Ricardo Moniz was sure he would return after the summer break – now he is no longer coach of FC Zurich

It's been a wild season, even for FC Zurich, a club we've come to expect from a lot. The Zurich team will deliver a fitting finale on Tuesday; you can rely on them in that regard. It was announced that Ricardo Moniz, the Dutch coach, had to leave the club.

FCZ had actually announced that Ancillo Canepa, the president, and Milos Malenovic, the sporting director, would hold a press conference in the coming days to analyze the past season. However, the invitation to this press conference was never sent out. Instead, Moniz's dismissal has now been announced.

The 60-year-old took over as head coach of FC Zurich just over a year ago. Initially, he served as interim coach, then last summer as the new boss. He had already joined the club in the fall of 2023 as Head of Development – ​​and the man under Milos Malenovic, the sporting director who had recently been promoted to the position by the Canepa couple. He initiated a profound restructuring of the club, with countless personnel changes. Moniz, a proponent of the pressing school from the Red Bull universe, was hired to assist in this transformation.

Before coming to Zurich, Moniz had led an unsettled coaching career. FC Zurich was his 13th employer in 10 countries within 13 years. When sporting director Malenovic and president Canepa last spoke publicly a few weeks ago on the club's own podcast, they still saw their club on a "great path," even though it had just missed out on promotion to the Championship Group. Coach Moniz said after the final game last Thursday in Yverdon that he would "of course" return after the summer break.

The truth is probably that Moniz and Malenovic's relationship had been souring for some time. Since the winter break at the latest, the coach had repeatedly hinted that he didn't agree with everything the sporting director demanded of him. "We have discussions, Milos and I don't always agree," he once said, but it's always about remaining objective and true to one another in order to continue working.

At one of his always productive press conferences, Moniz also spoke about his "subordination" to the FCZ project; he said he wasn't important as a coach; what mattered was the path the club had taken. Moniz spoke of Malenovic as one of the best sporting directors in Europe. But he was still young, and he wanted many things "quickly and immediately."

Moniz was never at a loss for a clear analysis or a strong statement, and more than once he found himself at the center of both minor and major scandals. Once, the father of striker Labinot Bajrami threw an umbrella at him after Moniz had substituted his son on and off. It was a typical move of the early Moniz: tough, uncompromising. If players didn't do their job, he could quickly send them back to the bench. When he later described a refereeing performance as a "catastrophe for Swiss football," he was suspended by the league. After that, he moderated his language and, presumably at the behest of those above, calmed down a bit.

Moniz has lived up to his reputation as a brilliant trainer, but as a coach, he always remained Malenovic's extended arm. "I'm not a politician," Moniz once said. As long as he feels the support of the club's management, he'll continue.

The longer the season dragged on, the harder Moniz could hide his desire to win games and avoid experimenting with young players. He had a successful start to the season; for a brief period in the fall, FC Zurich even topped the table. But after a complete overhaul during the winter break ordered by sporting director Malenovic, Moniz's task became increasingly difficult. Key players such as Antonio Marchesano, Nikola Katic, Cheick Condé, and Jonathan Okita left FC Zurich. At Malenovic's behest, Moniz was no longer allowed to play Mirlind Kryeziu and Ifeanyji Mathew because the two did not want to extend their contracts.

The transformation ended in the relegation group instead of the championship round. It's safe to assume that this disappointment wasn't the deciding factor against Moniz, but it played a significant role in the split.

His departure reinforces the image of a club in constant turmoil, one that also lacks style and class. It's fitting that Ricardo Moniz, after his dismissal, told "20 Minuten" that he knew nothing about it. Fans in the south stand have recently repeatedly expressed their displeasure with the way the club is being run. The transfer of Benjamin Mendy, the French defender with a turbulent past , continues to stir emotions. At the last home game of the season, the derby against GC, the south stand wrote on a banner that they could have lived with the old FCZ at the end of the day – that is, in the relegation group – but not with the reinvention. And then: "Thank you Malenovic!"

The club's immediate prospects are bleak. The presidents and their wife brought in CHF 7.5 million in the 2023/24 financial year. There will be no European Cup revenue in the new season either, and whether the Zurich club has increased the market value of its squad and can sell any of its players at a high price is at least questionable.

Now they're first embarking on a coaching search. The club will announce Moniz's successor "in due course." It's already certain that assistant coach Alessandro Riedle will also have to leave FC Zurich. It's also clear that the current U21 coach, Dennis Hediger, will be the new assistant coach. Hediger is considered one of Malenovic's followers at the club; when he was still an agent, rather than a sporting director, Malenovic advised Hediger. FC Zurich may be changing its head coach, but not its direction.