FC St. Gallen

St. Gallen
Full name Fussballclub St. Gallen 1879
Nickname(s) Espen
Founded 19 April 1879
Ground AFG Arena, St. Gallen
Capacity 19,694
Chairman Dölf Früh
Manager Jeff Saibene
League Swiss Super League
2013–14 Swiss Super League, 7th
Website Club home page

Football Club St. Gallen 1879 is a Swiss football club based in St. Gallen. The club is currently playing in the 2013/14 Swiss Super League.

History

Having been founded on 19 April 1879, FC St. Gallen is the oldest existing club in Swiss football and mainland Europe.[1] However, the team has had relatively little success in comparison to other clubs. Despite the fact that St. Gallen won the Swiss championship twice in the 1903–04 and 1999–2000 seasons, the team has mostly been a mid-table side. During the last decade, the strength of the club continually declined and this eventually resulted in the transformation to a yo-yo club. St. Gallen were relegated to the second-tier Challenge League twice at the end of the 2007–08 and the 2010–11 seasons. St. Gallen has recently seen a remarkable surge in performance over the last 2 years and now has solidified itself as one of Switzerland's better clubs.

Stadium

FC St. Gallen play their home games at the AFG Arena. The stadium has a capacity of 19,694 and it is on the west side of town. The stadium replaced the former Espenmoos stadium in the east.

Honours

European record

St. Gallen 2013
Season Competition Round Opponent Home Away Aggregate
2000-2001 UEFA Champions League Third qualifying round Turkey Galatasaray 1–2 2–2 3–4
UEFA Cup First round England Chelsea 2–0 0–1 2–1
UEFA Cup Second round Belgium Club Brugge 1–1 1–2 2–3
2001-2002 UEFA Cup Qualifying round Republic of Macedonia Pelister 2–3 2–0 4–3
First round Romania Steaua București 2–1 1–1 3–2
Second round Germany Freiburg 1–4 1–0 2–4
2002 UEFA Intertoto Cup First round Faroe Islands B68 Toftir 5–1 6–0 11–1
Second round Netherlands Willem II 1–1(aet) 0–1 1–2
2007 UEFA Intertoto Cup Second round Moldova Dacia Chişinău 0–1(aet) 1–0 1–1(0–3p)
2013–14 UEFA Europa League Play-off Russia Spartak Moscow 1–1 4–2 5–3
Group A Spain Valencia 2–3 1–5 4th place
England Swansea City 1–0 0–1
Russia Kuban Krasnodar 2–0 0–4

Players

Current squad

St. Gallen squad in 1881
As of 3 March, 2015 [2]

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

No. Position Player
1 Switzerland GK Daniel Lopar
2 Poland DF Daniel Dziwniel
3 Switzerland DF Mickaël Facchinetti
5 Brazil MF Everton Bilher
6 Switzerland DF Philippe Montandon
7 France MF Geoffrey Tréand
8 Republic of Macedonia MF Muhamed Demiri
9 Algeria FW Yannis Tafer
10 Kosovo FW Albert Bunjaku
11 Switzerland FW Goran Karanović
14 Switzerland DF Roy Gelmi
15 France DF Stéphane Besle
16 Switzerland DF Pascal Thrier
No. Position Player
18 Switzerland GK Marcel Herzog
19 Luxembourg DF Mario Mutsch
20 Slovenia FW Džengis Čavušević
21 Switzerland MF Marsel Stević
22 Switzerland MF Marco Aratore
23 Serbia FW Danijel Aleksić
26 Austria FW Daniel Sikorski
27 Switzerland MF Marco Mathys
31 Serbia MF Dejan Janjatović
33 Switzerland DF Daniele Russo
34 Switzerland MF Roberto Rodriguez
40 Netherlands GK Jim Freid
55 Israel DF Nisso Kapiloto

Retired numbers

17 - Switzerland Marc Zellweger, defender (1994–01, 2003–10)

Managers
  • Germany Uwe Rapolder (1 July 1993 – 10 April 1996)
  • Switzerland Roger Hegi (26 April 1996 – 31 Dec 1998)
  • Switzerland Marcel Koller (1 Jan 1999 – 31 Dec 2001)
  • Switzerland Gérard Castella (20 Feb 2002 – 15 Sept 2002)
  • Switzerland Thomas Staub (interim) (20 Sept 2002 – 9 Dec 2002)
  • Austria Heinz Peischl (1 March 2003 – 8 April 2005)
  • Switzerland Werner Zünd (interim) (29 April 2004 – 30 May 2005)
  • Switzerland René Weiler (interim) (13 April 2005 – 29 April 2005)
  • Germany Ralf Loose (1 July 2005 – 10 April 2006)
  • Switzerland Jörg Stiel (interim) (10 April 2006 – 12 April 2006)
  • Austria Rolf Fringer (12 April 2006 – 8 Oct 2007)
  • Bulgaria Krassimir Balakov (29 Oct 2007 – 30 June 2008)
  • Switzerland Uli Forte (1 July 2008 – 1 March 2011)
  • Switzerland Giorgio Contini / Switzerland Roger Zürcher (interim) (1 March 2011 – 7 March 2011)
  • Luxembourg Jeff Saibene (7 March 2011 –)

References

  1. ↑ "Geschichte des FC St.Gallen" [History of FC St. Gallen]. FC St. Gallen (in German). fcsg.ch. Retrieved 31 August 2013.
  2. ↑ "Kader" [Squad]. FC St. Gallen (in German). fcsg.ch. Retrieved 18 December 2013.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to FC St. Gallen.