FC Luzern

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FC Luzern
Full name Fussball-Club Luzern
Nickname(s) Die Leuchten (The Shiners)
Founded 12 August 1901; 112 years ago
Ground Swissporarena
Ground Capacity 17,000
Chairman Rudolf Stäger
Manager Carlos Bernegger
League Super Leage
2012–13 Super League, 8th
Website Club home page
Home colours
Away colours

Fussball-Club Luzern, commonly known as FC Luzern or simply abbreviated to FCL, is a Swiss football club based in Lucerne. The club colours are blue and white, derived from the City of Lucerne and Canton of Lucerne coats of arms. They play their home games at Swissporarena which was newly built in 2011 at the place of the old Stadion Allmend.

The club was founded in 1901 and has won the Swiss Super League once and the Swiss Cup twice.

History

FC Luzern was officially founded on 12 August 1901 in Lucerne. After two years, FCL joined the Swiss Football League and started its first championship season in the third division. In the following years, FC Luzern was playing in various leagues. After the introduction of a new league system in 1944 (consisting of Nationalliga A and Nationalliga B as the two top tiers) FCL was alloted into Nationalliga B. The club remained in the second division until it was promoted in 1953. In the following years, FCL mainly played in the Nationalliga A. In 2003, after several seasons with financial and sporting troubles, the club got relegated to the renamed Challenge League, the former Nationalliga B. In 2006, after three seasons in the second division, FC Luzern celebrated its return into the top division (Super League) of Swiss football. In 2012 the club finished second in the Super League, securing its best league finish in 23 years.

FC Luzern's greatest success was winning the Swiss Championship in 1989. FCL have also won the Swiss Cup twice (1960 and 1992) and finished runners-up four times (1997, 2005, 2007, 2012).

Fans and rivalries

Although the club has only won three important national trophies, FC Luzern is one of the traditional football clubs in the country with a strong local supporter base. In the 2011/12 season, FCL had the third highest average attendance in the Swiss Super League.[1]

There are a number of rivalries between FCL and other teams, especially between their Ultras groups. The local derby is played with SC Kriens, whose stadium is located less than one kilometer from FCL's facilities at Allmend. Due to the reduction of the Swiss football league in the past years, the two clubs are now separated by two leagues. Because of this fact, the rivalry is not as big anymore as during the periods in the 1990s or after the year 2003, when both clubs were playing in the same league.

A majority of the fans view FC St. Gallen, FC Sion and Grasshopper Club Zürich as big rivals. Numerous incidents and fan fights occurred around games between FC Luzern and these teams in the last decade.[2][3][4]

Stadium

Between 1934 and 2009, FCL played their home games at the Stadion Allmend,[5] which had a theoretical capacity of 25,000. For security reasons however, the Swiss Football Association did not allow more than 13,000 to attend. Until a new stadium was completed, FC Luzern temporarily played their home games in the Gersag Stadion located in Emmenbrücke.

In August 2011, the club moved into the newly built Swissporarena which is located at the place of the old ground. The opening game ended with a 0-0 draw against FC Thun.[6]

Honours

European appearances

Season Competition Round Country Club 1st leg 2nd leg Aggregate score
1960–61 European Cup Winners' Cup Quarter Final Italy ACF Fiorentina 0:3 2:6 2:9
1986–87 UEFA Cup 1 Soviet Union FC Spartak Moscow 0:0 0:1 0:1
1989–90 European Cup 1 Netherlands PSV Eindhoven 0:3 0:2 0:5
1990–91 UEFA Cup 1 Hungary MTK Budapest 1:1 2:1 3:2
1990–91 UEFA Cup 2 Austria VfB Admira Wacker Mödling 0:1 1:1 1:2
1992–93 European Cup Winners' Cup 1 Bulgaria PFC Levski Sofia 1:2 1:0 2:2
1992–93 European Cup Winners' Cup 2 Netherlands Feyenoord[7] 1:0 1:4 2:4
1997–98 European Cup Winners' Cup 1 Czech Republic Slavia Prague 2:4 0:2 2:6
2010–11 UEFA Europa League Q3 Netherlands FC Utrecht 0:1 1:3 1:4
2012–13 UEFA Europa League Playoff Belgium KRC Genk 2:1 0:2 2:3

