FC Wil 1900
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| Full name | Fussball Club Wil 1900 | ||
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| Founded | 1900 | ||
| Ground | IGP Arena, Wil, Switzerland | ||
| Capacity | 6,900 | ||
| Chairman | Murathan Doruk Günal | ||
| Manager | Kevin Cooper | ||
| League | Swiss Challenge League | ||
| 2014–15 | Swiss Challenge League, 9th | ||
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FC Wil, also known as FC Wil 1900, is a Swiss football club, playing in the town of Wil, Canton St. Gallen in the east of Switzerland. The club was founded in 1900, hence the name.
Although the city of Wil has only 17,000 inhabitants, in 2004 FC Wil won the final of the Swiss Cup against Grasshopper Club Zürich.
Honours
- Swiss Cup: 1
- 2004
History
FC Wil was formed in 1900 in the east of Switzerland by two workers from England. For the first two years of their life they were known as "FC Stella". In 1902 the club was renamed as "FC Fors" before finally settling in 1907 on FC Wil.
The early years of the club were very unremarkable, playing in the lower echelons of the Swiss football pyramid. Up until 1990 they had spent just three seasons in the second tier, the Challenge League, in 1922/23, 1952/53 and 1953/54.
In 1988 the club appointed Christian Gross as player manager. Gross managed the club between 1988 and 1993 and during this time guided the club to two promotions. Firstly to the third tier and then to the second tier. Christian Gross left in 1993 to manage Grasshopper Club Zürich and has since managed Tottenham Hotspur and FC Basel.
In 2002 the club were promoted to the top flight for the first time in history. They finished in 4th place. In 2003 the club took part in European competition for the first time by playing in the Intertoto Cup. The club got to the third round before losing to FC Nantes.
In 2004 the club were relegated from the Super League but the club managed to win the Swiss Cup, beating Grasshoppers Zurich in the final.
In 2003 club president, banker Andreas Hafen, was discovered to have embezzled 51 million Swiss francs (US$40 million) from the UBS Bank. He was given a jail term of five years. Approximately 10 million Swiss francs was discovered to have ended up at FC Wil. UBS waived any money outstanding as the other board members knew nothing of it.
After the Andreas Hafen saga the club was taken over by Ukrainian footballer Igor Belanov and his time in charge of the club was a success notwithstanding the frequent changes of coaches. FC Wil was promoted to Swiss Super League and won the final of the Swiss Cup against Grasshopper Club Zürich under the first de facto coach hired by Belanov, Ukrainian Aleksandr Zavarov (because he lacked the necessary UEFA licence, Aleksandr Zavarov was given the position of director of football with the club).
Since then, notable managers included Uli Forte, now coach of Young Boys and Axel Thoma, now employed as Grasshoppers' director of football.
In November 2013, the club's stadium was renamed from Stadion Bergholz to IGP Arena until 2023, for sponsorship reasons.[1]
On 5 November 2014, Francesco Gabriele succeeded Axel Thoma as the team's manager,[2] after the latter left the club to become director of football at Grasshoppers Zürich.[3] Former Turkey international Erdal Keser replaced Gabriele on 23 May 2015.[4]
Players
Current squad
As of 9 March 2016 [5] Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Former players
- See also Category:FC Wil 1900 players.
European Cup History
| Season | Competition | Round | Country | Club | Home | Away | Aggregate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004/05 | UEFA Cup | Q2 |  |
Dukla Banská Bystrica | 1–3 | 1–1 | 2–4 |
References
- ↑ "IGP sichert sich Naming-Right am Wiler Bergholz". fcwil.ch. FC Wil 1900 AG. Retrieved 28 November 2013.
- ↑ "Francesco Gabriele neuer Cheftrainer beim FC Wil 1900". fcwil.ch. FC Wil 1900 AG. Retrieved 5 February 2015.
- ↑ "Axel Thoma wird neuer Sportchef beim Grasshopper Club Zürich". fcwil.ch. Retrieved 5 February 2015.
- ↑ "Trainerwechsel beim FC Wil 1900". fcwil.ch. Retrieved 24 May 2015.
- ↑ http://www.sfl.ch/challengeleague/klubs/fc-wil-1900/
External links
- Official website (German)
- football.ch profile (German) (French) (Italian)
- Soccerway.com profile (English)
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