Josy Ebinger (26 March 1880 – 18 September 1955) was a Swiss-French businessman and founder member of

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 ...

. He was long-time player in their first team and played as defender and

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. He was active as a club official in various offices and was club chairman from October 1902 to May 1903. He was vice president of the

Swiss Football Association The Swiss Football Association (german: Schweizerischer Fussballverband, french: Association Suisse de Football, it, Associazione Svizzera di Football/Calcio, rm, Associaziun Svizra da Ballape) is the governing body of football in Switzerland ...

in 1900. As businessman he was a well-known personality in the city and held high honorary positions in his hometown.

Biography

Ebinger was member of the Basel rowing club and during a visit to England had seen the new football game. He had also been member of the RTV/Realschüler-Turnverein (secondary school student gymnastics club) and had been instructed over the game by his gymnastics teacher, Adolf Glaz, at the then secondary school. But when students finished school, they could no longer stay member of the student association. After a newspaper advert, there was a meeting on 15 November 1893 and the Fussball Club Basel was founded. Ebinger attended the founders meeting and joined the team that evening. The first football match that the club held was on 10 December against the football team of the afore mentioned gymnastics club RTV and Ebinger played in that match, which the FCB won two goals to nil. During their second season, the club organised twelve matches and Ebinger played in eight of them. At the end of this season the

(ASF-SFV) was founded,

was founder member. FCB club chairman

Roland Geldner Carl Maria 'Roland' Geldner (23 May 1870 – 1905) was a Swiss businessman and founder member of FC Basel. He was the club's first chairman. He was a well-known personality in the city and long-time player with the first team from the early days ...

, John Tollman and Ebinger were the club's driving forces in this adventure. Tollman became the first secretary-treasurer of the ASF-SFV. In their 1895–96 season the club arranged ten matches, Ebinger played only in two of these. The first edition of the official Swiss championship was played in the 1898–99 season as a knock out competition. Basel played against

Old Boys The terms Old Boys and Old Girls are the usual expressions in use in the United Kingdom for former pupils of primary and secondary schools.''Oxford English Dictionary'' While these are traditionally associated with independent schools, they are ...

in the central group semi-final. This was home game at the

Landhof The Landhof was a sports stadium in the district Basel-Wettstein in Kleinbasel, Basel. It was the former and first home stadium of FC Basel. It is mentioned for the first time in a chronicle in the second half of the 18th century as a ''nice su ...

on 13 November 1898. It ended in 1–1 draw with their local rivals. It therefore required a replay. This replay was held in the

Stadion Schützenmatte Stadion Schützenmatte is a sports stadium with track and field facilities in the Bachletten quartier in Basel, Switzerland. It is the home ground of BSC Old Boys Basel and, together, the pitch and tennis courts make up the western part of th ...

on 18 December 1898. This was also drawn 2–2, despite an agreed two times 20 minutes extra time. Because the Old Boys complained that the first FCB goal scored by

Rudolf La Roche Rudolf La Roche (born 1 October 1880) was a Swiss footballer who played as midfielder in the late 1890s. He was a well-known businessman and became president of the local riding school society. Football career La Roche joined FC Basel's first t ...

in the 10th minute had been scored by hand, they protested and the SFA had to deal with the matter. Subsequently, the protest was approved and awarded - and the disputed goal was simply deducted from the score to give the final result. Thus the

became the first forfait winners in Swiss football history. The Old Boys advanced to the finals, but the

Anglo-American Club Zürich Anglo-American Club Zürich (also Anglo-American F.C. Zürich) was a Swiss football club based in Zürich, who are known for being the winners of the first official national football championship (then Serie A) in 1899. The team composed mainly ...

became Swiss champions. In their following season, 1899–1900, Basel did not compete in the 1899–1900 Swiss Serie A, but contested 16 friendly matches. Ebinger played in three of these games. He was vice president of the

(ASF-SFV) in 1900. For the team the 1900–01 season was a bad season. They competed in the Swiss championship, but ended the season in fifth position in the group stage. A curiosity in this season was the away game on 3 March 1901. This was an away game against Grasshopper Club and it ended in a 3–13 defeat. The reasons for this high defeat can be explained with the fact that one of the players missed the train and that the team played with a number of players from their reserve team. Nevertheless, to date this remains the teams’ highest and biggest defeat in the club’s history. Ebinger played his last game in his active football career in January 1902 as Basel played an away game against

FC Mulhouse Football Club de Mulhouse (; commonly referred to as FCM or simply Mulhouse) is a French association football club based in Mulhouse. The club was founded in 1893 and currently play in the Championnat National 3, the fifth level of French footb ...

. Ebinger was elected as FCB club chairman at the AGM in 1902. During the eight seasons with the club as active footballer, Ebinger played in at least 23 games for Basel without scoring a goal.

Notes

Footnotes

References

Sources

* Rotblau: Jahrbuch Saison 2017/2018. Publisher: FC Basel Marketing AG. * Die ersten 125 Jahre. Publisher: Josef Zindel im Friedrich Reinhardt Verlag, Basel.
Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv" Homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ebinger, Josy FC Basel players Swiss footballers Association football defenders Association football midfielders Swiss Super League players FC Basel non-playing staff Swiss football chairmen and investors 1877 births 1955 deaths