Recent seasons

Season League League Position Remarks
2001/02 Nationalliga A 7th (Relegation Pool) Luzern theoretically would have been relegated. Due to financial problems, three teams in the top league were not given the playing licence by the Swiss FA. Thus, Luzern miraculously was not relegated.
2002/03 Nationalliga A 3rd (Relegation Pool) Due to a league reform, only the top 2 teams stayed in the Super League. Luzern was relegated to the Challenge League.
2003/04 Challenge League 10th
2004/05 Challenge League 5th Swiss Cup: Lost final 3-1 to FC Zürich.
2005/06 Challenge League 1st Promoted to Swiss Super League.
2006/07 Super League 8th Swiss Cup: Lost final 1–0 to FC Basel.
2007/08 Super League 6th
2008/09 Super League 9th Avoided relegation by beating FC Lugano 5 – 1 on aggregate in the relegation play offs.
2009/10 Super League 4th
2010/11 Super League 6th
2011/12 Super League 2nd Swiss Cup: Lost final 4–2 on penalties to FC Basel.
2012/13 Super League 8th

Players

As of 4 January 2014.[8]

First-team squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player
1 Switzerland GK David Zibung
3 Albania DF Ferid Matri
4 Australia MF Oliver Bozanic
5 Switzerland MF Michel Renggli (captain)
6 Croatia DF Tomislav Puljic
7 Switzerland DF Claudio Lustenberger
8 Albania MF Jahmir Hyka
9 Bulgaria FW Dimitar Rangelov
10 Egypt MF Mahmoud Kahraba
11 Switzerland MF Daniel Gygax
13 Switzerland DF Florian Stahel
14 Switzerland DF Jérôme Thiesson
16 Switzerland DF François Affolter
No. Position Player
18 Italy GK Lorenzo Bucchi
19 Switzerland MF Adrian Winter
20 Switzerland MF Xavier Hochstrasser
21 Paraguay FW Dario Lezcano
23 France DF Sally Sarr
24 Switzerland MF Alain Wiss
25 Germany FW Kevin Holz
28 Portugal MF Sava Bento
29 Tunisia DF Yassin Mikari
30 Switzerland GK Gabriel Wüthrich
31 Albania MF Hekuran Kryeziu
32 Bosnia and Herzegovina DF Nedim Sacirovic
35 Albania MF Haxhi Neziraj

Former notable players

See also Category:FC Luzern players.

Head coaches

See also Category:FC Luzern managers.

  • Austria Dionys Schönecker (1921–24)
  • Hungary Franz Konya (July 1927–Dec 29)
  • Austria Otto Hamacek (Feb 1929–June 29)
  • Switzerland Albert Halter & Albert Mühleisen (1929)
  • Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Dragan Nemes (1930–Sept 31)
  • Wales Horace Williams (Oct 1931–33)
  • Switzerland Josef Gerspach (1933–34)
  • Austria Carlos Heinlein (1934–Nov 35)
  • Switzerland Adolf Vögeli (Nov 1935–37)
  • Austria Josef Uridil (1937–38)
  • Austria Robert Lang (1938)
  • Switzerland Erwin Moser (1938–39)
  • Hungary Wilhelm Szigmond (1939)
  • Hungary Josef Winkler (May 1942–45)
  • Switzerland Gerhard Walter (Feb 1945–May 46)
  • Switzerland Werner Schaer (1946–49)
  • Germany Fritz Hack (1949–51)
  • Germany Hermann Stennull (1951–55)
  • Germany Rudi Gutendorf (1955–Aug 61)
  • Switzerland Josef Brun & Germany Josef Weber (Sept 1961–62)

References

External links

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