The 1968–69 season was Fussball Club Basel 1893's 75th season in their existence. It was their 23rd consecutive season in the top flight of Swiss football after their promotion the season 1945–46. Harry Thommen was the club's chairman of the board for the third consecutive season. Basel played their home games in the

St. Jakob Stadium The St. Jakob Stadium was a football stadium in Basel, Switzerland and the former home of Swiss club FC Basel. It was built in view of the 1954 FIFA World Cup, and as well as serving as a club stadium, it hosted several important matches, inc ...

Overview

Pre-season

During this season

Helmut Benthaus Helmut Benthaus (born 5 June 1935) is a German former association football, football player and coach. He spent his best playing days at Westfalia Herne and his best coaching days at FC Basel. Early career Born in Herne, Germany, Herne, Benthaus ...

was the club's

player-manager A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the sq ...

for the fourth consecutive season.

Paul Fischli Paul Fischli (born 6 May 1945) is a Switzerland, Swiss former football (soccer), football player and Head coach, manager. He played as a Defender (football), defender throughout the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s. Career As a sixteen-year-old, Pa ...

joined the team coming from Young Fellows Zürich.

Jürgen Sundermann Hans-Jürgen Sundermann (25 January 1940 – 4 October 2022) was a German football manager and player who played as a midfielder. Playing career Sundermann played his youth football with local club 1. FC Mülheim. In 1958 he signed for Rot-We ...

signed in from

Servette Servette is a district of the city of Geneva, Switzerland. The district's name comes from the Latin word for forest, ''silva'', and means "little forest". Its name alludes to Servette's rural past, before Geneva grew beyond its walls and incorpora ...

and Walter Balmer joined from

Thun , neighboring_municipalities= Amsoldingen, Heiligenschwendi, Heimberg, Hilterfingen, Homberg, Schwendibach, Spiez, Steffisburg, Thierachern, Uetendorf, Zwieselberg , twintown = , website = www.thun.ch Thun (french: Thoune) ...

. In the other direction

Hanspeter Stocker Hanspeter Stocker (* 23 November 1936) is a retired Swiss footballer who played for FC Basel. He played during the 1960s mainly in the position as defender. Football career Stocker played his early football by FC Concordia Basel. In 1960 he tr ...

left the club after eight years and moved to

Baden Baden (; ) is a historical territory in South Germany, in earlier times on both sides of the Upper Rhine but since the Napoleonic Wars only East of the Rhine. History The margraves of Baden originated from the House of Zähringen. Baden is ...

for his last season before retiring from his active football career. Between the years 1960 and 1968 Stocker played a total of 309 games for Basel scoring a total of 34 goals. 171 of these games were in the Nationalliga A, 28 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 ...

, 28 were on European level and 82 were friendly games. He scored 22 goal in the domestic league, 3 in the Cup, 2 in the European matches and the other seven were scored during the test games. Markus Pfirter left the club after seven years and went on to

St. Gallen , neighboring_municipalities = Eggersriet, Gaiserwald, Gossau, Herisau (AR), Mörschwil, Speicher (AR), Stein (AR), Teufen (AR), Untereggen, Wittenbach , twintowns = Liberec (Czech Republic) , website ...

. Between the years 1961 and 1968 Pfirter played a total of 263 games for Basel scoring a total of 54 goals. 143 of these games were in the Nationalliga A, 27 in the

, 28 in European competitions and 65 were friendly games. He scored 29 goal in the domestic league, 10 in the Cup and one in the

International Football Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from la, Inter, 'between' + german: toto, 'betting pool'),Most precisely, from (football pool); cf. often abbreviated and more known in the German-speaking world as UI Cup and originally called the International Foot ...

. The other 14 were scored during the test games. Also,

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.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 ...

. Between the years 1958 to 1960 and again from 1963 to 1968, Frigerio played a total of 256 games for Basel scoring a total of 176 goals. 144 of these games were in the Nationalliga A, 23 in the

, 18 in the european competitions (

Cup of the Alps Coppa delle Alpi (translated as ''Cup of the Alps'') was a friendly football tournament, first organized by the Italian national league as it started in 1960 and then they were aided by the Swiss League from 1962, for the reason that the majorit ...

Inter-Cities Fairs Cup The Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, sometimes referred to as the European Fairs Cup, Fairs Cities' Cup, or simply as the Fairs Cup, was a European Association football, football competition played between 1955 and 1971. It is often considered the predecess ...

