Luca Zuffi

Luca Zuffi
Zuffi with Switzerland in 2015
Personal information
Date of birth (1990-03-27) 27 March 1990 (age 34)
Place of birth Winterthur, Switzerland
Height 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Position(s) Midfielder
Team information
Current team
 Winterthur
Number 77
Youth career
Oberwil[citation needed]
Winterthur
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2006–2013 Winterthur 87 (9)
2012–2013 → Thun (loan) 26 (1)
2013–2014 Thun 28 (3)
2014–2021 Basel 200 (27)
2021–2023 Sion 49 (2)
2023– Winterthur 30 (2)
International career
2005–2006 Switzerland U16 3 (0)
2006 Switzerland U17 2 (0)
2007–2008 Switzerland U18 3 (0)
2008–2009 Switzerland U19 7 (1)
2010 Switzerland U20 2 (0)
2015–2016 Switzerland 4 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 27 May 2024

Luca Zuffi (born 27 March 1990) is a Swiss professional footballer who plays as midfielder for Winterthur.

Club career

Winterthur

Luca Zuffi is the son of Dario Zuffi. Born in Winterthur, he started playing football at FC Oberwil,[1] as his father was playing for FC Basel at that time. In the summer of 1998 Dario Zuffi transferred back to his home club and the family moved home to Winterthur. Therefore, Luca continued his youth football with FC Winterthur. During the 2006–07 Challenge League season he played his debut in their first team. In the following season became a regular player, scoring four goals in 18 appearances.

Thun

At the beginning of the 2012–13 Super League season Winterthur loaned Zuffi out to Thun. Because he played in 26 of their 36 league games and because they qualified to play in the 2013–14 UEFA Europa League Thun took the option and transferred Zuffi definitively to the club. Thun advanced to the group stage in which Zuffi played in all six games.

Basel

Before the start of the 2014–15 Super League season Basel announced that they had completed Zuffi's transfer to the club on a three-year contract. He made his first team league debut on 19 July 2014 in the 2–1 away win against Aarau.[2] He scored his first goal for his new club on 9 August 2014 during the 4–1 home win against Zürich.[3][4]

The season 2014–15, with Paulo Sousa as manager, was a very successful one for Basel. The championship was won for the sixth time in a row[5] that season and in the 2014–15 Swiss Cup they reached the final. But for the third season in a row, they finished as runners-up, losing 0–3 to FC Sion in the final. Basel entered the Champions League in the group stage and reached the knockout phase as on 9 December 2014 they managed a 1–1 draw at Anfield against Liverpool.[6] But then Basel then lost to Porto in the Round of 16. Basel played a total of 65 matches (36 Swiss League fixtures, 6 Swiss Cup, 8 Champions League and 15 test matches). The season 2014–15 was also a very successful one for Zuffi. Under trainer Paulo Sousa he totaled 52 appearances, 29 League, 3 Cup, 7 Champions League, as well 13 in test games. He scored 7 goals in these matches.[7]

In the season 2015–16 Basel signed a new manager Urs Fischer. Zuffi had already played with Fischer as manager in Thun. With Fischer as manager Zuffi played regularly in the starting eleven. In the 2015–16 UEFA Europa League knockout phase home game in the St. Jakob-Park on 25 February 2016 Zuffi scored both goals as Basel won 2–1 against Saint-Étienne to quality for the next round.[8] Zuffi won the Swiss Super League championship at the end of the 2015–16 Super League season for the second time[9] and at the end of the 2016–17 Super League season for the third time. For the club this was the eighth title in a row and their 20th championship title in total.[10] They also won the Swiss Cup for the twelfth time, which meant they had won the double for the sixth time in the club's history.[11]

Under trainer Marcel Koller Basel won the Swiss Cup in the 2018–19 season. In the first round Basel beat FC Montlingen 3–0, in the second round Echallens Région 7–2 and in the round of 16 Winterthur 1–0. In the quarter-finals Sion were defeated 4–2 after extra time and in the semi-finals Zürich were defeated 3–1. All these games were played away from home. The final was held on 19 May 2019 in the Stade de Suisse Wankdorf Bern against Thun. Striker Albian Ajeti scored the first goal, Fabian Frei the second for Basel, then Dejan Sorgić netted a goal for Thun, but the end result was 2–1 for Basel.[12] Zuffi played in five cup games, inclusive the final, and scored one goal, this being in the quarter-final against Sion.[13]

