FC Basel season 2007-08

Infobox Football club season
club = FC Basel

season = 2007–08
manager = flagicon|Switzerland Christian Gross
chairman = flagicon|Switzerland Mrs Gisela Oeri
league = Swiss Super League
league result = Champions
cup1 = Swiss Cup
cup1 result = Champions
league topscorer =
Marco Streller (12)
season topscorer =
Marco Streller (16)
highest attendance = 38,015 vs Young Boys
(10 May 2008)
lowest attendance = 17,845 vs Neuchâtel Xamax
(9 February 2008)

FC Basel started the season of with various warm-up matches against Swiss lower league teams as well as Austrian Bundesliga, German Bundesliga, Scottish Premier League and French Ligue 1 clubs. FCB were looking to win the league for the first time since 2005 and regain the cup. They also had the opportunity to compete in the UEFA Cup.

Overall season

who also arrived during the Winter break.

Basel were drawn against Bosnian minnows FK Sarajevo in the first qualifying round of the UEFA Cup, a tie that Basel won 8-1 on aggregate. In the next round Basel faced a considerably tougher opponent in the form of SV Mattersburg of Austria. Nonetheless, Basel finished the tie off with a 4-0 away win after a 2-1 victory at St. Jakob-Park. Basel were then drawn into a 'death group' of Group D alongside SK Brann, NK Dinamo Zagreb, Hamburger SV and Stade Rennais FC, all of which were ranked within the top 3 of their own leagues at the start of the stage. Basel won their first UEFA Cup group game against Rennes at home 1-0 thanks to a Marco Streller header. Their next game was away to Dinamo Zagreb in which Basel earned a valuable away point thanks to on form goalkeeper Franco Costanzo who kept the game at 0-0 for 90 minutes. They then faced Brann at St. Jakob-Park where they won 1-0 through a Carlitos free-kick and were highly praised for playing attractive and flowing football. Basel then went to Germany to face Hamburg at the HSH Nordbank Arena where they were fortunate to escape with a 1-1 draw. The goals came courtesy of captain Ivan Ergić and Hamburg's Ivica Olić. Basel then faced Sporting Clube de Portugal in the last 32 after qualifying 2nd in the group alongside 1st placed Hamburg and 3rd placed Brann. Sporting Lisbon finished third in their group in the UEFA Champions League, which is why they were dropped into the UEFA Cup. The first leg took place on the 13th of February in Lisbon where the first choice goalkeeper, Franco Costanzo, was injured and Basel lost 2-0. The second leg did not fair any better for Basel. Costanzo remained injured and Basel lost 3-0 on the 21st of February in Basel, resulting in the knock out of the UEFA Cup.

FC Basel won the Swiss Cup for the second consecutive season after beating second-tier side AC Bellinzona 4-1 at St. Jakob-Park on Sunday 6 April 2008. Eren Derdiyok gave Basel the lead in the first half before Bellinzona equalised through Christian Pouga in the second. Daniel Majstorović restored the lead for Basel with a header and Swiss internationalists Marco Streller and Benjamin Huggel scored one goal each to make the final scoreline 4-1 in Basel's favour.

Basel won the Swiss Super League for the first time since 2005 on the 10 May 2008 at St. Jakob-Park after a 2-0 win over title threats BSC Young Boys. It was the last game of the season and Basel only needed a point from the match to win the Championship but if Young Boys won then they would be champions, the exact same situation as the end of the 2005/06 season, only it was between Basel and FC Zürich then. The painful memories of losing the league on the last day of the season in 2006 seemed to spur FCB on as they took an early lead through Valentin Stocker before Marco Streller wrapped up the victory with the second.

This rounded off a highly successful season for Basel as they conquered on the domestic front, winning both the Swiss Super League and Swiss Cup, and reaching the last 32 of the UEFA Cup. Next season they will have the opportunity to qualify for the UEFA Champions League.

Club

The Management

Kit

Out on loan:

2007-08 Winter transfers:

In:

Winter Break

wiss Cup 2007-08

"for main article, see Swiss Cup 2007-08"

Awards

*Swiss League Champions 2007-08
*Swiss Cup Champions 2007-08
*Swiss Youngster of the Year 2007/08 - Eren Derdiyok
*Swiss Coach of the Year 2007/08 - Christian Gross

References