Adrian Knup (born 2 July 1968) is a Swiss former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

striker who played in the 1980s and 1990s. He was capped 49 times and scored 26 goals for the Switzerland national team between 1989 and 1996, including three games at the

1994 FIFA World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States ...

. From 2009 to 2017 he worked as the head coach of the youth sector at

FC Basel Fussball Club Basel 1893, widely known as FC Basel, FCB, or just Basel, is a Swiss football club based in Basel, in the Canton of Basel-Stadt. Formed in 1893, the club has been Swiss national champions 20 times, Swiss Cup winners 13 times, and ...

and was also the vice president of the club between 2012 and 2017.

Club career

Knup played his youth football with local team

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 ...

. He advanced to their first team for their 1985–86 season and signed his first professional contract under manager

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 ...

. After playing in one test match, Knup played his domestic league debut for the club in the home game at the St. Jakob Stadium on 19 April 1986 as Basel won 5–0 against

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 ...

. In his first season Knup had just seven league appearances. During their 1986–87 season Knup advanced and became a regular in the starting team. Knup was a typical No. 9 and was famed for the power he could get behind his headers. He scored his first league goal for his club in the first game of the season on 9 August 1986. It was the last goal of the away match against, but it could not help the team, as Basel were defeated 1–3 against

Sion Sion may refer to * an alternative transliteration of Zion People * Sion (name) or Siôn, a Welsh and other given name and surname, including a list of people and fictional characters with the name * Shion or Sion, a Japanese given name Plac ...

. In the following match one week later Knup played three seasons with the club and received a call up to the Switzerland national team. But with Basel, apart from one title in the

Uhrencup The Uhrencup is a club football tournament, held annually in Grenchen and Biel in Switzerland. The Uhrencup is seen as a testament to the major influence that is exercised by the local industry on the cultural lives of the areas residents. The tou ...

in 1986, he had no big successes. In their 1987–88 season his teammates included goalie Urs Suter, the defenders

Peter Bernauer Peter Bernauer (born 10 September 1965) is a former German professional football player who played in the late 1980s and the 1990s as defender. He is a successful business manager of a Swiss Pharmaceutical company. Football career Peter Bernau ...

and

Massimo Ceccaroni Massimo Ceccaroni (born 15 August 1968) is a retired Swiss-Italian footballer who played as a defender or midfielder. He played for FC Basel for very nearly his entire career. He was later trainer at amateur club BSC Old Boys and then trainer ...

, the Scott Gordon Duffield Smith and two other Switzerland national team players Peter Nadig and

Dominique Herr Dominique Herr (born 25 October 1965 in Basel) is a Swiss former football defensive midfielder who played throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Club career Herr started his youth football at local club FC Basel. He advanced to their first team for ...

. Despite this personally strongly occupied team Basel were relegated to the Nationalliga B after the

1987–88 Nationalliga A Statistics of Swiss National League A in the 1987–88 football season. Overview It was contested by 12 teams, and Neuchâtel Xamax won the championship. First stage Table Results Second stage Championship group Table Results Promo ...

season. One match in this season receives a particular mention, the away game on 29 November 1987 and Knup netted a hat-trick between the 37th and 71st minute as Basel won 4–0 against

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 ...

. Following the relegation he left the team and joined

FC Aarau FC Aarau is a Swiss football club based in Aarau. They play in the Swiss Challenge League, the second tier of Swiss football after being relegated from Swiss Super League. History FC Aarau was formed on 26 May 1902 by workers from a local ...

in 1988. He spent only one season at Aarau and signed for

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 ...

in 1989 where he was an immediate success. In 1990, he was voted Luzern's ''Player of the Year''. He was then signed by

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

side

VfB Stuttgart Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V., commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's football team is currently part of Germany's first division, the Bundesliga. VfB Stu ...

in 1992 where he played until 1994 when he signed for

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 ...

. He reached the

1995–96 DFB-Pokal The 1995–96 DFB-Pokal was the 53rd season of the annual German football cup competition. 64 teams competed in the tournament of six rounds which began on 15 August 1995 and ended on 24 May 1996. In the final, 1. FC Kaiserslautern defeated Karls ...

final with Karlsruhe but they were beaten 1–0 by 1. FC Kaiserslautern. He then had a short spell with

Galatasaray S.K. Galatasaray Spor Kulübü (, ''Galatasaray Sports Club'') is a Turkish sports club based on the European side of the city of Istanbul in Turkey. Most notable for its association football department, the club also consists of various other de ...

in Turkey before returning to Switzerland. During the winter break of their 1996–97 season knup returned to his club of origin under manager

Karl Engel Karl (Rudolf) Engel (Birsfelden, 1 June 1923 - Clarens, Switzerland, Chernex, 2 September 2006) was a Switzerland, Swiss pianist. In 1952 Engel was awarded the second prize at the Queen Elisabeth Music Competition, Queen Elisabeth competition. ...

. But Knup needed some six matches before he found the binding to his new teammates and then it came to being. He scored two goals at home against Grasshopper Club, another goal in the home match against Xamax and another two goals in the home match against

Aarau Aarau (, ) is a List of towns in Switzerland, town, a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality, and the capital of the northern Swiss Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Aargau. The List of towns in Switzerland, town is also the capital of the dis ...

. Knup stayed with the club for another season before he retired from his active football career. Between the years 1982 to 1988 and again from 1996 to 1998 Knup played a total of 138 games for Basel scoring a total of 54 goals. exactly 100 of these games were in the Nationalliga A, eight 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 30 were friendly games. He scored 29 goals in the domestic league, four in the cup and the other 21 were scored during the test games.

International career

Knup played for the Switzerland national team between 1989 and 1996. He scored 26 goals in 49 games. Two of his goals came against

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

in a 4–1 win at the

in the

USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

Personal life

After retirement from his playing career, Knup became a commentator for Swiss League matches. On 25 May 2007, he was given the job as a coach for the Switzerland national team but demissioned after

UEFA Euro 2008 The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2008 or simply Euro 2008, was the 13th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA (the Union of European ...

. At the

AGM in June 2009 Knup was elected into the club's board of directors under club president Gigi Oeri. From 2009 to 2012 he worked as the head coach for the club's the youth sector. At the AGM in 2012, Ms Oeri stood down and Bernard Heusler became the club chairman, Knup was elected as vice president of the club. He held this position until 2017. Knup, president Heusler, finance director Stephan Werthmüller, director of football Georg Heitz and marketing director René Kamm all stood downsold together and Heusler sold the clubs Holding AG to Benrhard Burgener.

Career statistics

:''Scores and results list Switzerland's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Knup goal.''

Honours

VfB Stuttgart * DFL-Supercup:

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

References

* Die ersten 125 Jahre. Publisher: Josef Zindel im Friedrich Reinhardt Verlag, Basel.
Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv" Homepage

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Knup, Adrian 1968 births Living people People from Liestal Association football forwards Swiss footballers FC Basel players VfB Stuttgart players Karlsruher SC players Galatasaray S.K. footballers 1994 FIFA World Cup players Switzerland international footballers FC Luzern players FC Aarau players Swiss Super League players Bundesliga players Süper Lig players Swiss expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Germany Swiss expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate footballers in Turkey Swiss expatriate sportspeople in Turkey FC Basel non-playing staff Sportspeople from Basel-Landschaft