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Grasshopper Club Zurich

2020–21 season
Chairman	Sky Sun
Manager	Zoltán Kádár (interim)
Stadium	Letzigrund
Challenge League	1st (promoted)
Swiss Cup	Quarter-finals
Top goalscorer	League: Léo Bonatini (11) All: Léo Bonatini (13)
Highest home attendance	2'550 vs Wil
Biggest win	4–1 vs Aarau 3–0 vs Wil 3–0 vs Neuchâtel Xamax
Biggest defeat	2–5 vs Kriens
Home colours Away colours
← 2019–202021–22 →

The 2020–21 Grasshopper Club Zurich season is the club's second consecutive season in the Swiss Challenge League, having been relegated from the 2018–19 Swiss Super League one year earlier, after playing in the top tier for 67 years. The season started on 18 September 2020 and is scheduled to end on 30 May 2021. Grasshopper Club Zurich also participate in the Swiss Cup. The first game was played on 12 September 2020.

Review and events

In April 2020 the club was bought by investors from China. The new owners began to reform the club and renew the squad during the summer break, including the signing of several players from Wolverhampton Wanderers. The English Premier League club is also connected to the Chinese investors. The first game of the season was played in late September 2020, a delay caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in Switzerland.

On May 11, 2021 coach João Carlos Pereira was sacked after three defeats in a row. He was replaced by Zoltán Kádár for the last two games of the season.

Thanks to a 2–1 win against Kriens on the last day of the season, Grasshopper Club Zurich was promoted to the Super League.

Squad

Players

As of 3 March 2021

No.	Name	Nationality	Position	Date of birth (age)	at GCZ since	Signed from
Goalkeepers
1	Mirko Salvi		GK	(1994-02-14) 14 February 1994 (age 30)	07/2018	Basel
27	Mateo Matic		GK	(1996-01-07) 7 January 1996 (age 28)	01/2016	own youth
36	Marvin Keller		GK	(2002-07-03) 3 July 2002 (age 22)	07/2019	own youth
57	Matthias Minder		GK	(1993-02-03) 3 February 1993 (age 31)	09/2020	Neuchâtel Xamax
Defenders
2	Oskar Buur		CB	(1998-03-31) 31 March 1998 (age 26)	01/2021	Wolverhampton (on loan)
4	Miguel Nóbrega		CB	(2000-04-17) 17 April 2000 (age 24)	09/2020	Benfica (on loan)
5	Aleksandar Cvetković		CB	(1995-06-04) 4 June 1995 (age 29)	02/2018	Wohlen
20	Marcin Dickenmann		CB	(2000-08-14) 14 August 2000 (age 24)	06/2020	own youth
22	Nadjack		CB	(1994-02-06) 6 February 1994 (age 30)	08/2020	Rio Ave
24	Toti		CB	(1999-01-16) 16 January 1999 (age 25)	05/2020	Wolverhampton (on loan)
31	Dominik Schmid		CB	(1998-03-10) 10 March 1998 (age 26)	08/2020	Basel
34	Allan Arigoni		CB	(1998-11-04) 4 November 1998 (age 26)	07/2018	own youth
44	Elias Mesonero		CB	(2001-03-27) 27 March 2001 (age 23)	01/2020	own youth
89	Ermir Lenjani		CB	(1989-08-05) 5 August 1989 (age 35)	09/2020	Sion
Midfielders
8	André Santos		MF	(1989-03-02) 2 March 1989 (age 35)	08/2020	Belenenses
10	Petar Pusic		MF	(1999-01-25) 25 January 1999 (age 25)	02/2017	own youth
14	Connor Ronan		MF	(1998-03-06) 6 March 1998 (age 26)	08/2020	Wolverhampton (on loan)
19	Nuno da Silva		MF	(1994-03-14) 14 March 1994 (age 30)	02/2021	Thun
21	Ming-yang Yang		MF	(1995-07-11) 11 July 1995 (age 29)	08/2017	Wolverhampton
23	Nikola Gjorgjev		MF	(1997-08-22) 22 August 1997 (age 27)	07/2015	own youth
29	Djibril Diani		MF	(1998-02-11) 11 February 1998 (age 26)	12/2018	own youth
30	Nuno Pina		MF	(1999-03-31) 31 March 1999 (age 25)	08/2020	ChievoVerona (on loan)
33	Giotto Morandi		MF	(1999-03-04) 4 March 1999 (age 25)	06/2019	own youth
47	Fabio Fehr		MF	(2000-01-15) 15 January 2000 (age 24)	02/2020	own youth
48	Robin Kalem		MF	(2002-07-14) 14 July 2002 (age 22)	06/2020	own youth
Forwards
3	Léo Bonatini		FW	(1994-03-28) 28 March 1994 (age 30)	09/2020	Wolverhampton (on loan)
7	Oscar Correia		FW	(1997-09-28) 28 September 1997 (age 27)	07/2020	Étoile Carouge
9	Shkelqim Demhasaj		FW	(1996-04-19) 19 April 1996 (age 28)	07/2020	Luzern
11	Renat Dadashov		FW	(1999-05-17) 17 May 1999 (age 25)	08/2020	Wolverhampton (on loan)
11	Hicham Acheffay		FW	(2000-08-10) 10 August 2000 (age 24)	01/2021	Utrecht
17	Cristian Ponde		FW	(1995-01-26) 26 January 1995 (age 29)	08/2020	Karpaty Lviv
42	Filipe de Carvalho		FW	(2003-12-01) 1 December 2003 (age 21)	02/2021	own youth
90	André Ribeiro		FW	(1997-06-09) 9 June 1997 (age 27)	02/2021	St. Gallen

