The 1987–88 season was FC Zürich's 91st season in their existence, since their foundation in 1896. It was their 29th consecutive season in the top flight of Swiss football, following their promotion at the end of the 1957–58 season. FCZ played their home games in the Letzigrund and the stadium is located in the west of Zurich in the district of Altstetten, which is about three kilometers from the city center.
Overview ASF/SFV There had been modifications to the Swiss Football Association (ASF/SFV) in advance of this season and the format of the Swiss Football League (Nationalliga) was changed accordingly. Now the number of clubs had now been increased from 32 to 36. As of this season there were 12 teams in the top-tier, the Nationalliga A (NLA). There were 24 teams in the second-tier, Nationalliga B (NLB), and these were divided into two groups, a West and an East group. The season was divided into two stages. In the first stage, the qualification phase, each team in each group played a double round-robin to decide their table positions.
The top eight teams from the NLA qualification phase would advance to the championship group and would decide the championship and over the qualification slots to next season's UEFA European competitions. The last four NLA teams would play against relegation, this against the top six teams in each group of the NLB who were also qualified to play in two promotion/relegation groups. The top two teams in each of these groups would play the following season in the NLA, the others would contest in the NLB.
Club Since the 1986 AGM the local businessman Sven Hotz took over as chairman and patron of the club. He had a successful property management company and had been vice-president of the club for the previous two years. The Austrian Hermann Stessl remained the first team head coach. The FCZ first team competed in this years domestic first-tier 1987–88 Nationalliga A and they competed in 1987–88 Swiss Cup. The team had not qualified for the UEFA European tournaments and they did not enter the Intertoto Cup.
Toward the end of September, after a bad start to the season and a string of defeats, Stessl was sacked. Friedhelm Konietzka was appointed as head coach in the hope that he could quide the team from the relegation area.
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 8 August 1987, but subsequently left the club after that date.
Players who left the squad The following is the list of the FCZ first team players that left the squad during the previous season or in the off-season, before the new domestic season began.
Results Legend
Nationalliga A
Qualification phase
Qualification table
Promotion/relegation group B
Final group table
Swiss Cup
Friendly matches Pre-season
Winter break
References
Sources dbFCZ Homepage Switzerland 1987–88 at RSSSF