[kalooga-img]
Grasshopper Club Zurich are alive and well. At the start of the current season, this was the only thing that mattered to the side’s supporters who, in recent years, have seen their team battle desperately against bankruptcy. Once GC had put all their troubles behind them, fans could look forward, come what may. Nobody however could have expected to see Grasshopper at the top of the Swiss Super League at the end of the first half of the season, four points ahead of Basel and St. Gallen.
From relegation candidates to serious title contenders within 12 months – it is quite a story. Coach Uli Forte is the first to admit he is surprised at how impressively his team have risen. “To be honest, I didn’t expect these kind of performances”, he admitted. “After a difficult 2011/12 season [in which Forte was appointed coach for the final seven games, ed.] I thought a solid mid-table position would have been good enough. We are all living a dream, but we are keeping our feet on the ground. Fighting for the title should not become an obsession.”
Grasshopper are the most successful club in Swiss football history with 27 league titles (the most recent arriving in 2003) and 18 domestic cups. The Zurich-based side are also one of the few in the country to have made an impact on the European stage, reaching the UEFA Cup semi-finals in 1977/78, while in 1995 they became the first Swiss team to play in the Champions League. When, on 21st October 2006, Grasshopper beat FC Thun to take top spot in the Swiss Super League, nobody could have imagined that it would take 2,163 days before the side once again topped the national league. That day arrived on 22nd September 2012, after Grasshopper beat FC Zurich in the city’s derby.
Forte is the main man behind Grasshopper’s surprising campaign. With no money to spend in the transfer market, last summer the coach made just a handful of signings – but they proved crucial. Veteran defender Stephane Grichting, solid midfielder Veroljub Salatic and talented young forward Nassim Ben Khalifa all arrived. The three newcomers gave a squad with no stars, but full of skilful players a boost and exactly what was needed. Forte’s group lacked two things needed to field a competitive team: a leader and a turmoil free dressing room.
Under the Italian tactician players have flourished, such as left winger Steven Zuber and attacking midfielder Izet Hajrovic, both products of Grasshopper’s academy. In August, Zuber unleashed a wonder strike against Luzern, scoring a goal already dubbed one of the season’s best. Hajrovic, brother of Arsenal reserves player Sead, has quickly developed into one of the most technically gifted playmakers in the Super League, providing assist after assist. With six goals and five assists in 17 Super League games this season, the midfielder is currently a lethal performer for Grasshopper. His talent has been recognised at international level and in November Hajrovic was capped for the senior Switzerland side, making his debut in a friendly against Tunisia.
Goalkeeper Roman Burki is another key man in Forte’s squad. In the current season he set a new Swiss Super League record, going 660 minutes without conceding a goal. The custodian surpassed the old record (611 minutes, set by David Zibung of Luzern in 2007/08) with a superb performance against St. Gallen, in which he also saved a penalty. Burki however failed to beat the overall Swiss clean sheet record of 772 minutes, curiously set in 1994 by his father Martin at third division club FC Munsingen.
In the second half of the season Grasshopper will also have to fight against statistics as well as their rivals. Apart from Basel, in recent years none of the clubs – Young Boys, Luzern – crowned “winter champions” have managed to win the league. Forte is sure though that whatever happens, Grasshopper remain on the right track. “I am confident we can go on playing good football”, he declared, “and I am looking forward to some good deals in the winter transfer market. One thing is certain: this year Grasshopper will sign players, not sell them.”
Despite Forte’s words, the more gems a club boasts, the more difficult it can be to refuse the bids that eventually arrive, especially from bigger leagues. Hajrovic has already attracted attention, being linked with sides such as Aston Villa, Stuttgart, Wolfsburg, Fiorentina and Lazio. But moving abroad too soon can ruin a young player’s career rather than helping to provide that breakthrough moment, to which Hajrovic’s team-mate, Grasshopper’s prodigal son Ben Khalifa can attest.
The 20-year-old forward of Tunisian origin was awarded the Silver Ball, handed out to the second best player, at the 2009 Under-17 World Cup in Nigeria, in which Switzerland lifted the trophy for the first time in their history. The following season Ben Khalifa penned a four-year contract with German side Wolfsburg, despite having only been a first team regular with Grasshopper for one season. In two years in the Bundesliga he clocked up only ten games, all on loan at Nurnberg, before deciding to return to Switzerland and his home of Grasshopper, signing a two-year loan deal. It is only now the confidence has returned to his game.
Forte is the son of Italian immigrants and in Italian his surname means “strong”. Perhaps it is fitting that he is the coach is bringing back the glory days for the strongest football club in the whole of Switzerland.
[kalooga-article]
