FC Basel

FC Basel was started by an advertisement placed by Roland Geldner in the 12 November 1893 edition of the Basler national newspaper, requesting that a football team be formed and that anyone who wished to join should meet up the following Wednesday at 8:15 in the restaurant Schuhmachern-Zunft. Eleven men attended the meeting, generally from the academic community, founding Fussball Club Basel on 15 November 1893.

(Source: the documentation to the club's 50th anniversary)

• Emil Abderhalden was first team player in the early days, a famous physiologist and head of the physiological institute at the University of Halle in Germany.
• Max Born, nothing is known about his private life.
• Josy Ebinger was long-time player in the first team. He was active as a club official in various offices, club chairman from October 1902 to May 1903. He was vice president of the Swiss Football Association in 1900.
• Max Geldner played at least six games for the club's first team in the first two years and was still a loyal friend and a patron of FC Basel 50 years later.
• Roland Geldner was the first president of FC Basel. He was a well-known personality in the city and football player from the early days of football. A distinguished person, he was the soul of the club in the early years.
• Wilhelm Glaser wore the red and blue colors as a center forward for years, played at least 14 matches. He was still follower with great interest of the FC Basel activities 50 years later
• Jean Grieder was first and second team player, with at least one match for the first team. He was asset and liability manager and became the clubs first actuary. For years he held high honorary positions in his hometown.
• Ferdinand Isler was a professor at the canton school in Frauenfeld. He was the first teams first captain, played at least 17 games during the clubs first three seasons. He later became actuary of the club. He was a great propagandist. He wrote brochures about the football game and translated the English rules of the game into German. He was one of the first sports journalists.
• Wilhelm Oser was pharmacist by profession. His cheerful, spirited manner was highly valued in the club. An avid pioneer of the football movement.
• Fritz Schäublin for many years was the highly respected rector of the humanistic grammar school in Basel. With his excellent skills he served the club in various offices for many years. He was an excellent player in the early days, played four matches in the club's first two season. He was founder of the tennis department.
• Lucien Schmoll, nothing is known about his private life.
• Richard Strub was still and quite, loyal member of the club. Very little is known about his private life.
• John Tollmann was a proficient goalkeeper and played at least 23 matches during the club's first five years. He was the first secretary-treasurer of the Swiss Football Association. A personality with a very special character. Together with Roland Geldner, he was the club's driving force in the early days.
• Charlie Volderauer was an excellent defender and played at least 33 matches. He was president December 1896 to December 1899. Arranged the first games in Switzerland against British professionals: Newcastle United and Celtic Glasgow. A rarely eager club member.

Fussball Club Basel 1893 has a long and illustrious history, that spans the period from 1893 to the present day. Having competed at the highest level of football in Switzerland for most of this time, FCB currently play in the Swiss Super League. The club was founded on 15 November 1893. At first the club played their home games in the Landhof stadium. During the mid- 1960's Basel then played their games in St. Jakob Stadium which was demolished in 1998. During the construction of the new stadium, between 1998 and 2001, the Stadion Schützenmatte was the clubs temporary home ground. Since 2001 Basel play home games at St. Jakob-Park, which is currently the largest club stadium in Switzerland.

The Basel Coat of Arms,
FC Basel's Original logo

Due to its size the history of FC Basel has been divided into five sections. For details on individual periods of the club's history, see the following articles:

• History of FC Basel (1893–1918)

The first section deals with the foundation, the early years, the forming of the Swiss Football Association (ASF-SFV), the first league championships and the years up to and during the first World War.

• History of FC Basel (1918–1939)

The second section is about the period between the two World Wars and the introduction of the Swiss Cup. FCB did not have much of an early footballing success; it took them 40 years to win their first trophy, winning the cup in 1933, as they defeated arch-rivals and reigning cup-holders Grasshopper Club Zürich in the final.

