Fussballclub Zürich, commonly abbreviated toFC Zürich or simplyFCZ, is a professionalfootball club based inZurich, Switzerland. The club was founded in 1896 and has won the Swiss Super League thirteen 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 theLetzigrund, which has a capacity of around 26,000 for league games[1] and which it shares with city rivalsGrasshopper Club Zurich.
FC Zürich is the only Swiss team to have reached the semi-finals of theEuropean 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 wasJoan Gamper, who grew up in Zurich and later moved toCatalonia, foundingBarcelona there in 1899. Since the 1960s, FC Zürich plays in all-white, which is one of the city's colours.
The women's club,FC Zürich Frauen, are competing in theSwiss Women's Super League. They are the most successful club in Switzerland with 22 championship titles and multipleChampions League participations. The team's roots originate from the first Swiss women's football club, DFC Zürich.[2]
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 laterBarcelona founderJoan Gamper, who coached and played 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 Zurich againstSt. Gallen, which resulted in a 3–3 draw.[4] In 1898, FC Excelsior merged with FC Zürich, and local club FC Victoria joined shortly thereafter.
The debut game was in 1896 with the colours blue and white.[5] The colours were changed to red and white because rivalsGrasshopper Club Zurich had the same colours. When Grasshoppers temporarily retired from the championship in1909, FCZ returned to the colors blue and white, which they continue to use.[6] Zürich won its first title in theSwiss Serie A in1901–02, but did not win it again until1923–24.
Until the 1930s, the club's sporting remit includedrowing,boxing,athletics andhandball, 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 in1933–34, playing in the1. Liga until the 1941 season. In 1940–41, they returned to theNationalliga, where they stayed until their relegation in1945–46. They were back in the Nationalliga A in1947–48 and stayed in the top flight until relegated in1956–57. They were promoted from theNationalliga B to contest the1958–59 Nationalliga A, finishing in third place.
Following the club'sleague title in 1981, the club went into a decline, and in1988 they were relegated to theNationalliga B. Zürich returned to the top league in 1990. The club did make it to last 16 of theUEFA Cup 1998–99, but were beaten byRoma. The club won the Swiss Cup in2000, beatingLausanne in the final. They won it again in2005, beatingLuzern.
On 13 May 2006, FCZ ended their 25-year effort to win Super League with a goal in the 93rd minute byIulian Filipescu againstBasel. The goal gave FCZ a 2–1 victory based ongoal difference. They retained the title in2006–07.
In 2008, the local women's team, FFC Zürich Seebach, was combined with FC Zürich and played in theSwiss national league under the nameFC Zürich Frauen.
In the2007–08 season, FCZ finished in third place. In a2008–09 season match, they edged pastYoung Boys to win the league title. In 2009, they made their debut play in the group stage of theUEFA Champions League. In the2010–11 season, FCZ finished second. The following seasons, they finished mostly in mid-table positions. FCZ won theSwiss Cup 2014 in extra time against Basel 2–0.
In the2021–2022 season, FC Zürich won the Super League again after an interruption of thirteen years. The club secured its thirteenth league title with a 2–0 away win overBasel, who finished second, with five rounds to go. Despite this success, coachAndré Breitenreiter departed the club to joinBundesliga sideTSG Hoffenheim.[11] On 8 June 2022, former Austrian national coachFranco Foda was announced as the coach for the upcoming season.[12] Despite being able to guide Zürich into theEuropa League group stages, thedomestic campaign saw the side gain only two points out of a possible 24 in their title defence. The league form, combined with a shock cup defeat to Challenge League sideLausanne on 18 September, proved the final straw and Foda was sacked on 21 September.[13]
In 2024,Ricardo Moniz was appointed head coach on a two-year contract.[14] He was dismissed on 27 May 2025.[15] He was replaced four days later byMitchell van der Gaag.[16] Van der Gaag was sacked on 23 October, with club president Ancillo Canepa stating that he felt the team had "become stagnant".[17]
Grasshoppers, also from Zürich, andBasel are the main rivals of FCZ. Due to the intense rivalry, these matches are so-called high-risk fixtures, with an increasedpolice presence in and around the stadium.
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 theSwiss Super League in 2003, FCZ has frequently got the better of their city rivals, winning 33 out of 68 games (GC won 20 and 15 draws).
TheOctober 2011 derby at Letzigrund was abandoned by the referee after rioting by FC Zürich fans. Earlier in the day, Grasshopper Club Zurich fans stole FC Zürich fan banners and displayed them with a message mocking FC Zürich.[18]
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 atSt. 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 toIulian Filipescu, who scored. Zürich's success at 2–1 was attributed to their superiorgoal 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 ofHirzenbach, 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.[19]
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
