Manfred Wagner (born 21 June 1968) is a German former

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 in the late 1980s and the 1990s. He played mainly as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

, but also as a

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 ...

. Wagner first played for local club FC Steinen-Höllstein. He joined

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 ...

's first team for their 1989–90 season and signed his first professional contract under head coach

Urs Siegenthaler Urs Siegenthaler (born 23 November 1947) is a former Swiss footballer, turned manager. Since 13 May 2005 he is Chiefscout and Analyser for the Germany national team. Playing career Born in Basel, Siegenthaler started his football with local te ...

in the second tier of Swiss football. After playing in five test matches, Wagner made his domestic league debut for his new club in the home game at 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 ...

on 22 July 1989 as Basel won 2–0 against Old Boys. Wagner scored his first goal for his club in the return match on 22 September as Basel played away 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 the ...

and won 5–1. Wagner stayed with the club for three-and-a-half years. In the qualifying phase of the 1992–93 season Wagner only had two appearances as substitute, so during the winter break he moved on. During his time with the club Wagner played 112 games for Basel scoring fifteen goals; 79 games were in the Nationalliga B, 5 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 28 were friendly games. He scored nine goals in the domestic league, two in the cup and the other four were scored during the test games. Following his time with Basel Wagner signed for local rivals

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 ...

and stayed with them for at least one-and-a-half years.

References

Sources

* Die ersten 125 Jahre. Publisher: Josef Zindel im Friedrich Reinhardt Verlag, Basel.
Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv" Homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wagner, Manfred FC Basel players BSC Old Boys players German men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Men's association football forwards 1968 births Living people Swiss Challenge League players