• History of FC Basel (1939–1965)

The third section starts with relegation, no promotion, missed promotion, promotion after all, another relegation, another promotion and the second cup title. It then spans the period of Jules Düblin as chairman, the first championship title and the third cup win.

• History of FC Basel (1965–2000)

Under the motto rise and fall, the fourth section deals with the era Benthaus, seven domestic league titles, the subsequent decline, relegation, six seasons of second-tier football and the long-awaited promotion.

• History of FC Basel (2000–present)

The fifth section deals with the financial backing that had been put into the club at that time, the move to the new stadium St. Jakob-Park, how success returned and how things have progressed to the present day.

Chart of FC Basel table positions in the Swiss football league system

FC Basel supporters at a 2011–12 UEFA Champions League match against FC Bayern Munich in St.-Jakob-Park

FC Basel is known for having a big and loyal local following. When polls are conducted about the most passionate club football fans, FC Basel's fans usually make the top 200 if not top 100 in the world, resulting in what is by far the highest average attendance in Switzerland with around 30,000 fans[4] attending every home game and with the new extension being built that number is expected to rise to around 40,000. The fans have also made themselves a name in numerous international matches in recent years. World tennis legend Roger Federer is one of the club's most famous fans.

In November 2010 their supporters caused the game against FC Luzern to be stopped after they threw hundreds of tennis balls onto the pitch. This was in protest at the kick off times being moved to accommodate a tennis tournament on the TV schedule.[5]

The city of Basel and the city of Zürich have a long-standing rivalry. Therefore, FCB's most traditional and fiercest rivals are Grasshopper Club Zürich and FC Zürich. In the past few seasons, the rivalry between FC Zürich and Basel has been fueled by Zürich's narrow league championship wins over Basel. Supporters from both sides have caused trouble in the past years, with the worst incident happening in May 2006. Basel had won the league in 2003–04 and 2004–05 and were set to make it three in a row if they won or drew against Zürich at home on the last day of the 2005–06 season. Zürich took the lead after a late goal from Iulian Filipescu and consequently won the match and the league. After the final whistle, players and fans from both teams started fighting on the pitch and in the stands. This incident has fueled hatred and bitterness between fans from FC Zürich and FC Basel. There is controversy about which rivalry is bigger, the one with Grasshopper or FC Zürich, but it usually depends on the success of these teams.

Updated to league matches played on 22 May 2022.[12]

Top league goalscorers

#	Nat.	Name	Career	Goals
1		Josef Hügi	1948–1962	245
2		Erni Maissen	1975–1982 1983–1987 1989–1991	116
3		Marco Streller	2000–2004 2007–2015	111
4		Christian Giménez	2001–2005	94
5		Karl Odermatt	1963–1976	92
6		René Bader	1946–1953	90
=7		Otto Haftl	1931–1935	81
=7		Gottlieb Stäuble	1946–1951 1955–1959	81
9		Hermann Suter	1939–1948	79
=10		Alexander Frei	1997–1998 2009–2013	74
=10		Alfred Schlecht	1922–1924 1925–1936	74
=10		Roberto Frigerio	1958–1968	74
=10		Valentin Stocker	2007–2014 2018–2022	74

Most league appearances

#	Nat.	Name	Career	Apps
1		Massimo Ceccaroni	1987–2002	398
2		Erni Maissen	1975–1982 1983–1987 1989–1991	338
3		Fabian Frei	2007–2015 2018–	322
4		Werner Bopp	1944–1960	321
5		Josef Hügi	1948–1962	319
6		Otto Demarmels	1967–1982	307
7		Jörg Stohler	1970–1984	306
8		Benjamin Huggel	1998–2005 2007–2012	297
9		Karl Odermatt	1963–1976	296
10		Karl Bielser	1916–1936	293
11		Valentin Stocker	2007–2014 2018–2022	286
12		Scott Chipperfield	2001–2012	270

Updated to all matches played on 22 May 2022.[12]

