The FCZ and the open flank

Milos Malenovic's departure was loud and ultimately inevitable. And yet it only explains part of what FC Zurich is dealing with in the winter of the 2026/2025 season. Because the real question is not why this collaboration failed - but why it was able to develop in this form in the first place.

This is where the story behind the image crisis begins. It is less about a person and more about a system in which management, organization and communication increasingly drifted apart. About a club that wanted to function in sporting terms without thinking about its brand. And about an open flank that did not arise on the pitch, but in the interplay of power, expectation and a lack of classification.

When trust becomes a currency

The transfer of Benjamin Mendy has accelerated this fragile situation. He acted as an accelerant in an environment that was already under tension. Not because football has to be moral - but because brands are based on trust. And trust is not built in fundamental debates, but in everyday life: with fans, partners, sponsors and employees.

To understand the significance of this decision, it is important to understand the context: French footballer Benjamin Mendy was charged with several counts of rape and sexual assault in England. The allegations related to alleged acts between October 2018 and August 2021, brought forward by several women. In court proceedings, Mendy was acquitted of all charges by a jury in 2023. The defense successfully argued that all sexual contact had been consensual. Mendy is therefore legally considered innocent.

However, this was precisely the communication challenge for FCZ. The club was not signing a player with sporting question marks, but a player with a highly charged public history. This meant that a sporting decision inevitably became a brand issue. Not because of the verdict, but because of the perception. And because FCZ did not succeed in clearly and credibly embedding this transfer in its own stance at an early stage, the club fell into a defensive explanation mode.

At a time when the club was already looking for direction, the Mendy transfer reinforced the feeling that sporting ambition, organizational culture and public image were no longer in harmony. The open flank was therefore less in the penalty area than in the club's self-image.

Behind the event: Why failure is systemic

The break with Malenovic was inevitable. But it doesn't explain anything. Because the real question is: why could a style that polarizes both internally and externally become so effective in the first place?

This is where the look behind the scenes begins. For years, FCZ has been strongly supported by individual figures - both financially and operationally. This has provided stability, but also created dependencies. Decisions were possible without necessarily being embedded in an overarching narrative. In such constellations, leadership quickly becomes power - and communication becomes justification. This is precisely where the flank opens up. Not on the left, not on the right in the square, but where claim and explanation are no longer congruent.

Leadership today means: being able to explain

Modern football clubs no longer function as one-man operations centers. They are complex organizations in which sporting, economic and communicative decisions interact. If you don't separate internally, you can't explain externally.

That's why FCZ is not just about new heads, but about architecture. It's about a management model that distributes responsibility, clearly assigns competencies - and thus creates calm. International role models have long relied on leadership teams instead of all-powerful sports directors. Not for reasons of fashion, but out of necessity. For a club with the charisma of FCZ, this is not a management gimmick, but brand work. A club that can explain why it does what it does becomes more accessible. For sponsors. For fans. For talents.

The Tararache moment - why experience makes talent better

Mihai Tararache joined FC Zurich in 2004. On a free transfer from Grasshoppers. An unspectacular transfer on paper - a stroke of luck in practice. Tararache was not a loudspeaker, not a symbolic player, not a marketing moment. He was something much rarer: a midfielder with a sense of order who not only stabilized a team, but made it better.

His strength lay less in individual moments than in the in-between: in positioning, in timing, in the clarity of his decisions. A high level of ball security, uncompromising ball recovery, game intelligence, authority - and an aggressiveness that never seemed hectic, but rather structured. Tararache took time out of the game when it needed it. And released the tempo when others were still sorting things out.

Above all, however, he created reliability. Players like Blermin Dzemaili and Xavier Margairaz were able to develop alongside him because they knew that there was someone playing behind and next to them who closed spaces, cushioned risks and took on responsibility. Tararache was not a mentor in the pedagogical sense - he was a point of reference on the pitch. Someone to whom the intelligence of the game could orient itself.

It was no coincidence that FCZ not only became champions during this phase, but also developed players who went on to have international careers. It was the result of an axis that saw experience not as a counterweight to talent, but as its amplifier.

The parallels to the present are obvious - not out of nostalgia, but out of logic. Today, FCZ once again has a remarkable generation of young players at its disposal. They take on responsibility early on, shape games and are the focus of attention. That's exactly why we need players who don't look for things themselves, but make decisions. They know when a risk is necessary - and when not. Tararache was not an effect. He was a player who made other players better. And it is precisely this type of player who decides whether talent grows or stagnates.

Squad planning begins in winter

In this light, squad planning becomes a question of leadership. Not just in the summer, when markets are overheated and options are shrinking, but in the winter, when direction is set. If you really want to promote youth, you have to give them a foothold. Not on the bench, but in the center of the game. The fact that under Milos Malenovic all talented players were given contracts for two to four years at an early stage is part of a fair balance. This planning security is a value - both in sporting and economic terms. It buys time. But time alone does not solve structural issues.

Data, AI - and the new sobriety in football

When budgets come under pressure, bad decisions become expensive. That's why technology is no longer an innovation toy in the modern club, but risk management. AI in scouting, in load management, in analysis - all of this serves one goal: less chance, more precision. Clubs such as Sevilla and Ajax show how data-based systems can help to objectify decisions. For FCZ, this would not be a break with its DNA, but rather a further development of it: recognizing, protecting and developing talent - systemically instead of intuitively.

Brand is not a claim, but behavior

In the end, everything leads back to the brand. FC Zurich is more than just a sports club. It is a city club, a projection surface, a place of identification. This is precisely why ambiguity has a stronger effect here than anywhere else.

Today, brands are not believed because they claim something, but because they act consistently. Reward logics, sustainability strategies, women's football - all these topics only pay off if they are not seen as an add-on, but as an expression of an attitude.

Women's football in particular shows the potential that lies here. The FCZ was a pioneer. Now it needs to professionalize. Not for image reasons - but because credibility comes from consistency.

Close the flank

The failure with Milos Malenovic was not an industrial accident. It was a warning signal. FC Zurich's open flank is not a tactical detail. It is the result of a lack of clarity between management, communication and the sporting axis. If you want to close it, you need more than new names. They need clarity and finally a shirt sponsor again...