Players in italic left the club during the season.

Players out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 4 DF  SUI Baba Souare (at Kriens until 30 June 2021) 7 FW  SUI Oscar Correia (at Étoile Carouge until 30 June 2022)

No. Pos. Nation Player 20 DF  SUI Marcin Dickenmann (at Wil until 30 June 2021) 29 MF  FRA Djibril Diani (at Livingston until 30 June 2021)

Transfers

In

Date	No.	Pos	Player	Transferred from	Fee/notes	Source
30 June 2020	30	MF	Nuno Pina	ChievoVerona	Loan
1 July 2020	7	DF	Oscar Correia	Étoile Carouge	Free
1 July 2020	9	FW	Shkelqim Demhasaj	Luzern	Free
7 August 2020	31	DF	Dominik Schmid	Basel	Free
17 August 2020	21	MF	Ming-yang Yang	Wolverhampton	Free
23 August 2020	11	FW	Renat Dadashov	Wolverhampton	Loan
23 August 2020	14	MF	Connor Ronan	Wolverhampton	Loan
25 August 2020	17	FW	Cristian Ponde	Karpaty Lviv	Free
28 August 2020	8	MF	André Santos	Belenenses	Free
29 August 2020	22	DF	Nadjack	Rio Ave
31 August 2020		MF	Nedim Bajrami	Empoli	Return from loan
4 September 2020	24	DF	Toti	Wolverhampton	Loan
11 September 2020	89	MF	Ermir Lenjani	Sion	Free
22 September 2020	3	FW	Léo Bonatini	Wolverhampton	Loan
30 September 2020	4	DF	Miguel Nóbrega	Benfica	Loan
31 December 2020		FW	Amel Rustemoski	Kriens	Return from loan
11 January 2021	2	MF	Oskar Buur	Wolverhampton	Loan
20 January 2021	11	FW	Hicham Acheffay	Utrecht
8 February 2021	19	MF	Nuno da Silva	Thun
10 February 2021	90	FW	André Ribeiro	St. Gallen

