Servette

Early years to bankruptcy

Founded in 1890, Servette are one of the most prolific Swiss football clubs, having won 17 Swiss league championships and seven Swiss cups. Servette were also winners of the Torneo Internazionale Stampa Sportiva, one of the first international football competitions in the world, in 1908. In 1930, Servette organized the Coupe des Nations, predecessor of the UEFA Champions League.

The club was originally founded as the "Football Club de la Servette", a rugby football team based in the Genevan neighbourhood of the same name. Due to the dwindling popularity of this sport in Switzerland, a football section of the club was created, leading to its integration in the Swiss Football Association in 1900.

Led by Umberto Barberis and Claude "Didi" Andrey, in 1978–1979 the club won all of the competitions it entered – with the exception of the European Cup Winners' Cup where they were eliminated in the quarter-finals on away goals by Fortuna Düsseldorf, that year's finalist. Barberis later became French champion in 1982 with AS Monaco.

Until its bankruptcy, Servette was the only Swiss club to have remained in the top league since its creation in 1890. Servette remained the only club to have never been relegated for sporting reasons, until they finished last in the 2012–2013 season.

Bankruptcy and revival

On 4 February 2005, the parent company of the club was declared bankrupt. It had run debts of over 10 million Swiss francs, having not paid the players since the previous November, and consequently the club suffered an exodus of players looking for paying clubs. As a consequence of the bankruptcy Servette Under 21s took over the club name playing two divisions below the original Servette team in 1. Liga, a fate already experienced by regional rivals Lausanne Sports in 2003, and continued to play at the Stade de Geneve in front of smaller crowds.

In the 2005–06 season, a rejuvenated Servette secured promotion to the Challenge League, the second highest division in Switzerland.

In the 2010–11 season, Servette finished 2nd in the Challenge League, thereby qualifying for a relegation/promotion play-off against Super League team AC Bellinzona. Servette lost the initial match in Bellinzona 1–0, but won the return match 3–1 and winning the tie 3–2 on aggregate, securing promotion to the Swiss Super League.

2011 to present

During the Summer 2011 transfer window, Servette FC made very few signings, considering the club had been promoted from the second division to the Super League. Barroca, Issaga Diallo, Carlos Saleiro and Abdoulaye Fall (the latter failed to receive a work permit) were signed as permanent transfers, in addition to Ishmael Yartey and Roderick Miranda joining the club on loan from Benfica. Costinha, a former Portugal international and Champions League winner with FC Porto, was appointed as the club's Sporting Director, after he had been previously fired by Lisbon-based Sporting CP. With a largely unchanged squad from their previous season in the second division, Servette achieved very impressive results in the first half of the season, including victories over FC Zurich, BSC Young Boys, Neuchatel Xamax, FC Lucerne, local rivals FC Lausanne-Sport and a 4–0 away win over arch-rivals FC Sion. Despite achieving overall impressive results in the first half of the season, manager João Alves was fired, and was replaced by his compatriot João Pereira, to the disappointment of many of Servette's supporters.

In December 2011, reports surfaced that Servette was unable to pay players' salaries, in addition to other expenses. In January 2012, one of the club's star performers and leading goalscorers, Matías Vitkieviez, was sold to Young Boys for only 150,000 CHF. In February 2012, Servette filed for bankruptcy a second time. On 12 March 2012, chairman Majid Pishyar sold the club to a consortium headed by Hugh Quennec, president of the city's hockey club, Genève-Servette HC. The club was initially given one month to secure the funding necessary to come out of bankruptcy proceedings, and was successful in doing so. Pishyar remained as "honorary president" through the end of the 2011–12 season.

In April 2012, the decision was made to reinstate manager João Alves, who had achieved promotion and impressive results in the first half of the season, and to fire his replacement João Pereira, who had failed to improve the club's results. Alves' return immediately led to improved results, and the club finished the season's final five matches with four wins and one draw. This included a 2–1 victory over FC Basel on the final day of the season, which ended a run of 17 consecutive losses against FC Basel dating back to 2001, as well as ending Basel's 26 match unbeaten streak. The victory also meant that Servette secured fourth place in their first season back in Switzerland's top flight, granting Servette entry into the second round of qualifying for the 2012–13 UEFA Europa League. The season ended with further good news, as on 24 May 2012, the Swiss Football League granted Servette its license for the 2012–13 season, thus marking the end of Servette's financial worries for the time being.

Servette announced that it would be preparing for the 2012–13 season with friendly matches against Thun, Shakhtar Donetsk, Yverdon-Sport, Étoile Carouge, Lausanne-Sport and Porto. In the transfer market, Servette sold Stéphane Nater and Carlos Saleiro, while Ishmael Yartey and Roderick Miranda were recalled to Benfica from their loan spells. Servette bolstered its ranks by signing Geoffrey Tréand, Alexandre Pasche, Christopher Mfuyi, Kevin Gissi, Simone Grippo, Mike Gomes, and Samir Ramizi. Servette also brought in Genséric Kusunga, Steven Lang, and Kelvin on loan for the season.

On 12 July 2012, it was confirmed that Servette would face Gandzasar FC in the second round of qualifying for the 2012–13 UEFA Europa League. The club won the tie 5–1, progressing to face Rosenborg BK in the third qualifier round, against whom they were eliminated on away goals. Servette's league campaign, meanwhile, went poorly, and the club was relegated (for sporting reasons) for the first time in its 113-year history in May 2013, following a 3–0 away defeat by relegation rivals FC Lausanne-Sport.

On 14 July 2013, Servette began the 2013–14 season in the Swiss Challenge League with a 2–1 win at FC Wohlen.

After finishing 2nd in the 2014–15 Swiss Challenge League, the Swiss Football League refused Servette FC a Challenge League licence meaning that Servette would play in the 1st Promotion League (third tier) during 2015–16. In June 2015 the club held a press conference where it was revealed that Servette FC had new owners – 1890 Foundation – holding 100% of the capital stock of SFC SA. At the same press conference it was declared that 1890 Foundation was a private foundation subject to scrutiny by the public supervisory authority.

While Kevin Cooper stayed on as coach, many players left. On 3 November 2015, Servette FC announced that Kevin Cooper had left the club and William Niederhauser and Thierry Cotting would be temporarily in charge of first team affairs. In January 2016 the club announced that Anthony Braizat had taken charge of first team affairs.

In 2018, Servette hired Alain Geiger as its manager and achieved promotion back to the Swiss Super League as the 2018–2019 Challenge League champions, with a 15 point lead in front of 2nd ranked FC Aarau. For the first time in more than 15 years, the club has since enjoyed relative stability at the financial, managerial and sport levels, achieving a 4th place finish in the 2019–2020 Super League, a 3rd place in 2020–2021, a 6th place in 2021–2022 and even a 2nd place in 2022-2023, giving it for the first time a shot for the Champions League.