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

) and 71 were friendly games. He scored 74 goals in the domestic league, 22 in the Swiss Cup, 7 in the european competitions and the other 73 were scored during the test games. Moscatelli left after five years and went to

Lugano Lugano (, , ; lmo, label=Ticinese dialect, Ticinese, Lugan ) is a city and municipality in Switzerland, part of the Lugano District in the canton of Ticino. It is the largest city of both Ticino and the Italian-speaking southern Switzerland. Luga ...

. Between the years 1964 and 1967 Moscatelli played a total of 95 games for Basel scoring a total of 27 goals. 47 of these games were in the Nationalliga A, 12 in the

, 11 were on European level (

) and 25 were friendly games. He scored 8 goals in the domestic league, three in the Swiss Cup, one in the Cup of the Alps and the other 15 were scored during the test games. Basel played a total of 52 matches in this season. 26 of these games were in the domestic league, three were in the

, five were in the

, two were in the

and 15 were friendly matches. Of these 15 test games 12 were won and two ended with a draw and one ended in a defeat. Seven were played at home and eight played away.

Domestic league

There were 14 teams contesting in the 1968–69 Nationalliga A. These were the top 12 teams from the previous 1967–68 season and the two newly promoted teams

Winterthur , neighboring_municipalities = Brütten, Dinhard, Elsau, Hettlingen, Illnau-Effretikon, Kyburg, Lindau, Neftenbach, Oberembrach, Pfungen, Rickenbach, Schlatt, Seuzach, Wiesendangen, Zell , twintowns = Hall in Tirol (Austria), La ...

and

. Basel finished the league season as champions one point ahead of

Lausanne Sports 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 ...

in second position, who they defeated 4–0 in the second last match of the season, and six points clear of

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 ...

who finished third. Basel won 13 of the 26 games, drawing ten, losing three times, they scored 48 goals conceding 28.

Helmut Hauser Helmut Hauser (born 7 March 1941) is a German former footballer. He played as forward. Hauser started his youth football with local club SV Schopfheim. He also played a few years in their senior team. In 1964 he transferred to Basel and played ...

was the team's top goal scorer with 16 league goals.

Karl Odermatt Karl Odermatt (born 17 December 1942 in Lucerne) is a Swiss former footballer who played for FC Basel and BSC Young Boys throughout the 1960s and 1970s. He played as a midfielder or striker and is generally regarded as one of the best playe ...

and Walter Balmer each scored 5 league goals. Both Sundermann and Ramseier played in all 26 league matches that season.

Swiss Cup

In the

Basel started in the round of 32 with a 2–1 away win against

and in the round of 16, with a home match, they beat

Luzern , neighboring_municipalities= Adligenswil, Ebikon, Emmen, Horw, Kriens, Malters, Meggen, Neuenkirch Lucerne ( , ; High Alemannic: ''Lozärn'') or Luzern ()Other languages: gsw, Lozärn, label=Lucerne German; it, Lucerna ; rm, Lucerna . is a ...

3–1. In the Quarter-final Basel played an away game against

but lost this 1–0.

Inter-Cities Fairs Cup and Cup of the Alps

In the

Basel were drawn against

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...

the first leg away from home on 18 September the return leg in Basel on 2 October. Bologna won both games. In the

1968 Cup of the Alps 1968 Coppa delle Alpi shows the results of the 1968 tournament that was held mainly in Switzerland in the preseason 1968/69. The Coppa delle Alpi, Coppa delle Alpi (translated as ''Cup of the Alps'') was a Association football, football tournament ...

the team managed to win the group and played in the final against

FC Schalke 04 Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as FC Schalke 04 (), Schalke 04 (), or abbreviated as S04 (), is a professional German football and multi-sports club originally from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhi ...

but were defeated 1–3 after extra time.

Players

;Players who left the squad

Results

;Legend

Friendly matches

Pre- and mid-season

Winter break

Nationalliga

League matches

League standings

Swiss Cup

Inter-Cities Fairs Cup

;First round ''Bologna won 6–2 on aggregate.''

Cup of the Alps

Group A matches

Group A table

Final

References

Sources

* Rotblau: Jahrbuch Saison 2015/2016. Publisher: FC Basel Marketing AG. * Die ersten 125 Jahre. Publisher: Josef Zindel im Friedrich Reinhardt Verlag, Basel.
Switzerland 1968–69 at RSSSF

External links

FC Basel official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:1968-69 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 ...

1968-69

Overview

Pre-season

Domestic league

Swiss Cup

Inter-Cities Fairs Cup and Cup of the Alps

Players

Results

Friendly matches

Pre- and mid-season

Winter break

Nationalliga

League matches

League standings

Swiss Cup

Inter-Cities Fairs Cup

Cup of the Alps

Group A matches

Group A table

Final

See also

References

Sources

External links