On 22 May 2021 the club announced that Zuffi's contract that would expire 30 June 2021 would not be renewed.[14] Between the years 2014 and 2021 Zuffi played seven seasons for Basel in a total of 327 games scoring a total of 40 goals. Exactly 200 of these games were in the Swiss Super League, 22 in the Swiss Cup, 30 in the UEFA Champions League, 19 in the UEFA Europa League and 56 were friendly games. He scored 27 goals in the domestic league, two in the domestic cup, four in the Champions League, three in the Europa League and the other four were scored during the test games.[15]

Sion

On 17 June 2021, he signed a three-year contract with Sion.[16]

Return to Winterthur

On 26 June 2023, Zuffi agreed to return to Winterthur on a two-year contract.[17]

International career

Zuffi made his Switzerland debut in October 2015 by starting in a 7–0 win over San Marino.[18] He was included in the provisional squad but, however, was cut from the final squad for Euro 2016.[19] In his time with the national team Zuffi had four appearances for his country.[20]

Personal life

Luca Zuffi is the son of the former Swiss international Dario Zuffi, who is now assistant coach for FC Winterthur.[21] Luca has two brothers, Nico and Sandro, who are also footballers.

Honours

Basel

Individual

References

  1. ^ SFV (2015). "Luca Zuffi". SFV. Retrieved 29 May 2016.
  2. ^ Marti, Caspar (2014). "Gelungene Premiere auf dem Brügglifeld" (in German). FC Basel 1893. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
  3. ^ Herklotz, Guido (2014). "Der FCB siegt im tollen Klassiker überlegen mit 4:1" (in German). FC Basel 1893. Retrieved 9 August 2014.
  4. ^ FC Basel 1893 (2014). "Mittelfeldspieler-Luca-Zuffi-im-Porträt". FC Basel 1893. Retrieved 9 July 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  5. ^ Marti, Caspar (2015). "Der Meisterfreitag im bunten Zeitraffer". FC Basel 1893. Retrieved 29 May 2015. (in German)
  6. ^ "Liverpool 1 Basel 1". BBC Sport. 10 December 2014. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
  7. ^ Zindel, Josef (2015). Rotblau: Jahrbuch Saison 2015/2016. FC Basel Marketing AG. ISBN 978-3-7245-2050-4.
  8. ^ "Basel snatch last-16 spot from St-Étienne's grasp". uefa.com. 2016. Retrieved 25 February 2016.
  9. ^ Marti, Casper (2016). "Es ist vollbracht ! Der FCB ist zum 19. Mal Meister". FC Basel 1893. Retrieved 30 April 2016.
  10. ^ Marti, Casper (2017). "Der Saisonabschluss im Zeitraffer". FC Basel 1893. Retrieved 2 June 2017.
  11. ^ "Swiss football: FC Basel wins 3-0 over Sion in Geneva; police extra vigilant after game". allaboutgeneva.com. 25 May 2017. Archived from the original on 17 May 2019. Retrieved 25 May 2017.
  12. ^ Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv”. "FC Basel - FC Thun 2:1 (1:0)". Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv”. Retrieved 16 November 2019.
  13. ^ Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv”. "FC Sion - FC Basel 2:4 n.V. (2:2, 0:0)". Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv”. Retrieved 16 November 2019.
  14. ^ FC Basel 1893 (22 May 2021). "Kadersituation per Ende Saison". Squad situation at the end of the season. FC Basel homepage. Retrieved 22 May 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  15. ^ Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv” (22 May 2021). "Luca Zuffi - FCB-Statistik". Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv”. Retrieved 22 May 2021.
  16. ^ "Luca Zuffi s'engage avec le FC Sion !" (in French). Sion. 17 June 2021. Retrieved 19 October 2021.
  17. ^ "LUCA ZUFFI IS BACK!" [LUCA ZUFFI IS BACK!] (in German). Winterthur. 26 June 2023. Retrieved 18 September 2023.
  18. ^ "Switzerland vs. San Marino - 9 October 2015 - Soccerway".
  19. ^ "Three teenagers in final Switzerland squad". 30 May 2016.
  20. ^ Schweizerischer Fussball Verband (ASF-SFV) (2020). "Luca Zuffi statistics". Schweizerischer Fussball Verband (ASF-SFV) homepage. Retrieved 16 November 2020.
  21. ^ Swiss Football League (SFL) (2020). "Dario Zuffi - statistics". Swiss Football League (ASF-SFV) homepage. Retrieved 16 November 2020.
  22. ^ "Swiss football: FC Basel wins 3-0 over Sion in Geneva; police extra vigilant after game". allaboutgeneva.com. 25 May 2017. Archived from the original on 17 May 2019. Retrieved 25 May 2017.
  23. ^ "Golden Player 2015". Golden11. 31 January 2016. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
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