Top goalscorers all competitions

#	Nat.	Name	Career	Goals
1		Josef Hügi	1948–1962	282
2		Marco Streller	2000–2004 2007–2015	144
3		Erni Maissen	1975–1982 1983–1987 1989–1991	143
4		Karl Odermatt	1963–1976	123
5		René Bader	1946–1953	117
6		Christian Giménez	2001–2005	116
7		Alexander Frei	1997–1998 2009–2013	109
8		Helmut Hauser	1964–1972	107
9		Hermann Suter	1939–1948	104
10		Roberto Frigerio	1958–1968	103
11		Otto Haftl	1931–1935	102
12		Valentin Stocker	2007–2014 2018–2022	101

Most appearances all competitions

#	Nat.	Name	Career	Apps
1		Fabian Frei	2007–2015 2018–	456
2		Massimo Ceccaroni	1987–2002	452
3		Otto Demarmels	1967–1982	446
4		Jörg Stohler	1970–1984	425
5		Valentin Stocker	2008–2014 2018–2022	416
6		Karl Odermatt	1963–1976	411
7		Erni Maissen	1975–1982 1983–1987 1989–1991	406
8		Benjamin Huggel	1998–2005 2007–2012	401
9		Scott Chipperfield	2001–2012	385
10		Peter Ramseier	1966–1978	372
11		Werner Bopp	1944–1960	364
12		Josef Hügi	1948–1962	363

• Swiss Championship: 20
  • 1952–53, 1966–67, 1968–69, 1969–70, 1971–72, 1972–73, 1976–77, 1979–80, 2001–02, 2003–04, 2004–05, 2007–08, 2009–10, 2010–11, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17
• Swiss Cup: 13
  • 1932–33, 1946–47, 1962–63, 1966–67, 1974–75, 2001–02, 2002–03, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2009–10, 2011–12, 2016–17, 2018–19
• Swiss League Cup: 1
  • 1972

The FC Basel Holding AG owns 75% of FC Basel 1893 AG and the other 25% is owned by the club FC Basel 1893 members. The club FC Basel 1893 functions as a base club independent of the holding company and the AG. FC Basel 1893 AG is responsible for the operational business of the club, e.g. the 1st team, a large part of the youth department and the back office are affiliated there. All decisions that affect the club FC Basel 1893 are made within the AG.

On 11 May 2021 the FC Basel Holding AG chairman Bernhard Burgener and board member David Degen announced a transfer of ownership rights, after months of massive fan protests. The new situation meant Degen owned 92% of the shares and about 8% is held by four small investors.[13] At the AGM of FC Basel Holding AG on 15 June 2021, Bernhard Burgener, Peter von Büren and Karl Odermatt stood down from the board of directors. A new board of directors stood for election. From that date the board consisted of Reto Baumgartner (president), Dani Büchi (delegate of the board), David Degen (vice-president), Johannes Barth, Marco Gadola, Christian Gross, Sophie Herzog and Andreas Rey. Degen said he will sell a part of the shares within his management team.[14]

On 18 August the Holding AG announced how the shares had been divided between the shareholders. Degen himself kept 40%, Andreas Rey held 18,41%, his wife Ursula Rey-Krayer also held 18,41%. A group of four other investors, these being Johannes Barth, Marco Gadola, Dani Büchi and Dan Holzmann, together held 15,14%. The other 8,04% of the shares remained by another group of investors, these being Manor AG, J. Safra Sarasin, Novasearch AG, MCH Group AG and Weitnauer Holding AG.[15]

On 27 December 2021 an extraordinary AGM of the Holding AG was held and it was announced that the Board had reorganised itself. Ursula Rey-Krayer and Dan Holzmann were unanimously elected to the board of directors. At the same time, Sophie Herzog, Christian Gross, Johannes Barth and Reto Baumgartner resigned from the Board and were to focus upon their duties as members of the Board of Directors of FC Basel 1893 AG.

