History of Grasshopper Club Zurich
Using a 20 Swiss franc donation, the club acquired an English football shirt in blue and white colors (as worn by Blackburn Rovers).
Two-time World Cup winning coach Vittorio Pozzo played briefly for Grasshoppers, around 1905–06, before he joined Torino.
In 1925 started the era of the Hungarian manager Izidor "Dori" Kürschner, a former member of the coaching staff of the Swiss national team that won the silver medal at the 1924 Olympics.
After the end of the season, GC and Basel were tied at the top of the table and thus a play-off match was played in Bern.
In 1978–79 they defeated Real Madrid in the second round of the European Cup, but lost the quarter-final against the eventual winner, Nottingham Forest.
But their biggest European success to date came in the 1977–78 UEFA Cup where they reached the semi-final against French side Bastia.
A notable success in European competitions came in 1980–81 UEFA Cup when GC reached the quarter-finals, but then were eliminated by French side Sochaux.
After defeating Maccabi Tel Aviv to qualify, they played in Group D against Ajax, Real Madrid and Ferencváros.
On 20 May 2013, Grasshopper ended a ten-year trophy drought with a penalty shoot-out victory over Basel in the Swiss Cup final at the Stade de Suisse in Bern.
During this time, in April 2020, it was revealed that the Hong Kong-based Champion Union HK Holding Limited had acquired 90% of GC shares.
After a seven-point lead on challenger Thun had melted away in three games, club leadership took drastic measures by removing Pereira and reinstating Zoltán Kádár (who had been interim coach at the end of the previous season) as interim coach for the final two games of the season.
The changes would pay off, as GC secured Challenge League championship and promotion in a 2–1 victory over Kriens in the final game.
[11] Despite a decent first half of the season, following the winter break, the team struggled to win points and came dangerously close to the bottom of the league.
Improving results in spring 2022 allowed the team to narrowly avoid the relegation playoff, ending the season in eighth place thanks to a better goal difference over Luzern.
[13] On 13 February 2023, Sun stepped down from his positions as president and CEO, with vice-president András Gurovits taking up the mantle in the interim.
[14] On 19 March 2023, Swiss online news site nau.ch reported that coach Contini had handed in his resignation in mid February,[15] which would see him leaving the club in the summer, following a six-month notice period.
Berner had graduated from the Grasshoppers academy in 1997 and played for the first team until 2002, winning two Swiss championships in that time (1998 and 2001).
[18] Jackson had most recently acted as "strategic player marketing manager" at partner club Wolverhampton Wanderers.
On 17 January 2024, a long-term partnership with MLS side Los Angeles FC was announced, with LAFC acquiring over 90% of the shares from the previous owners, Champion Union.
[20][21] In a press conference at the historic Grasshoppers rowing club, Gurovits presented the new interim president Stacy Johns, who is also the COO and CFO of LAFC.
In the first leg of the play-off at home, the team conceded at the start of the second half, they spent the rest of the game chasing an equalizer.
In the second half Grasshoppers managed to score in overtime, with Asumah Abubakar poking the ball over the line in the 92nd minute (ironically, after a corner).
