FC Wil - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

FC Wil, also known as FC Wil 1900, is a Swiss

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

football club, playing in the town of Wil

Wil

Wil is the capital of the Wahlkreis of Wil in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland.Wil is the third largest city in the Canton of St. Gallen, after the city of St...

, Canton St. Gallen

Canton of St. Gallen

The Canton of St. Gallen is a canton of Switzerland. St. Gallen is located in the north east of Switzerland. It covers an area of 2,026 km², and has a population of . , the population included 97,461 foreigners, or about 20.9% of the total population. The capital is St. Gallen. Spelling...

in the east of Switzerland

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.

History

FC Wil was formed in 1900 in the east of Switzerland by two workers

Gastarbeiter

Gastarbeiter is German for "guest worker." It refers to migrant workers who had moved to West Germany mainly in the 1960s and 70s, seeking work as part of a formal guest worker programme...

from England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. 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

Switzerland

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

Christian Gross

Christian Gross is a professional football coach and former player who currently manages Young Boys Bern. Before that he managed VfB Stuttgart until his dismissal in October 2010. He was manager of FC Basel from 1 July 1999 to 27 May 2009.-Playing career:Gross began his playing career at...

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

Swiss 1. Liga (football)

1. Liga is the third tier of the Swiss Football League. The division is split into three groups of 16 teams, by geographical region.-Regional Format:...

and then to the second tier. Christian Gross left in 1993 to manage Grasshopper-Club Zürich

Grasshopper-Club Zürich

Grasshopper Club Zürich commonly referred to as simply GC, GCZ, or Grasshopper is a Swiss multisports club based in Zürich. The oldest and best known section of Grasshopper Club Zürich is its football team...

and has since managed Tottenham Hotspur

Tottenham Hotspur F.C.

Tottenham Hotspur Football Club , commonly referred to as Spurs, is an English Premier League football club based in Tottenham, north London. The club's home stadium is White Hart Lane....

and FC Basel

FC Basel

Fussball Club Basel 1893, widely known as FC Basel is a Swiss football club based in Basel. They are one of the most successful clubs in Swiss football, having won the Swiss Super League 14 times, the third most for any Swiss club. They were most successful in the late 1960s and 1970s, winning the...

.

In 2002 the club were promoted to the top flight

Swiss Super League

The Swiss Super League or Axpo Super League is the top tier of the Swiss Football League. The Swiss Super League is currently ranked 16th according to UEFA's ranking of league coefficients, which is based upon Swiss team performances in European competitions.-Names:-Participating clubs:The teams...

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

Swiss Super League 2003-04

Statistics of Swiss Super League in the 2003–2004 season.-League standings:-References:...

the club were relegated from the Super League

Swiss Super League

but the club managed to win the Swiss Cup, beating Grasshoppers Zurich

Grasshopper-Club Zürich

in the final.

In 2003 club president, banker Andreas Hafen, was discovered to have embezzled 51 million Swiss franc

Swiss franc

The franc is the currency and legal tender of Switzerland and Liechtenstein; it is also legal tender in the Italian exclave Campione d'Italia. Although not formally legal tender in the German exclave Büsingen , it is in wide daily use there...

s (US$40 million) from the UBS Bank

UBS AG

UBS AG is a Swiss global financial services company headquartered in Basel and Zürich, Switzerland, which provides investment banking, asset management, and wealth management services for private, corporate, and institutional clients worldwide, as well as retail clients in Switzerland...

. 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 footballer Igor Belanow but his time at the club was not a success, possibly due to the frequent changes of coach. The first man hired by Belanow, Aleksandr Zavarov

Aleksandr Zavarov

Oleksandr Anatoliyovych Zavarov, also spell Aleksandr Anatoljević Zavarov – is a former football midfielder and the former head coach at FC Arsenal Kyiv. In 1986 he was named the best footballer in the USSR and Ukraine and the 6th best footballer in Europe according to France Football...

, lacked the required UEFA Pro Licence.

Current squad

As of 26 October, 2011.

Notable former players

See also .

Michael Keller Jérôme Thiesson Sandro Burki

Sandro Burki

Sandro Burki is a footballer from Switzerland who currently plays as a midfielder for FC Aarau in the Swiss Super League.-Club career:...

Mart Poom

Mart Poom is an Estonian former football goalkeeper. He retired after Estonia's 0–0 draw against Portugal on 10 June 2009 to focus on his job as goalkeeping coach at Arsenal and the Estonian national team, as well as other more "personal" projects....

Hernâni

Hernâni Borges

Hernâni José Oliveira Santos Borges is a football striker/winger from Cape Verde. He currently plays for C.D. Santa Clara.- Career :...

Cédric Tsimba

Cédric Kinzumbi Tsimba is a Swiss football player, who currently plays for FC Meyrin.-External links:*...

Daniel Totka Moustapha Salifou

Moustapha Salifou

Moustapha Salifou is a Togolese footballer who plays as a midfielder for 1. FC Saarbrücken in Germany's 3rd Liga. He is notable for spending time in England with Aston Villa...

Yalcin Alci Samet Gündüz Pak Kwang-Ryong

Pak Kwang-Ryong

Pak Kwang-ryong is a North Korean football player currently playing for FC Basel in Swiss Super League.Pak joined Basel on 27 June 2011 from FC Wil 1900. He played for the club in the Uhrencup during July 2011 and scored a goal in the 2-1 win against West Ham United on the 13 July 2011...

Sally Sarr

Sally Sarr is a football defender playing for FC Lucerne in the Swiss Super League.-Club Career:Sally began his career in his native France with Le Havre AC before leaving to join Greek side Thrasyvoulos F.C. in 2006. He spent three years with them but only manager 25 games during this time...

Khalid Al-Ghamdi

Khalid Al-Ghamdi [خالد الغامدي in Arabic] is a Saudi football player. He currently plays for Al-Nassr FC Club.-Club career statistics:...

External links

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