Since that date the new Board of the FC Basel Holding AG consists of the following members: David Degen (president), Dani Büchi (delegate of the board), Marco Gadola, Dan Holzmann, Ursula Rey-Krayer and Andreas Rey (vice-president). With the meeting FC Basel Holding AG had an adjusted composition - the FCB shareholders were represented upon the Board of Directors of FC Basel Holding AG by those with the overall largest proportion.[16]

The Board of Directors of the FC Basel 1893 AG as it was announced in June 2021: Reto Baumgartner, (president), Johannes Barth. David Degen (vice-president), Carol Etter (delegate of the club), Marco Gadola, Christian Gross, Sophie Herzog and Andreas Rey.

The club's 127th AGM tookk place in written form, during the week from Saturday 5 June and Friday 11 June. The results were communicated on Monday 14 June. On 13 April 2021 the club announced their proposal for the club management.[17] Club president Reto Baumgartner and the two directors, Dominik Donzé and Benno Kaiser, remained in the board and three new members were elected. These three being Carol Etter (sports lawyer), Edward Turner (financial specialist) and Tobias Adler (marketingspecialist). Their exact roles are to be decided. Carol Etter was elected as delegate of the board, to represent the club at the meetings of the Holding.[18]

President	Reto Baumgartner (to date)
Director	Dominik Donzé (to date)
Director	Benno Kaiser (to date)
Director	Carol Etter (new)
Director	Edward Turner (new)
Director	Tobias Adler (new)
Ground (capacity and dimensions)	St. Jakob-Park (38,512)[19] (37,500 for international matches)[20] / 120x80 m)

Updated to match played 18 November 2020
Source: FCB Official Site

On 28 November 2022 FCB had announced that they had taken Heiko Vogel under contract as their new sporting director, as per 1 January 2023. After the end of their previous season, in which Vogel had taken over in charge of the coaching of their first team following the dismissal of Alexander Frei in February, Vogel continued in his role as as sports director for this season.[21]

On 12 May 2023 the club announced that Timo Schultz had been signed a contract as head coach of the new FCB first team.[22] On 22 May they announced that the entire trainer staff had been appointed. Loïc Favé would join Davide Callà as assistant coach and Johannes Wieber would become athletic coach, Gabriel Wüthrich remained goalkeeper coach.[23] On 23 May the club announced that the new coach of the U-21 is the ex-footballer Dennis Hediger, who had been the coach of the U-18 team the previous season.[24] Appointed a his assistant coaches were Marco Aratore and Michaël Bauch.[25]

On 29 September the club announced that they were parting with coach Schultz, together with his assistant Loïc Favé, and that he would be replaced by the current sport director Heiko Vogel.[26]

Position	Staff
Head coach	Timo Schultz until 29 September 2023
Head coach	Heiko Vogel from 29 September
Assistant coach	Davide Callà
Assistant coach	Loïc Favé until 29 September
Athletics coach	Johannes Wieber
Goalkeeper coach	Gabriel Wüthrich
Youth Team U-21 coach	Dennis Hediger
Youth Team U-21 co-coach	Marco Aratore
Youth Team U-21 co-coach	Michaël Bauch

As of 7 September 2023[27]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  SUI Marwin Hitz 4 DF  ESP Arnau Comas 5 DF  SUI Michael Lang 6 DF  TUN Mohamed Dräger 8 MF  BEL Jonathan Dubasin 9 FW  FRA Thierno Barry 10 FW  FRA Jean-Kévin Augustin 11 FW  GER Maurice Malone 13 GK  SUI Mirko Salvi 16 GK  SUI Nils de Mol 17 FW  SUI Andrin Hunziker 19 MF  AUT Yusuf Demir (on loan from Galatasaray) 20 MF  SUI Fabian Frei (captain) 21 MF  GEO Gabriel Sigua 22 DF  GER Sergio López

