Jack Gillies reveals the secrets of Switzerland's only cross-city rivalry
Away from its banking institutions and upscale boutiques, football-daft Zürich is home to Switzerland’s only major cross-city derby. Due to be played this Saturday, May 9, the Zürcher Derby is always a ferocious affair, wherever the two sides may sit in the Swiss Super League.
Most rivalries in Switzerland are set along regional lines: the Berner Derby, involving Young Boys Berne and FC Thun from the Bernese Oberland, for example, or Le Derby du Rhône, the French-speaking Romande clash between Servette Geneva and FC Sion, both cities located on the namesake river.
The first thing that strikes the curious neutral when walking around central Zürich is the significant presence of FC Zürich on the streets. Everywhere you look, FCZ stickers and graffiti abound. Even in niche outlets like vintage-shirt store 11teamsports, FCZ dominate the racks.
Grasshopper (GC) are a lot less visible, simply because of FCZ’s bigger fan base. But head out into the outskirts of Zürich and the canton itself, you start seeing a lot more GC graffiti and stickers. GC have always been considered the club of the establishment, founded by an English student, popular in the quiet towns and villages surrounding Zurich, while traditionally working-class FCZ have their roots in the city centre.
Grasshopper is also a multi-sport club, and it’s common for fans to extend their support to teams from other departments. A GC football follower can’t wear their colours around the city centre while FCZ supporters wouldn’t venture to places like Dübendorf, a 15-minute train ride north-east of town.
FCZ have the worse reputation for fan violence, linked to their support being drawn from some of the grittier areas of Zurich, such as Langstrasse and the infamous District 12. That isn’t to say GC fans are angels – they have caused matches to be abandoned in the past.
The Zürich rivals have battled it out for supremacy from the very beginning, when Swiss football was in its infancy. Both clubs were formed within a month of each other in 1896, FCZ in August, Grasshopper in September.
They are also two of Switzerland’s most successful and recognisable teams. Grasshopper are record champions with 27 titles, along with 19 Swiss Cups, also unmatched. Across the divide, FCZ have won the league 13 times and the cup ten.
But most of this success happened a long time ago. With three games to go of this season’s Swiss Super League, they sit just above bottom place, Grasshopper almost certainly looking at a third consecutive relegation play-off, having escaped with a stoppage-time goal in 2024. FCZ have consistently underperformed since their last league title in 2022.
That FCZ and GC groundshare has long been controversial and is something both clubs have frequently complained about to the cantonal authorities. When it opened in 1925, the Letzigrund was owned by FCZ, while GC called the Hardturm home. The stadium was located on the other side of the railway, which added to the symbolism of the historical class divide.
In 2007, the Hardturm closed for good and the clubs were forced to share the newly reconstructed Letzigrund. Many GC fans still refuse to call Letzigrund home, and there are plans for a new stadium at Hardturm, which is currently mired in red tape despite being approved by referendum three times. GC fans still traditionally meet by the old Hardturm stadium site; where fan marches start for the derby and other big fixtures.
Ironically, during the Letzigrund reconstruction, FCZ had to share Hardturm with GC, which led to protests from GC fans. In the past, the shared stadium has also been a headache for Zürich police, given the difficulties in separating fans. This led to incidents such as the infamous dust-up in 2011, a large fight after a flare was thrown at GC fans by an FCZ supporter.
The Letzigrund is universally hated in Switzerland, the Swiss version of the London Stadium, for want of a better analogy. A lot of Swiss fans would say the running track and the open-plan layout lend the stadium a soulless feel – but not on derby day.
For the last meeting between the city rivals, the pyro display on both sides was outstanding.
FCZ fans are very well organised, their section of the stadium, the Südkurve, notorious throughout Switzerland. Both sets of fans chant in the Zürich Swiss-German dialect, which also features in their stickers.
To see the Zurich derby, check first which is the ‘home’ club, which can have a lot of influence on the experience. If it’s GC, that makes sourcing tickets a lot easier. To sit as a neutral among the less fervent spectators, a ticket in sector C makes sense.
Even if FCZ are the designated home club, the derby never sells out and tickets are relatively easy to come by. Note that the police cordon off certain streets and may move fans to different areas, so hanging back post-match is a good idea, and getting yourself up to the Hardbrücke area early pre-match is also recommended.
FC Zürich v Grasshopper, Saturday, May 9, 6pm. Letzigrund, Badenerstraße 500, 8048 Zürich. Tickets from SF25.
