FC United Zürich is a Swiss

Association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

club based in

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

, Switzerland, that competes in the 3. Liga, the seventh tier of Swiss football. Founded in 1985, the club has never played higher than the Third tier.

History

On 1 July 1985, the club was founded by members of the Turkish community in

as FC Fenerbahce Zürich, named after Fenerbahce SK. 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. On 18 March 2010, as part of the rebranding, the club's name was changed from FC Fenerbahce Zürich to FC United Zürich. 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 like Savvas Exouzidis and Thomas Weller at the end of the season the club was third and qualified for the

promotion playoffs Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

. They defeated

FC Stade Lausanne Ouchy FC Stade Lausanne Ouchy, sometimes referred to as SLO, is a Swiss football club based in Ouchy, Lausanne. They will play in the Challenge League from 2024 after relegation from Super League in 2023–24. History The club is the result of a mer ...

to reach the finals but lost 1–3 to

FC La Chaux-de-Fonds FC La Chaux-de-Fonds is a Swiss football club based in La Chaux-de-Fonds. It was founded on 4 July 1894 and used to play at the Stade Charrière. History The team has won the Swiss first division in seasons 1953–54, 1954–55, and 19 ...

. 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 Fussballclub Baden 1897, simply known as FC Baden, is a Swiss football club based in Baden, Canton Aargau, which is a short distance from Zürich. It was founded in 1897. FC Baden has a total of 22 different teams at age levels, including fiv ...

, was announced. Zürich won 2–0 and so were promoted to the third tier, having risen 6 divisions in 7 years. In the resulting mania, the club was linked with signing

Ronaldo Ronaldo is a Portuguese given name equivalent to the English Ronald. It became a common name in all Portuguese-speaking countries, also prevalent in other Romance countries. People Notable people known as Ronaldo include: Association footballe ...

and

Rivaldo Rivaldo Vítor Borba Ferreira (; born 19 April 1972), known simply as Rivaldo, is a Brazilian former footballer who played mainly as an attacking midfielder but also as a second striker, and on occasion deployed as a wide midfielder or as ...

. Neither of which materialized. In December 2016, shortly after promotion, Piero Bauert became the club's president. 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 of

FC Le Mont Football-Club Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, commonly known as FCL Mont LS, is a Swiss football club based in Le Mont-sur-Lausanne. The club currently plays in the 3. Liga The 3. Liga is a professional association football league and the third divisio ...

from the 4th division, removing the second demotion spot. Following this, Bauert resigned and players union SAFP took over. It was a disaster, with double relegations seeing the club down to the 5th tier. 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 to

COVID Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

, the club was sitting bottom of the 2. Liga Interregional but were saved from relegation by the abandonment of the season.

Honours

*4. Liga ::Winners: 2008–09 *3. Liga ::Winners: 2009–10 * 2. Liga ::Winners: 2011–12 * 2. Liga Interregional ::Winners: 2014–15

Season to season

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:United Zurich Football clubs in Switzerland Association football clubs established in 1985 1985 establishments in Switzerland Sport in Zurich