Kay Voser (born 4 January 1987) is a Swiss former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as defender, mainly as left back. He now works as sports journalist.

Club career

Grasshopper Club

Voser started his youth football with local amateur club FC Fislisbach. In summer 1997 he moved to the youth department of Grasshopper Club, advancing through the ranks and for the 2005–06 season he advanced to their U-21 team, who as the time played in the 1. Liga the fourth tier of Swiss football. During that season he also played three games for their first team under head coach

Krasimir Balakov Krasimir Genchev Balakov ( bg, Красимир Генчев Балъков, ; born 29 March 1966) is a Bulgarian professional football manager and former player who last served as the head coach of Bulgarian club CSKA 1948. A former attacking ...

. His debut was on 26 March 2006 as Grasshoppers lost 1–0 at home against

Schaffhausen Schaffhausen (; gsw, Schafuuse; french: Schaffhouse; it, Sciaffusa; rm, Schaffusa; en, Shaffhouse) is a list of towns in Switzerland, town with historic roots, a municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in northern Switzerland, and the ...

. He then advanced to their first team and played six years for them. At the end of May 2011 his contract expired.

Basel

On 31 May 2011, Voser moved from GC to Basel on a free transfer, signing a three-year contract. He joined Basel's first team during their 2011–12 season under head coach

Thorsten Fink Thorsten Fink (born 29 October 1967) is a German football coach and a former footballer, currently works as manager of Riga FC. Career Fink began his career with Borussia Dortmund's reserve squad before moving to SG Wattenscheid 09, where he hel ...

. To the beginning of their 2011–12 season season Voser was member of the Basel team that won the 2011 Uhrencup, beating both

Hertha Berlin Hertha, Berliner Sport-Club e. V., commonly known as Hertha BSC (), and sometimes referred to as Hertha Berlin, Hertha BSC Berlin, or simply Hertha, is a German professional football club based in the locality of Westend (Berlin), Westend of the ...

3–0 and

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

2–1, to lead the table on goal difference above Young Boys. After playing in three test games and in both Uhrencup matches, Voser played his domestic league debut for the club in the away game in the

Stadion Wankdorf The Wankdorf Stadium (; between 2005 and 2020 known as Stade de Suisse) is a football stadium in Bern, Switzerland. The second largest all-seater football stadium in Switzerland, it currently serves as the home ground of the Swiss football team ...

on 16 July 2011 as Basel played a 1–1 draw with Young Boys. But after just six league matches and one cup match Voser suffered an injury and had to undergo surgery on his foot and this kept him out of training for the remainder of the season. At the end of the 2011–12 season he won the

Double A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another. Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to: Film and television * Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character * Th ...

with his new club. They won the

League League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

Championship title with 20 points advantage. The team won 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 ...

, winning the final 4–3 in a penalty shootout against

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 ...

. Voser recovered from his foot injury and rejoined the team at the beginning of their 2012–13 season. After playing in two test games, Voser played his Champions League debut in the home game in the

St. Jakob-Park St. Jakob-Park () is a Swiss sports stadium in Basel. It is the largest football venue in Switzerland and home to FC Basel. "Joggeli", as the venue is nicknamed by the locals, was originally built with a capacity of 33,433 seats. The capacity w ...

on 24 July 2012 as Basel won 3–0 against

Flora Tallinn FC Flora, commonly known as Flora Tallinn, or simply as Flora, is a professional Football team, football club based in Tallinn, Estonia, that competes in the Meistriliiga, the top flight of Estonian football league system, Estonian football. The ...

. But again Voser was hampered by injuries. In November/December he missed two months due to a foot injury and then in April one month due to a shoulder injury. Basel had started in the

2012–13 UEFA Champions League The 2012–13 UEFA Champions League was the 58th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 21st season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions League. The final was p ...

in the qualifying rounds. But were knocked out of the competition by

CFR Cluj Fotbal Club CFR 1907 Cluj, commonly known as CFR Cluj ( or ), is a Romanian professional association football, football club based in the city of Cluj-Napoca, Cluj County, which competes in the Liga I. It was founded in 1907 as ''Kolozsvári Vas ...

in the play-off round. They then continued in the

2012–13 UEFA Europa League The 2012–13 UEFA Europa League was the 42nd season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 4th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. The final was played at the Amsterdam Aren ...

group stage. Ending the group in second position, Basel continued in the knockout phase and advanced as far as the

semi-finals A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

, there being matched against the reigning

UEFA Champions League 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 ...

holders

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

. Chelsea won both games advancing 5–2 on aggregate, eventually winning the competition. At the end of the Swiss Super League season 2012–13 he won the Championship title with the team. In the

2012–13 Swiss Cup The 2012–13 Swiss Cup was the 88th season of Switzerland's annual football cup competition. The competition commenced on 14 September 2012 with the first game of Round 1 and ended on 20 May 2013 with the Final. The winners of the competition, Gr ...

