The 1979–80 season was FC Zürich's 83rd season in their existence, since their foundation in 1896. It was their 21st consecutive season in the top flight of Swiss football, following their promotion at the end of the 1957–58 season. They played their home games in the Letzigrund.
Overview The FCZ owner and president at this time was Edwin Nägeli, who had held this position since 1957. Nägeli passed away on 6 December 1979 after he suffered a heart attack in the stands before kickoff of the game against the Young Boys four days earlier. The club's president from then onwards was Alfred Zweidler. The Yugoslav and Croatian Zlatko Čajkovski who had been appointed as head-coach last season continued for his second season. However toward the end of March he was fired. Albert Sing and Rosario Martinelli were appointed as joint coaches until the end of the season. FCZ competed not only in the domestic first-tier 1979–80 Nationalliga A, but also competed in 1979–80 Swiss Cup and in the 1979–80 Swiss League Cup. Having ended the last season as league runner-up the FCZ first team had qualified to compete in the 1979–80 UEFA Cup. They also entered into the 1979 Intertoto Cup.
Players The following is the list of the FCZ first team squad this season. It also includes players that were in the squad the day the domestic league season started, on 11 August 1979, but subsequently left the club after that date.
Players who left the squad
Results Legend
Nationalliga A
Qualifying matches
Qualifying phase table
Championship group matches
Championship table
Swiss Cup
Swiss League Cup
UEFA Cup
Kaiserslautern won 8–2 on aggregate.
Intertoto Cup
Group 4 matches
Final group table
Friendly matches Pre-season
Autumn mid-season
Winter break
Spring mid-season
Sources and references dbFCZ Homepage Switzerland 1979–80 at RSSSF Swiss League Cup at RSSSF