No. Pos. Nation Player 25 DF  NED Finn van Breemen 26 DF  BIH Adrian Leon Barišić 27 DF  SUI Kevin Rüegg (on loan from Hellas Verona) 28 DF  FRA Hugo Vogel 29 MF  GER Adriano Onyegbule 30 MF  GER Anton Kade 31 MF  SUI Dominik Schmid 32 DF  GHA Jonas Adjetey 33 MF  ARG Juan Gauto 34 MF  ALB Taulant Xhaka (vice-captain) 37 MF  SUI Leon Avdullahu 38 FW  FRA Axel Kayombo 39 FW  SUI Junior Zé 40 MF  POR Renato Veiga 99 FW  SRB Đorđe Jovanović

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — GK  SUI Tim Spycher (at Baden until 30 June 2024) — DF  BFA Nasser Djiga (at Red Star Belgrade until 30 June 2024)

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  GHA Emmanuel Essiam (at FC Stade Lausanne Ouchy until 30 June 2024) — FW  SUI Bradley Fink (at Grasshoppers until 30 June 2024) — FW  CAN Liam Millar (at Preston North End until 30 June 2024)

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 2 DF  SUI Massimo Ceccaroni (1987–2002)[a] 12 12   12th man (FCB-Fans)[b] 20 MF  SUI Fabian Frei (2007–2015, 2018–)

Since 2009 Basel have a women's team. It competes in the Nationalliga A.

FC Basel had a team in the Superleague Formula race car series where football teams lent their name to cars. GU-Racing International has operated the car for all seasons and Max Wissel has driven the car in all the races. FC Basel and Wissel won one race, in the 2009 season at Donington Park. The team have scored three other podiums in the series.

Basel Under-19s line up prior to their UEFA Youth League match away to Hamilton Accies, 2018.

There is no official Basel U-19 team, because a U-19 championship does not exist in Swiss football. The team was quickly put together in the 2011–12 season from the youngest members of the first team, the younger Under-21 and the Under-18 teams who were eligible to play in the 2011–12 NextGen Series. Note: Results and dates can be found here 2011–12 NextGen series.

Because Basel qualified for the 2013–14 UEFA Champions League, the Under-19 team was again called to life and played in the 2013–14 UEFA Youth League. This time the members of this squad were solely members from the U-21 and U-18 teams, but the team only trained together once a week. Note: Results and dates can be found here 2013–14 UEFA Youth League. A year later Basel qualified for the 2014–15 UEFA Champions League. Therefore, they were eligible to play in the 2014–15 UEFA Youth League and they took the matter a lot more seriously than the year before. Reserve team manager Thomas Häberli was also appointed as U-19 coach. Häberli's U-19 squad was still a mix between the younger U-21 and the older U-18 teams, but the team had training together virtually daily. This resulted with improved results, the team winning four games from their six, but failing to qualify for the knockout phase on tiebreak. Note: Results and dates can be found here 2014–15 UEFA Youth League.

Basel's first team qualified for the Champions League again in 2016–17, so the U-19 team was revived for the 2016–17 UEFA Youth League. Raphaël Wicky was U-19 coach. In the group stage they reached second position and advanced to the play-offs, but lost this against Rosenborg. Note: Results and dates can be found here 2016–17 UEFA Youth League.

Arjan Peço is the team coach in the 2017–18 UEFA Youth League. The team will advance to the next round. Note: Results and dates can be found here 2017–18 UEFA Youth League.

The club also have 12 further youth teams: Under-18, Under-17 (Team Basel/Jura), Under-16, Under-15, Under-14, Under-13 (Footeco), Under-12 (Junioren D9 Promotion), Under-11 (Junioren Ea), Under-10 (Junioren Eb), Under-9 (Junioren F), Under-8 (Junioren F), and Bebbi (Under-7).[30]

NOTE: early history is largely unknown.

At the club's Extraordinary General Assembly on 16 January 2012, the 601 attending members appointed Oeri as honorary president.[32]