FC Zurich

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 Barcelona founder Joan Gamper, who coached and played for FC Excelsior and its successor from 1894 to 1897. The new club played its first game on 30 August 1896 on Velorennbahn Hardau in Zurich against St. Gallen, which resulted in a 3–3 draw. 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. The colours were changed to red and white because rivals Grasshopper Club Zurich had the same colours. When Grasshoppers temporarily retired from the championship in 1909, FCZ returned to the colors blue and white, which they continue to use. 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.

Zürich struggled to overcome an unsuccessful record and was described as the "wilderness years" from 1925 to 1960. They were relegated in 1933–34, playing in the 1. Liga until 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 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 1976. FCZ also had much success internationally in reaching 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. They won it again in 2005, beating Luzern.

On 13 May 2006, FCZ ended their 25-year effort to win Super League with a goal in the 93rd minute by Iulian Filipescu against Basel. The goal gave FCZ a 2–1 victory based on goal difference. They retained the title in 2006–07.

In 2008, the local women's team, FFC Zürich Seebach, was combined with FC Zürich and played in the Swiss national league under the name FC Zürich Frauen.

In the 2007–08 season, FCZ finished in third place. In a 2008–09 season match, they edged past Young Boys to win the league title. In 2009, they made their debut play in 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 Basel 2–0.

In the 2015–16 season, the club finished last, one point behind 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 Lugano 1–0.

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 fourth. On 27 May 2018, they won the Swiss Cup for the tenth time, beating Young Boys 2–1.

In the 2021–2022 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 over Basel, who finished second, with five rounds to go. Despite this success, coach André Breitenreiter departed the club to join Bundesliga side TSG Hoffenheim. On 8 June 2022, former Austrian national coach Franco Foda was announced as the coach for the upcoming season. Despite being able to guide Zürich into the Europa League group stages, the domestic 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 side Lausanne on 18 September, proved the final straw and Foda was sacked on 21 September.

In 2024, Ricardo Moniz was appointed head coach on a two-year contract. He was dismissed on 27 May 2025. He was replaced four days later by Mitchell van der Gaag.