Ga-Ga-Land: The GC owners from Los Angeles misjudged Swiss football – but dreaming is still allowed

"To the fools who dream," sings Emma Stone in the wonderful film "La La Land." It's about the search for happiness, success, and love in Los Angeles. The central message is the importance of dreams and passion, coupled with compromise and loss.

When it comes to Grasshopper Club, it's not just fools who dream of better times. For two decades, losses and, at best, compromises have characterized the proud football club, which is still the record champion and record cup winner. Since the beginning of 2024, Grasshopper Club has been owned by a group of people from Los Angeles, among them actors, basketball legends, and world-class female footballers. Billionaires and millionaires have successfully invested – in the sports industry, even in football with Los Angeles Football Club, which became champions just a few years after its founding.

The $1 million question is: What plan do these investors have for GC?

After almost a year and a half under American leadership, not even dreamers can be satisfied with the development. Anyone who speaks to people familiar with the club's operations gets the impression of an overwhelmed organization that has barely made a correct decision since January 2024.

Last season, GC made a late and spectacular comeback in the play-off against FC Thun. It was that encounter in the Bernese Oberland that sent president Stacy Johns into a frenzy: "I won the Super Bowl with the Indianapolis Colts. Nevertheless, the 2-1 win in the return match against FC Thun was the most incredible victory I've ever experienced." This statement comes from a talk by Johns at the Sports Business Conference in Hamburg in January.

Johns rarely makes an appearance in Zurich. In Hamburg, however, the Californian raved about LAFC's global vision for football. Anyone who hears these statements is astonished by her naivety and enthusiasm. "We're on the right track in Zurich," Johns added.

GC is not LAFC, Zurich is not Los Angeles, and the football culture in Switzerland is not like that in the USA. It became apparent early on how little the Californian owners knew about Swiss football. Unfortunately, this also applies to German Harald Gärtner, LAFC's Managing Director for Europe, although Europe is limited to Innsbruck and Zurich. A fourth-division team in Austria, and GC.

A club in the Super League cannot be directed from Wolverhampton or Shanghai, like GC under its Chinese owners, nor from Los Angeles or Innsbruck.

Gärtner relied on his friend Stephan Schwarz, a German like him, as sporting director, even though many people had pointed out that Swiss sporting expertise was urgently needed. In an August interview with the NZZ, Schwarz told the NZZ that many dreams had been sold at GC over the past twenty years. "But we don't sell dreams." If things weren't so bitter for Grasshoppers, one could at least attest to Schwarz's comedic talent.

Stephan Schwarz was a misfit; he was released almost two weeks ago. Amazingly, Tomas Oral, the German coach from Gärtner's network, was allowed to stay. They completely underestimated the task at GC, says someone with a long association with the club. It's a phrase you hear again and again, and it's a realization that Gärtner and Schwarz admitted internally a few weeks ago.

The squad is like a mixed bag of players from every continent. Some of the players are talented, but unsuited for the relegation battle in Switzerland; they're in the wrong place at the wrong time, at the wrong club. And someone like captain Amir Abrashi, passionate about GC, is no longer capable of consistently leading the unsettled team on the pitch at the age of 35.

And so, these weeks, GC is once again a club living off the past, drowning in the present in melancholy, and facing a complicated future. Even with one round to go, relegation is not assured. Those in charge are vigorously attacking critical journalists, but lacking the same dedication in their core business. Things are in a dismal state both sportingly and financially anyway; the annual deficit is 12, 15, 16 million francs, so a million more or less somehow doesn't matter.

In addition to Stephan Schwarz, Jörg Stiel and Giotto Morandi have had to leave the club in recent days. The goalkeeping coach and the best player, respectively, were allegedly forced to leave the club. They were allegedly responsible for creating a negative atmosphere. In reality, both decided to leave the club at the end of the season last fall. Morandi is expected to join Servette on a free transfer.

Anyone who speaks to Andras Gurovits these days hears a representative of the old GC who is convinced of the new GC. As a board member, Gurovits was instrumental in the takeover by the American investors. He says that, first and foremost, one should be happy that Grasshoppers still exist. "We've been suffering for two decades. But our owners have long-term plans and guarantee stability."

Gurovits interprets the appointment of Alain Sutter as sporting director as a positive signal. Sutter was originally supposed to be announced this summer, and further personnel adjustments at the management level are planned, including a more Swiss touch. The visions will be announced after the season.

Maybe GC will be in the Super League by then. Maybe not. It's undisputed that Sutter represents a spirit of optimism. He played for Grasshoppers, has already been an advisor to the board, and comes as a savior who did a good job at FC St. Gallen. However, Sutter is considered to be stubborn; he's not one for the front, preferring to work in the background. He needs a strong partner, one like President Matthias Hüppi was at St. Gallen.

Above all, Sutter needs a large investment to strengthen the team. Nearly twenty players' contracts are expiring. And what Grasshoppers need now are influential figures like former GC footballer Steven Zuber, whom they could have contacted in Greece, as FCZ did – despite his closeness to FCZ sporting director Milos Malenovic. That's if they even knew Zuber at all.

GC doesn't need any more young players from Argentina, Australia, South Korea, Canada, or Benin. Instead, they need someone like striker Cedric Itten, who is no longer a regular at YB.

That will cost money. Sutter wouldn't have embarked on the adventure at GC if he hadn't received the appropriate assurances. And LAFC's plan is based on the fact that it's comparatively easy to reach the European Cup in Switzerland – and thus a lucrative group stage in which player value can be increased. And on exchanging players within the network, perhaps even benefiting from the collaboration with Bayern Munich. In theory, that sounds smart.

In reality, however, GC will wait until at least 2030 for a football stadium. "We are without a home," says Gurovits, "and that's a big problem." In December, 2,323 spectators came to the Letzigrund for the game against Yverdon; last week, the number was 4,266.

American investors have also misjudged the situation in Zurich. They want to strengthen the "community," as they repeatedly emphasize, but they're getting lost in helpless efforts to create anthems, Heugümper symbols, and a Hoppers feeling . In a background briefing last year, Benny Tran, an LAFC representative, explained the diverse activities aimed at getting people excited about GC. Tran was ordered back to California after a few months in Zurich.

Unfortunately, we forgot to think about the sport. But maybe everything will turn out well now. With Alain Sutter, with statement transfers, a suitable coach, successful youth development, and homegrown talents like 17-year-old Leart Kabashi, who scored his first Super League goal last Wednesday against Yverdon.

But doubts are justified. Larry Berg, a GC co-owner, explained in a podcast on "The Athletic" at the end of March how LA had succeeded in activating the community after launching the LAFC brand without having signed a single player or even built a stadium. GC had existed for 139 years, and they had to activate and inspire the fan base with good work. Berg also spoke about the importance of youth development, management, scouting, the global network, and the academy in Gambia, and how they were leading GC to the top. It sounded like a lot of blabber.

But dreaming is allowed. Especially in "La La Land," the love letter to Los Angeles. It offers an escape from the crazy world, fueling the imagination. In the film, the fools are allowed to dream – in life, they fail.

Collaboration: Stephan Ramming

An article from the « NZZ am Sonntag »