FC Wil
FC Wil is a football (soccer) club from Switzerland.
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FC Wil 1900 is a Switzerland Association football club, playing in the town of Wil, Canton of St. Gallen in the east of Switzerland. FC Wil was founded in 1900, hence the name.
Honours
- Swiss Cup: 1
History
FC Wil was formed in 1900 in the east of Switzerland by two Gastarbeiter from England. For the first two years of their life they were known as FC Stella. In 1902 FC Wil was renamed as FC Fors before finally settling in 1907 on FC Wil.
The early years of FC Wil were very unremarkable, playing in the lower echelons of the Switzerland football pyramd. Up until 1990 they had spent just three seasons in the second tier, the Swiss Challenge League, in 1922/23 and 1952/53 and 1953/54.
In 1988 FC Wil appointed Christian Gross as Player-manager. Gross managed FC Wil between 1988 and 1993 and during this time guided FC Wil to two promotions. Firstly to the Swiss 1. Liga (football) and then to the Swiss Challenge League. Christian Gross left in 1993 to manage Grasshopper-Club Zürich and has since managed Tottenham Hotspur F.C. and is currently manager of FC Basel, a position he has held since1999.
In 2002/2003 football season in Switzerland FC Wil were promoted to the Swiss Super League for the first time in history. They finished in 4th place. In 2003 FC Wil took part in European competition for the first time by playing in the UEFA Intertoto Cup 2003. FC Wil got to the third round before losing to FC Nantes.
In Swiss Super League 2003-04 FC Wil were relegated from the Swiss Super League but FC Wil managed to win the Swiss Cup, beating Grasshopper-Club Zürich in the final.
In 2003 club president, banker Andreas Hafen, was discovered to have embezzling 51 million Swiss francs ($40 million) from the UBS AG. 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 FC Wil was taken over by for footballer Ihor Belanov but his time at FC Wil was not a success, possibly due to the frequent changes of coach. The first man hired by Belanow, Aleksandr Zavarov, lacked the required UEFA Pro Licence.
Current Squad
As of 15 June, 2009.
Notable Former Players
- Michael Keller
- Jérôme Thiesson
- Sandro Burki
- Mart Poom
- Hernâni Borges
- Cédric Tsimba
- Daniel Totka
- Yalcin Alci
- Samet Gündüz
Related pages
FC Concordia, FC La Chaux-de-Fonds, FC Locarno, FC Lugano, FC Schaffhausen, FC St.Gallen, FC Thun, FC Wil, FC Winterthur, Football Club Stade Nyonnais, Fussballclub Biel/Bienne, Gossau, Lausanne-Sports, Servette FC Genéve, Wohlen, Yverdon-Sports