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| Full name | Fussballclub United Zürich | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Founded | 1985; 40 years ago (1985), as FC Fenerbahce Zürich. 2010; 15 years ago (2010), as FC United Zürich. | ||
| Ground | Sportzentrum Buchlern | ||
| Capacity | 1,150 | ||
| President | Ali Gibreil Musa | ||
| Manager | Kustrim Dzaferi | ||
| League | 2. Liga | ||
FC United Zürich is a SwissAssociation football club based inZürich, Switzerland, that competes in the 3. Liga, the seventh tier ofSwiss football. Founded in 1985, the club has never played higher than the Third tier.
On 1 July 1985, the club was founded by members of theTurkish community inZürich as FC Fenerbahce Zürich, named afterFenerbahce SK.[1]
In 2008, while in a relegation battle in the eighth division, the club was brought by Orhan Yilmaz and Bernhard Fanger with the aim of rebuilding the club. And making it more multi-national.[2] On 18 March 2010, as part of the rebranding, the club's name was changed from FC Fenerbahce Zürich to FC United Zürich.[3] Domestically, the club's form improved with consecutive 1st place promotions taking them to the sixth tier. The club very nearly achieved triple promotion, finishing 2nd in their first season.
In 2012 the club achieved promotion to the fifth tier. The club started the 2015–16 season with a strong squad, including former professionals likeSavvas Exouzidis andThomas Weller at the end of the season the club was third and qualified for thepromotion playoffs. They defeatedFC Stade Lausanne Ouchy to reach the finals but lost 1–3 toFC La Chaux-de-Fonds. However, La Chaux went bankrupt and were unable to move up the division, so a single play-off match between Zürich and the other losing finalist,FC Baden, was announced. Zürich won 2–0 and so were promoted to the third tier, having risen 6 divisions in 7 years.[4] In the resulting mania, the club was linked with signingRonaldo andRivaldo. Neither of which materialized.[5]
In December 2016, shortly after promotion, Piero Bauert became the club's president.[6] And made major changes to the team, replacing the coach and much of the squad, The team finished in the relegation zone for in their first season and were only saved by the withdrawal ofFC Le Mont from the 4th division, removing the second demotion spot. Following this, Bauert resigned and players union SAFP took over.[7] It was a disaster, with double relegations seeing the club down to the 5th tier.[8] In 2019, another change of ownership saw Ali Gibreil Musa become the new owner, promising re-establishment. When the 2019–20 season was halted due toCOVID, the club was sitting bottom of the2. Liga Interregional but were saved from relegation by the abandonment of the season.
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