 2022.[11] On 8 June 2022, former Austrian national coach Franco Foda was announced as the coach for the upcoming season.[12] 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.[13]

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 Grasshopper 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).

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.

As of 7 September 2023[15]

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 8 MF  ISR Arad Bar 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

No. Pos. Nation Player 19 DF  SRB Nikola Boranijašević 20 FW  SUI Calixte Ligue 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 MF  SUI Ramon Guzzo 29 FW  SUI Labinot Bajrami 31 DF  KOS Mirlind Kryeziu 32 MF  SUI Selmin Hodza 37 MF  SUI Nils Reichmuth 40 GK  SUI Alan Omerovic

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)

As of 14 August 2022[16]
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 14 DF  SUI Fabian Gloor

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

As of 15 March 2016[17]

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

Players in bold are still part of the club.

Most appearances[18] (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[19] (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