Out

Date	No.	Pos	Player	Transferred to	Fee/notes	Source
1 July 2020	20	FW	Danijel Subotić	unattached
2 August 2020	28	DF	Andreas Wittwer	Winterthur
11 August 2020	10	DF	Vero Salatić	Retirement	Free
13 August 2020	13	FW	Nassim Ben Khalifa	Espérance Tunis
23 August 2020	21	MF	Mersim Asllani	Lausanne-Ouchy
24 August 2020	4	DF	Baba Souare	Kriens	Loan
24 August 2020	17	MF	Oliver Buff	unattached
24 August 2020	31	FW	Amel Rustemoski	Kriens	Loan
29 August 2020	45	DF	Nando Pijnaker	Rio Ave
1 September 2020	9	FW	Mychell Chagas	Nantong Zhiyun	Free
1 September 2020		MF	Nedim Bajrami	Empoli	€0.5 million
1 October 2020	11	FW	Nikola Sukacev	Metalac	Free
8 October 2020	11	FW	Renat Dadashov	Wolverhampton	Loan ended
14 January 2021	20	DF	Marcin Dickenmann	Wil	Loan
15 February 2021	29	MF	Djibril Diani	Livingston	Loan
18 February 2021	7	FW	Oscar Correia	Étoile Carouge	Loan
3 March 2021	21	MF	Ming-yang Yang	Nantong Zhiyun

Coaching staff

Current coaching staff

As of 11 May 2021

Position	Name	Since
Manager	Zoltán Kádár (interim)	05/2021
Assistant manager	Marc Hodel (interim)	05/2021
Assistant manager	Ricardo Cabanas (interim)	05/2021
Assistant manager (athletics)	Walter Grüter (interim)	05/2021
Assistant manager (goalkeeper)	Christoph Born	2011

until 11 May 2021

As of 28 November 2020

Position	Name	Since
Manager	João Carlos Pereira	2020
Assistant manager	João Gião	2020
Assistant manager (methodology)	Gilberto Freitas	2020
Assistant manager (individual)	Lino Godinho	2020
Assistant manager (athletics)	Bruno Ferreira	2020
Assistant manager (goalkeeper)	Christoph Born	2011

Competitions

Overview

Last updated: 23 May 2021
Source: Soccerway

Challenge League

Kickoff times are in CET

  Win   Draw   Loss

Swiss Cup

Kickoff times are in CET

  Win   Draw   Loss

12 September 2020 (2020-09-12) 2nd Round	Lausanne-Ouchy	1–2	Grasshopper Club Zurich	Lausanne
16:30	Ndongo 65'	Report	45' Kalem 66' Demhasaj	Stadium: Stade Juan-Antonio-Samaranch Attendance: 800

24 February 2021 (2021-02-24) Round of 16	Grasshopper Club Zurich	2–0	Lausanne-Sport	Zürich
17:30	Léo 69' Ponde 82'	Report		Stadium: Letzigrund Attendance: 0 Referee: Alain Bieri

14 April 2021 (2021-04-14) Quarter-finals	Grasshopper Club Zurich	1–2	St. Gallen	Zürich
18:00	Léo 90+3'	Report	5' Görtler 18' Ruiz	Stadium: Letzigrund Attendance: 0 Referee: Fedayi San

Pre-season and friendlies

  Win   Draw   Loss

25 August 2020 (2020-08-25)	Türkgücü München	1–0	Grasshopper Club Zurich	Weingarten, Germany
19:00 CEST (UTC+2)	Boere 11' (pen.)	Report		Stadium: Lindenhofstadion Attendance: 0

29 August 2020 (2020-08-29)	Grasshopper Club Zurich	1–1	Luzern	Niederhasli, Switzerland
18:30 CEST (UTC+2)	Pusic 38'	Report	70' Arqués	Stadium: GC/Campus Attendance: 300

5 September 2020 (2020-09-05)	Servette FC	cancelled	Grasshopper Club Zurich	Montreux, Switzerland
16:00 CEST (UTC+2)		Report		Stadium: Stade Eugéne Parlier Attendance: 0
Note: Called off due to COVID-19 cases in the Grasshoppers squad.

