Grasshopper Club Zürich is the most successfull football club in Switzerland. It is one of the oldest clubs in Switzerland and in fact Europe, it was founded by an english student in 1886. The club is based in Zurich and plays in the highest Swiss league, the AXPO Super League.

Of the 27 Swiss league titles the last was won in 2003.http://www.gcz.ch/club/geschichte-erfolge/palmares.html Currently the club is fighting severe financial difficulties and is looking for new investors, if the situation is not solved the club may be relegated.http://www.turkishweekly.net/news/88338/-fc-grasshopper-face-bounce-out-of-top-flight.html

• 1886: Foundation

• 1898: First ever Swiss champions

• 1909 - 1916: Club stepped out of the Swiss Football Federation

• 1926: First ever Swiss cup winners

• 1978: UEFA Cup semi final (lost to SC Bastia)

• 1982: UEFA Cup quarter final (lost to FC Sochaux)

• 1996/1997: UEFA Champions League 9 points in group stage

• 2003: Last Swiss champion title

After its foundation in 1886 Grasshopper Club Zurich (GCZ) played its first game against ETH University in Zurich. The game ended 0-0. However the first ever Swiss Championship was more successful, as GCZ won the league and became the first Swiss champion in 1898. Until 2003, 26 more Swiss titles would follow. In 1926 GCZ won the first of its 18 Swiss Cups in Bern. In 1929 the Grasshoppers moved into their new Stadium, the Hardturm Stadion Zürich. Ultimately it would hold about 18,000 fans although at record times prior to strict regulations up to 36,000 spectators watched games in the Hardturm Stadion. The last game in Hardturm was played in 2007 and until a new stadium is built the club will play in Letzigrund Stadium which was a stadium of the Euro 2008.

The clubs largest successes on the European stage were achieving the UEFA Cup semi final in 1978, quarter final in 1982 and the UEFA Champions League in the 1990's in which GCZ barely missed the quarter finals having achieved 9 points during the group stage in the 1996/1997 season. These achievements made the club the best known Swiss club.

Originally Grasshopper Club Zurich played its games in Stadion Hardturm Zurich. Until 2007 the "Hardturm" was the home stadium of GCZ, it was located in West Zurich. In its last stages it held ca. 18,000 supporters, even though in earlier days with less regulation over 30,000 found their way into the stadium grounds. Especially during the most successful days and Champions League victories the Hardturm attracted the most supporters of any Swiss club. Currently however GCZ is playing in the Stadium of their rivals FC Zurich as the Hradturm has been torn down. Initially a new stadium of 30,000 was to be built however the building permit was never obtained due to complaints by inhabitants of the neighbourhood. A new project is currently being assembled, for a smaller sized stadium with no side use, in an ideal scenario this new "Stadium Zurich" will be completed in 2014.

Outside of Britain the Zurich derby is one of the oldest traditional rivalries between two clubs from the same city. Grasshopper Club Zürich's arch rival is and has always been FC Zürich. Derbies are always amongst the highlights of any sports year in Zurich and even Switzerland. Memorable games such as the 6:5 victory in the Swiss Cup semi final by Grasshopper Club Zürich make up only part of the myth of the derby. Often the games are heated and the atmosphere is electric. Both fan divisions are extraordinarily passionate for the Zurich derby and claim they are the pride of the city.

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