Basel reached the final, but were runners up behind Grasshopper Club, being defeated 4–3 on penalties, following a 1–1 draw after extra time. At the start of their 2013–14 season season Voser was member of the Basel team that won the 2013 Uhrencup, beating

Red Star Belgrade Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club, ), commonly known as Red Star Belgrade in English-language media, is a Serbian professional football club based in Bel ...

in the final. Voser scored his first goal for the team in the 2013–14 season on 23 November 2013 in the

. It was the team's second goal as they beat

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

4–1. Basel joined the 2013–14 Champions League in the qualifying rounds and they advanced to the group stage. Finishing in third place in their group, Basel qualified for Europa League knockout phase and here they advanced as far as the quarter-finals. But eventually they were beaten by

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

5-3 on aggregate, after extra time. At the end of the 2013–14 Super League season Voser won his third league championship with Basel. The team also reached the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

of the

on 21 April 2014.

Gastón Sauro Gastón Sauro (born 23 February 1990) is an Argentine footballer who plays as a centre-back for Club Atlético Sarmiento. Career Boca Juniors Sauro made his professional debut with Boca Juniors during the 2008–09 season. FC Basel On 6 July 2 ...

and

Giovanni Sio Giovanni-Guy Yann Sio (born 31 March 1989) is a professional footballer who plays as a forward for Swiss Super League club FC Sion. Born in France, he represented the Ivory Coast at international level. Career Born in Saint-Sébastien-sur-Loire, ...

were both sent off as Basel fell to rivals

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 ...

2–0 in added extra time, after a goalless 90 minutes. But Voser could not play due to injury. On 2 July 2014 Basel announced that Voser had left the club. During his period with the club, Voser played a total of 87 games for Basel scoring one goal. 48 of these games were in the

Swiss Super League The Swiss Super League (known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a Swiss professional league in the top tier of the Swiss football league system and has been played in its current format since the 2003–04 season ...

, five in the

, 13 in the UEFA competitions (Champions League and Europa League) and 21 were friendly games. He scored his only goal in the domestic league, as mentioned above.

Fulham

On 2 July 2014,

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

announced they had signed Voser on a two-year deal with an option for a third. The fee was undisclosed. His contract was terminated by mutual consent in February 2016.

Sion then Zürich

After half a season at

FC Sion Football Club de Sion, commonly known as simply FC Sion or Sion, is a Swiss football team from the city of Sion. The club was founded in 1909, and play their home matches at the Stade Tourbillon. They have won the Swiss Super League twice, and ...

he signed a two-year contract with

in June 2016. Zürich had just been relegated, but at the end of the season they achieved promotion. Voser remained with the club, but was no longer a regular starter in the team.

Charlotte Independence

On March 6, 2018, Voser signed with

America 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 primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

n side

Charlotte Independence Charlotte Independence is an American soccer team based in Charlotte, North Carolina that plays in the USL League One, the third tier of the American soccer pyramid. The Independence currently play their home games at American Legion Memorial ...

for the 2018 season. Voser left Charlotte at the end of their 2018 season.

International career

Voser played his Swiss U-16 debut on 26 August 2002 in the 2–2 away draw against the German U-16 team. He made his Swiss U-21 debut on 7 February 2007 in the 4–0 away defeat against the French U-21 team.

Later life

From April 2019, Voser completed an internship as a sports journalist at the

Tages-Anzeiger ''Tages-Anzeiger'' (), also abbreviated ''Tagi'' or ''TA'', is a Swiss German-language national daily newspaper published in Zurich, Switzerland. History and profile The paper was first published under the name ''Tages-Anzeiger für Stadt und K ...

. In May 2021 Schweizer Fernsehen announced that they had hired Kay Voser as new member of their

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of wh ...

expert team.

Titles and honours

Basel *

champion: 2011–12,

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

, 2013–14 *

winner: 2011–12 * Swiss Cup runner-up:

, 2013–14 *

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 ...

winner: 2011, 2013 Zürich *

Swiss Challenge League The Challenge League is the second-highest tier of the Swiss football league system and lower of two professional leagues in the country. Ten teams play in the Challenge League; the winners of the league are promoted to the Super League, while the ...

champion and promotion: 2016–17 Individual * Swiss Super League Team of the Year: 2013–14

References

Sources

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

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Voser, Kay 1987 births Living people Men's association football defenders Grasshopper Club Zürich players FC Basel players Fulham F.C. players FC Sion players FC Zürich players Charlotte Independence players Swiss Challenge League players Swiss Super League players Switzerland men's youth international footballers Switzerland men's under-21 international footballers Swiss men's footballers English Football League players USL Championship players People from Baden, Switzerland Footballers from Aargau