Anglo-American Club Zürich (also Anglo-American F.C. Zürich) was a Swiss football club based in

Zürich Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...

, who are known for being the winners of the first official national football championship (then Serie A) in 1899. The team composed mainly of a group of English-speaking students of the

chemical engineering Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials int ...

department at the Federal Polytechnic School. Their home ground was located at the ''Allmend'', which used to be a meadow in what is now Oerlikon.

History

The club shared close ties with the homonymous

rowing Rowing is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using the sweeping motions of oars to displace water and generate reactional propulsion. Rowing is functionally similar to paddling, but rowing requires oars to be mechanically atta ...

team, who consisted of

expat An expatriate (often shortened to expat) is a person who resides outside their native country. In common usage, the term often refers to educated professionals, skilled workers, or artists taking positions outside their home country, either ...

students from the same school and were attested as early as 1872. It is them the former borrowed their black-red color scheme from. While it is unclear when the football club emerged, some estimates place their founding year in the 1880s. In any case, their earliest attested game was played against Grasshopper Club in 1886. Anglo American Club Zürich in 1899

They competed in the inaugural 1898–99 Swiss Serie A season organized by the

Swiss Football Association The Swiss Football Association (german: Schweizerischer Fussballverband, french: Association Suisse de Football, it, Associazione Svizzera di Football/Calcio, rm, Associaziun Svizra da Ballape) is the governing body of football in Switzerland ...

(which several members were also part of), where they were crowned champions after beating

Old Boys Basel Basler Sportclub Old Boys, commonly known as BSC Old Boys, Old Boys Basel or simply Old Boys or when written just OB, is a Swiss sports club based in Basel. The club is mainly known for its football but it also has track, swimming and tennis se ...

7–0 in the finals, winning a prize of 400

francs The franc is any of various units of currency. One franc is typically divided into 100 centimes. The name is said to derive from the Latin inscription ''francorum rex'' (King of the Franks) used on early French coins and until the 18th centu ...

. In the following season, the club struggled with membership numbers due to its nature as a student association, retaining players for a short amount of time. Nevertheless, they finished 3rd in 1899–1900, but were forced to dissolve in 1900 due to the aforementioned shortage of members. Consequently, certain players moved to teams such as

FC Basel Fussball Club Basel 1893, widely known as FC Basel, FCB, or just Basel, is a Swiss football club based in Basel, in the Canton of Basel-Stadt. Formed in 1893, the club has been Swiss national champions 20 times, Swiss Cup winners 13 times, and ...

and

Servette Servette is a district of the city of Geneva, Switzerland. The district's name comes from the Latin word for forest, ''silva'', and means "little forest". Its name alludes to Servette's rural past, before Geneva grew beyond its walls and incorpora ...

, some of whom eventually joined to form the ''Anglo-American'' ''Wanderers'' to compete in the 1903–04 season''.''

Honours

* Swiss Serie A: 1 :: 1899

References

{{Reflist Defunct football clubs in Switzerland Sport in Zürich Association football clubs established in 1884 1884 establishments in Switzerland Association football clubs disestablished in 1900 ETH Zurich