The 1958–59 season was Fussball Club Basel 1893's 65th season in their existence. It was their thirteenth consecutive season in the top flight of Swiss football after their promotion from the Nationalliga B the season 1945–46. They played their home games in the Landhof, in the Wettstein Quarter in Kleinbasel.

Jules Düblin Jules Düblin (30 August 1895 – 1992) was a Swiss footballer and athlete. He played for FC Basel, mainly as a forward. Later he was member of the FC Basel board of directors. He was doctor, banker and politician, became author and private ar ...

was the club's chairman for his 13th successive, but final, period. Düblin presided the club during the period July 1946 until Mai 1959 and in the club's history he is the most permanent president that the club has had to date.

Overview

The Austrian ex-international footballer

Rudi Strittich Rudi Strittich (3 March 1922 – 11 July 2010) was an Austrian association football, football coach and former player. Club career Strittich debuted for SK Vorwärts Steyr, Vorwärts Steyr, and later played for First Vienna FC. While with First ...

was team manager for the second successive season. The club directors and the team management strengthened the team following the previous disappointing season.

Bruno Michaud Bruno Michaud (14 October 1935 — 1 November 1997) was a Swiss footballer and manager who played as a defender mainly for FC Basel and the Swiss national football team. Club career Michaud started his football in the youth teams of Basel. He w ...

returned from

Lausanne-Sport FC Lausanne–Sport (also referred to as LS) is a Swiss football club based in Lausanne in the canton of Vaud. Founded in 1896, Lausanne Sport played in the Swiss Super League in their most recent 2021-22 season, the highest tier of football i ...

, Fredy Kehrli, Jean-Jacques Maurer and Charles Turin were hired from

Biel-Bienne , french: Biennois(e) , neighboring_municipalities= Brügg, Ipsach, Leubringen/Magglingen (''Evilard/Macolin''), Nidau, Orpund, Orvin, Pieterlen, Port, Safnern, Tüscherz-Alfermée, Vauffelin , twintowns = Iserlohn (Germany) B ...

who had suffered relegation the previous season.

Roberto Frigerio Roberto "Mucho" Frigerio (born 16 May 1938 in Le Havre, France) is a retired Swiss professional football forward who played for Switzerland in the 1962 FIFA World Cup.Schaffhausen and

Antoine Kohn Antoine "Spitz" Kohn (1 November 1933 – 24 November 2012) was a Luxembourg football player and football manager. Club career Kohn played as a striker, and spent most of his career plying his trade abroad, in Germany, Switzerland, and ...

from

Karlsruher SC Karlsruher SC is a German association football club, based in Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg that currently plays in the 2. Bundesliga, the second tier of German football. Domestically, the club was crowned German champion in 1909, and won the D ...

. But on 30 November 1958 Basel were beaten 0–2 by FC Moutier, a team from the 1 Liga (third highest tier of Swiss football), and because the Basel had lost their previous three league matches this was one bad result too many. Even for club chairman

, who was known as prudent and cautious, this was too much and he replaced Strittich through their ex-trainer René Bader. Basel played a total of 50 games this season. Of these 50 matches 26 were in the domestic league, two were in the

Swiss Cup The Swiss Cup (; ; ; ) is a football cup tournament that has been organised annually since 1925–26 by the Swiss Football Association. Since 1999 the winner earns the chance to qualify for the UEFA Europa League or the UEFA Europa Conference L ...

and 22 were friendly matches. The friendly games resulted with twelve victories, five draws and five defeats. In total, including the test games and the cup competition, 24 games were won, 10 games were drawn and 16 games were lost. In these 50 games the team scored 126 goals and conceded 101. Fourteen teams contested the

1958–59 Nationalliga A Statistics of Swiss Super League in the 1958–59 season. Overview It was contested by 14 teams, and BSC Young Boys won the championship. League standings Results Sources Switzerland 1958–59 at RSSSF {{DEFAULTSORT:1958-59 Nationalliga A ...

, these were the top 12 teams from the previous season and the two newly promoted teams

FC Zürich Fussballclub Zürich, commonly abbreviated to FC Zürich or simply FCZ, is a Swiss football club based in Zürich. The club was founded in 1896 and has won the Swiss Super League 13 times and the Swiss Cup 10 times. The most recent titles a ...

and

FC Luzern Fussball-Club Luzern (), or simply abbreviated to FCL, is a Swiss sports club based in Lucerne (german: Luzern). It is best known for its professional football team, which plays in the Super League, the top tier of the Swiss football league syste ...

. At the end of the season the last two teams in the table were to be relegated. Basel started badly into the new season, losing the first game 1–2 against

La Chaux-de-Fonds La Chaux-de-Fonds () is a Swiss city in the canton of Neuchâtel. It is located in the Jura mountains at an altitude of 1000 m, a few kilometers south of the French border. After Geneva, Lausanne and Fribourg, it is the fourth largest city loc ...

and then losing at home 1–4 against Grenchen. Then, despite two high wins, 5–0 away against

and 6–1 at home against

Bellinzona Bellinzona ( , , Ticinese ; french: Bellinzone ; german: Bellenz ; rm, Blizuna )is a municipality, a historic Swiss town, and the capital of the canton of Ticino in Switzerland. The town is famous for its three castles (Castelgrande, Montebell ...

, the afore mentioned three defeats against Young Boys,

Zürich Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...

and Grasshopper Club caused the change in manager position. But under the new manager things did not change immediately, the lowest point was after round 15 as the team slipped to second last position in the table. But in the last 11 rounds the team lost only one more match and rose in the table to sixth position. Basel entered the

in the third principal round. They were drawn at home at the Landhof against third tier local team Old Boys. The match was played on 26 October and despite the fact that former Basel goalkeeper Gianfranco de Taddeo, who now played for the Old Boys, held a penalty taken by

Hans Weber Johann "Hans" Weber (8 September 1934 – 10 February 1965) was a Swiss football midfielder who played for Switzerland in the 1962 FIFA World Cup. He played 13 seasons for FC Basel and two seasons for Lausanne-Sport. Football career Weber pl ...

, Basel won 3–0. In the next round Basel were drawn and lost against FC Moutier. Thus Basel's short and disappointing cup season ended here. As mentioned before, the consequence of this defeat was that team manager

was fired. Grenchen won the cup this season.

Players

The following is the list of the Basel first team squad during the season 1958–59. The list includes players that were in the squad on the day that the Nationalliga A season started on 31 August 1958 but subsequently left the club after that date. ;Players who left the squad

Results

;Legend

Friendly matches

Pre- and mid-season

Winter break to end of season

Nationalliga A

League matches

League table

Swiss Cup

References

Sources

* Die ersten 125 Jahre. Publisher: Josef Zindel im Friedrich Reinhardt Verlag, Basel.
The FCB team 1958–59 at fcb-archiv.ch

External links

FC Basel official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:1958-59 FC Basel season FC Basel seasons

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...