0-0 against FC Basel: FC Zurich started the year with a point loss and has not won in four games. Milos Malenovic, the strong man in the club, soon replaced all the coaches in the FCZ. Bo Henriksen’s future is still officially unclear.
Milos Malenovic is bravely restructuring the FCZ as the new sports director.
Goran Basic for NZZ
FC Zurich started the year 2024 with a 0-0 draw in Letzigrund against FC Basel on Sunday. The zero number in a heated atmosphere doesn’t really help any team. The Zurich team are now 9 points behind the leader YB, who won a lackluster 1-0 against GC – FCZ were still leaders at the end of November.
The FCZ played against Basel in the same formation as in the first half of this season, the suspended top performer Cheick Condé was replaced in central midfield by Bledian Krasniqi. Coach Bo Henriksen is a fan of personnel continuity. Not everyone in the club is convinced of this concept because the young footballers are hardly used.
Things should be different in the future. The sports director Milos Malenovic is not a fan of personnel continuity; he is working under high pressure and in all areas to restructure the club. Almost all coaches have already been replaced.
The ugly exit of Genesio Colatrella
The sports director has now installed a dozen people to implement his philosophy. There are young coaches, assistant coaches, goalie coaches, striker coaches, junior developers, training managers, chief scouts. Not all castling was silent.
Long-time U-21 coach Genesio Colatrella, who coached the first team on an interim basis in autumn 2022 before Henriksen joined, recently had to leave the FCZ. Colatrella did not want to take over the U-19 team, but rather continue to look after the U-21 team as contractually agreed. But the Dutchman Ricardo Moniz is intended for this team, a coach with a remarkable past who could succeed Henriksen at any time.
Genesio Colatrella is leaving FC Zurich. You can find out more here:
👉 https://t.co/wU2HK7mExG#fcz #NieUsenandGah pic.twitter.com/xXVIDUJfXG
— FC Zurich (@fc_zuerich) January 17, 2024
The motto at FC Zurich is: All power to Malenovic. That doesn’t have to be a bad thing, the former player agent is seen as quick to act and busy, clever and cool, networked and consistent. These are qualities that could help him on the ambitious path of turning the FCZ into a so-called system club along the lines of Ajax Amsterdam. Henriksen’s position and the first team squad have so far remained untouched. Malenovic told the club’s own TV that the 18-year-old offensive player Joseph Sabobo from Zambia, whom the FCZ had recently signed, had already been brought in before his time at the club.
Communication in FC Zurich has been confusing for some time. It started when Malenovic was hired as an advisor last summer, even though everyone in the industry knew that the 39-year-old would soon become the club’s strong man anyway. And the statements regarding an extension of the contract with the successful Henriksen have long seemed at least strange, but certainly irritating.
According to Danish media, the coach had already informed the FCZ before the season that he would be leaving in the summer of 2024. Since then, the question of Henriksen’s future has been an elephant in the room. Everyone sees it, everyone talks about it, everyone says nothing.
In December it was said that the matter would be clarified during the winter break and in the training camp. Winter break and training camp are over. Nothing is clarified. We are talking about “fantastic conversations”. Naturally. Last week Henriksen said: “Everything has an end, it’s part of life. But when? And how?” And: “There are things in a relationship that are complicated. We have to talk about it together.”
All teams in the FCZ should have the same playing philosophy
If you listen carefully and talk to people who are familiar with internal processes, you will notice things that can be complicated in a relationship and require fantastic conversations. For example, Henriksen wants new, experienced players, while FCZ officials would rather promote their own talents. Henriksen would like a striker, Malenovic and President Ancillo Canepa believe that Henriksen rarely plays with a real number 9. In December, Henriksen called the record since the start of the season “outstanding” with only 3 defeats in 21 competitive games, Canepa and Malenovic spoke of a weak one Final spurt.
And finally: the game philosophy. Milos Malenovic wants all teams, from the youngest to the very top, to play in the same system and according to the same tactical and playful guidelines. Last week he said in an FCZ fan talk: “When will this be implemented in the first team? We’ll have to be patient. We have a coach who plays very successfully. We have to respect that.”
The respected Henriksen wants to win games and titles, not implement dogmatic system football. He is having fantastic talks with the FCZ, was recently a candidate at 1. FC Köln and was actively offered to English clubs by consultants.
Will Malenovic hire a confidant as coach?
At FC Zurich, new footballers will have to adapt to the new playing philosophy. And the coach Malenovic wants may still be under contract. Maybe it’s someone like the Dutchman Alfred Schreuder from al-Nasr in the United Arab Emirates, who has a past at system clubs like Ajax, FC Barcelona and Hoffenheim. And who was once one of Malenovic’s clients at his company Soccer Mondial. This was transferred to the international agency VPA, although Malenovic is said to still be very close to the operation.
Malenovic has fulfilled his dream of managing a football club. He should have a right of first refusal if the owner couple Canepa sells the FCZ at some point. The club is already a kind of FC Malenovic. Things ended badly for FC Zurich at the office when the former Chief Operating Officer Nick Gast was given a similar amount of power. Several employees left the club, there was great unrest, even the fans protested against the uninvited guest. A few weeks ago, Roger Herzog was installed as managing director and successor to Gast.
The most exciting question in the club remains how long Henriksen will continue to work at the FCZ. While Fabio Celestini, the FC Basel coach, received a yellow-red card at Letzigrund on Sunday, Henriksen was cautioned for the fourth time this season. The Dane is therefore banned from next Sunday’s derby against GC. And for the first time, the FCZ failed to win four times in a row in the Super League with him.