The Landhof was a sports stadium in the district Basel-Wettstein in Kleinbasel,
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 ...
. It was the former and first home stadium 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 ...
.
It is mentioned for the first time in a chronicle in the second half of the 18th century as a ''nice summer house with beautiful property''. The best known owner of the manor was , a member of the
Merian family
Merian is a patrician family of Basel, Switzerland. It consists of two branches (an 'elder Basel line' and a 'younger' one) who were citizens of Basel from 1498 and from 1549/1553. The family were represented in the Grand Council of Basel-Stadt ...
. He was Mayor of Basel and Landammann of Switzerland (highest office at the time).
In 1892 the granddaughter of Merian-Iselin sold the Landhof to a certain Katharina Ehrler-Wittich. As the
Football Club Basel 1893 was founded in 1893 and look for a ground to play, she made the Landhof available free of charge as a playing surface. As early as Sunday, 26 November 1893, the first football game took place on the grounds. From 1895 to 1901 the ''Vélodrome de Bâle'', a cycle track, was also located on the grounds. In their
1898–99 season FC Basel's first league game was played here, this was a city derby against
BSC Old Boys
Basler Sportclub Old Boys, commonly known as BSC Old Boys, Old Boys Basel or simply Old Boys or when written just OB, is a Swiss sports club based in Basel. The club is mainly known for its football but it also has track, swimming and tennis se ...
, in front of nearly 400 spectators.
The first ever international match between the
Swiss national team and the
German national team took place here in April 1908. 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 ...
demanded a seated spectator stand for at least 200 people. The club agreed and built a wood fence around the ground. Sponsored by a chocolate factory, at the cost of four thousand Swiss Francs and a building time of little more than one month the club's members built the first spectator grandstand in Switzerland. On 5 April 1908, Switzerland's first international football match against Germany took place on the Landhof in front of 4,000 spectators. Switzerland won 5-3. This was the first ever international match for Germany and the third for Switzerland.
Following this, the ground was used a number of times as international venue.
Until 1967 the Landhof was the home ground of FC Basel. After the signing of
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 ...
as player-coach and with the increasing success of the team, the Landhof became too small for the rising number of spectators. From then onwards FC Basel played their home games in the
St. Jakob Stadium. However, until the early 1990s the club continued to use the Landhof as a training ground and as playing field for their youth teams. They also had their offices and clubhouse there. After that the area became overgrown and there was a long-term political struggle over a planned residential block development.
References
{{FC Basel
FC Basel
Defunct football venues in Switzerland
Defunct sports venues in Switzerland