9 October 2020 (2020-10-09)	Grasshopper Club Zurich	1–2	Lausanne-Sport	Niederhasli, Switzerland
15:00 CEST (UTC+2)	Pina 30'	Report	10', 63' Pedro Brazão	Stadium: GC/Campus Attendance: 0

9 January 2021 (2021-01-09)	Servette FC	cancelled	Grasshopper Club Zurich	Fribourg, Switzerland
15:00 CET (UTC+1)		Report		Stadium: Stade Universitaire Saint-Léonard
Note: Called off due to frozen pitch.

13 January 2021 (2021-01-13)	Luzern	cancelled	Grasshopper Club Zurich	Kriens, Switzerland
14:00 CET (UTC+1)		Report		Stadium: Stadion Kleinfeld
Note: Called off due to four COVID-19 cases in the FC Luzern squad.

16 January 2021 (2021-01-16)	Schaffhausen	0–1	Grasshopper Club Zurich	Schaffhausen, Switzerland
15:00 CET (UTC+1)		Report	69' Pusic	Stadium: LIPO Park Attendance: 0

16 January 2021 (2021-01-16)	Grasshopper Club Zurich	3–2	Austria Lustenau	Niederhasli, Switzerland
15:00 CET (UTC+1)	Filipe Carvalho 28', 70' Correia 61'	Report	84' Steinwender 88' Bertaccini	Stadium: GC/Campus Attendance: 0

27 March 2021 (2021-03-27)	Grasshopper Club Zurich	2–2	Rapperswil-Jona	Niederhasli, Switzerland
15:00 CET (UTC+1)	André Santos 20' Kalem 70'	Report	15' Casciato 56' Kubli	Stadium: GC/Campus Attendance: 0

Statistics

Goalscorers

Rank	No.	Pos	Nat	Name	Challenge League	Swiss Cup	Total
1	3	FW		Léo Bonatini	11	2	13
2	9	FW		Shkelqim Demhasaj	10	1	11
3	10	MF		Petar Pusic	9	0	9
4	23	MF		Nikola Gjorgjev	7	0	7
5	17	FW		Cristian Ponde	5	1	6
6	30	MF		Nuno Pina	3	0	3
	31	DF		Dominik Schmid	2	0	2
8	8	MF		André Santos	2	0	2
	24	DF		Toti	2	0	2
	33	MF		Giotto Morandi	2	0	2
11	5	DF		Aleksandar Cvetković	1	0	1
	14	MF		Connor Ronan	1	0	1
	19	MF		Nuno da Silva	1	0	1
	34	DF		Allan Arigoni	1	0	1
	48	MF		Robin Kalem	0	1	1
	89	DF		Ermir Lenjani	1	0	1
	90	FW		André Ribeiro	1	0	1
Own goals					0	0	0
Totals					60	5	65

