Grasshopper Club Zürich

About Grasshopper Club Zürich

Grasshopper Club Zurich ended Rotweiss Wettingen’s 10-year reign as Swiss national champions to qualify for the EHL for the first time.
It is the culmination of several years’ work. The men’s team took a major step forward in 2019 when they professionalised under head coach Facqundo Quiroga, before Franco Romani took the reins in 2022.
It was their first outdoor title in 28 years, coming 100 years after the men’s section was founded in 1924.
Swiss players Joël Plambeck, Fabian Steiner, Fabio Landtwing, and Oliver Haberthür played in the final, lifting the trophy just like their fathers did as the last Swiss champions for the club.
The current team’s composition is a blend of homegrown players and players from all over the world with a significant Argentinian influence, led by Romani, giving them a proactive and attacking style of play.
Roman Richner is the longest server of this club and team, the 38 year-old winning his first Swiss title for him having long been the club captain and face of the club.
Nahuel “Pupo” Salis is a Tokyo 2020 Olympian with Argentina having played for a long time in Belgium for Gantoise and Daring. He joined in the summer of 2023.
Steiner and Benjamin Eddy are the current captains while Landtwing is an exciting, fast player with lots of international experience with the Swiss national team. Acceleration of a Tesla, he scored six goals at the club’s last EuroHockey Club Trophy event in 2023.
Other Swiss national team players are Oliver Haberthür, Lukas Müller, Philip Nitsch, Patrick Krüsi and Steiner.
They are in strong form so far following test games in Vienna against Junior FC, Münchner SC and SV Arminen SV and they carried the form into the season with four wins in a row, leading the table by five points.
A while back the coaches introduced the expression “no friends” describing the attitude or mentality they want to have during a game. It has also became a running joke.
“After months of hard work and dedication, we’ve sharpened our tactics and honed our defensive system to match the intensity of Europe’s best teams. As we step onto the field for our EHL debut, Grasshoppers Club is ready to compete,” said head coach Franco Romani.
They do also have a measure of EHL experience in the squad;Lars Bamberg wants to return to his second EHL endeavour after scoring a first Swiss goal for Luzerner SC in 2007.

EHL History
Debut season

The team

STARSICH Fabian

Shirt number: 1
Date of Birth: 22/09/1990
Nationality: Austria

KEITEL Robert

Shirt number: 2
Date of Birth: 24/01/1992
Nationality: Germany

TURNER Craig

Shirt number: 3
Date of Birth: 07/05/1998
Nationality: New Zealand

EDDY Benjamin

Shirt number: 4
Date of Birth: 21/02/1985
Nationality: England

SCHEUER Constantin

Shirt number: 5
Date of Birth: 06/03/1997
Nationality: Germany

SALIS Nahuel

Shirt number: 6
Date of Birth: 06/08/1989
Nationality: Argentina

LANDTWING Fabio

Shirt number: 7
Date of Birth: 18/02/1999
Nationality: Switzerland

RICHNER Roman

Shirt number: 8
Date of Birth: 29/09/1986
Nationality: Switzerland

HARTE Lucas

Shirt number: 9
Date of Birth: 13/11/1994
Nationality: Argentina

UNGER Timon

Shirt number: 10
Date of Birth: 28/08/1996
Nationality: Germany

BAMBERG Lars

Shirt number: 11
Date of Birth: 08/04/1987
Nationality: Switzerland

SIEMSSEN Jakob

Shirt number: 12
Date of Birth: 27/01/2004
Nationality: Switzerland

HABERTHÜR Oliver

Shirt number: 13
Date of Birth: 10/10/2001
Nationality: Switzerland

FRANK Luca

Shirt number: 14
Date of Birth: 18/04/1997
Nationality: Germany

PLAMBECK Joel

Shirt number: 15
Date of Birth: 14/09/1998
Nationality: Switzerland

von RUFFER Artur

Shirt number: 16
Date of Birth: 23/11/2001
Nationality: Germany

LOHM Milan

Shirt number: 17
Date of Birth: 09/07/2005
Nationality: Switzerland

STEINER Fabian

Shirt number: 18
Date of Birth: 11/04/1996
Nationality: Switzerland

MÜLLER Lukas

Shirt number: 19
Date of Birth: 26/12/2002
Nationality: Switzerland

LOHM Flurin

Shirt number: 20
Date of Birth: 25/08/2008
Nationality: Switzerland

KRUPA Florian

Shirt number: 21
Date of Birth: 06/03/1997
Nationality: Germany

COLLOMBON Joriaan

Shirt number: 22
Date of Birth: 25/03/2001
Nationality: Netherlands

POULASTROU Immanuel

Shirt number: 23
Date of Birth: 24/07/2004
Nationality: Switzerland

HEUBERGER Milo

Shirt number: 24
Date of Birth: 26/07/2006
Nationality: Switzerland

KRÜSI Patrick

Shirt number: 25
Date of Birth: 08/08/1993
Nationality: Switzerland

van der WEIDE Hein

Shirt number: 26
Date of Birth: 07/11/1999
Nationality: Netherlands

LAMSTER Victor

Shirt number: 28
Date of Birth: 17/12/2006
Nationality: Switzerland

GREMLICH Pascal

Shirt number: 29
Date of Birth: 10/09/2005
Nationality: Switzerland

BRISAR Bruno

Shirt number: 32
Date of Birth: 29/10/2006
Nationality: Switzerland

NITSCH Philip

Shirt number: 33
Date of Birth: 26/04/2003
Nationality: Switzerland