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.[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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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

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).

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

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)}}

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

Players and managers admitted to the FC Zurich Hall of Fame

source:[8]

Players for the Swiss national football team

Players with World Cup appearances for their national teams

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]