Last updated: 20 May 2021
Source: Competitions

References

1. SRF. "Nach 67 Jahren im Oberhaus: Chaoten besiegeln den GC-Abstieg". srf.ch. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
2. Thomas Schifferle. "Chinesen übernehmen GC". 20 Minuten. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
3. SDA. "GC gegen den Rest: Sind die Zürcher konkurrenzlos?". bluewin.ch. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
4. Blick (11 May 2021). "GC feuert Trainer Pereira". blick.ch. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
5. nau.ch (21 May 2021). "Challenge League: GC steigt auf – Thun spielt Barrage". nau.ch. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
6. "Kader" [Squad]. gcz.ch (in German). Grasshopper Fussball AG. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
7. "GC rüstet auf – Offensiv-Duo wechselt zu den Zürchern". bluewin.ch. 2 July 2020. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
8. "GC rüstet auf – Offensiv-Duo wechselt zu den Zürchern". bluewin.ch. 2 July 2020. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
9. "Nächster Neuzugang bei GC: Dominik Schmid ist da". 4-4-2.com. 7 August 2020. Retrieved 2 December 2020.
10. "Yang Ming-Yang zu den Grasshoppers". bote.ch. 17 August 2020. Retrieved 2 December 2020.
11. "Wolves' Conor Ronan loaned to Grasshoppers". expressandstar.com. 17 September 2020. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
12. "Grasshoppers verpflichten Portugiesen Ponde". aargauerzeitung.ch. 25 August 2020. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
13. "André Santos reforça suíços do Grasshopper". record.pt. 29 August 2020. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
14. "GC holt Verteidiger Nadjack von Rio Ave". nau.ch. 29 August 2020. Retrieved 2 December 2020.
15. "Gomes verpflichtet – nächster Portugiese für GC". 4-4-2.com. 5 September 2020. Retrieved 2 December 2020.
16. "Ermir Lenjani kehrt zu GC zurück". suedostschweiz.ch. 11 September 2020. Retrieved 2 December 2020.
17. "Fix: Wolves-Brasilianer Léo Bonatini wechselt zu GC". 4-4-2.com. 22 September 2020. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
18. "Miguel Nóbrega ruma ao Grasshoppers". record.pt. 30 September 2020. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
19. "SC Kriens: Neuer Assistenztrainer und ein Abgang". regiofussball.ch. 4 January 2021. Retrieved 23 January 2021.
20. "Oskar Buur zu GC". gcz.ch. 11 January 2021. Retrieved 12 January 2021.
21. "GC verpflichtet Stürmer Acheffay". gcz.ch. 20 January 2021. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
22. "GC holt Da Silva". gcz.ch. 8 February 2021. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
23. "André Ribeiro zu GC". gcz.ch. 10 February 2021. Retrieved 14 February 2021.
24. "Fix: Danijel Subotic verlässt GC". 4-4-2.com. 1 July 2020. Retrieved 23 January 2021.
25. "GC verlängert Verträge mit Buff, Chagas und Wittwer nicht". nau.ch. 3 August 2020. Retrieved 23 January 2021.
26. "MERCATO: NASSIM BEN KHALIFA EN ROUTE POUR L'ESPÉRANCE DE TUNIS". africatopsports.com. 14 November 2020. Retrieved 23 January 2021.
27. "Amel Rustemoski wechselt leihweise zum SC Kriens". Luzerner Zeitung. 8 September 2020. Retrieved 2 December 2020.
28. "GC verlängert Verträge mit Buff, Chagas und Wittwer nicht". nau.ch. 3 August 2020. Retrieved 23 January 2021.
29. "Amel Rustemoski wechselt leihweise zum SC Kriens". Luzerner Zeitung. 8 September 2020. Retrieved 2 December 2020.
30. "Defesas Ivo Pinto e Nando Pijnaker foram reforços surpresa na apresentação do Rio Ave". sapo.pt. 29 August 2020. Retrieved 23 January 2021.
31. "GC verlängert Verträge mit Buff, Chagas und Wittwer nicht". nau.ch. 3 August 2020. Retrieved 23 January 2021.
32. "Dickenmann leihweise zum FC Wil 1900". gcz.ch. 14 January 2021. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
33. "Diani leihweise zum Livingston FC". gcz.ch. 15 January 2021. Retrieved 15 February 2021.
34. "Oscar Correia kehrt leihweise zu Étoile Carouge zurück". gcz.ch. 18 January 2021. Retrieved 18 February 2021.
35. "Allen Njie und Ming-yang Yang verlassen GC". gcz.ch. 3 March 2021. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
36. "GC TRENNT SICH VON JOÃO CARLOS PEREIRA" [GC sacks João Carlos Pereira]. gcz.ch (in German). Grasshopper Fussball AG. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
37. "Kader" [Squad]. gcz.ch (in German). Grasshopper Fussball AG. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
38. "Reglement für den Spielbetrieb der SFL" (PDF) (in German). sfl.ch. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 September 2018. Retrieved 26 August 2018.

External links

• Official website

• Grasshopper Club Zurich seasons
• Swiss football clubs 2020–21 season