Marco Streller (born 18 June 1981) is a Swiss 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 ...

who played as a striker and is best known for his years with

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, a ...

and the Switzerland national team. He was the sporting director of

from June 2017 until June 2019. Since February 2020 he works as a TV expert for the Swiss Pay TV broadcaster

Teleclub Teleclub was a brand name of a premium television offering in Switzerland. Founded in 1982, it was one of the longest established providers of such in Europe. At present time the service is only available in Switzerland. The service is owned by ...

Club career

Youth football

Streller was born in

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 ...

and began his youth football with local club FC Aesch, coming through the ranks between 1988 and 1997. He then played three seasons for FC Arlesheim in the 2. Liga.

Basel

Streller started his professional football career with local club

under

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

Christian Gross Christian Jürgen Gross (born 14 August 1954) is a Swiss football manager and former player who most recently coached Schalke 04. He played as a sweeper and central midfielder. Gross was manager of Basel from 1 July 1999 to 27 May 2009, winning ...

in 2000. He played his League debut in St. Jakob-Park being substituted in during the 66th Minute at St. Jakob-Park on 11 July 2001 in the 3–1 home win against

Servette Servette is a district of the city of Geneva, Switzerland. The district's name comes from the Latin word for forest, ''silva'', and means "little forest". Its name alludes to Servette's rural past, before Geneva grew beyond its walls and incorpora ...

. Unluckily in the last minute of the game he scored an

own goal An own goal, also called a self goal, is where a player performs actions that result in them or their team scoring a goal on themselves, often resulting in a point for the opposing team, such as when a football player kicks a ball into their own ...

, a deflected header, after Servette had taken the last corner kick.

Loan to Concordia and Thun

This was to remain Streller's only game for Basel during this season because he was loaned to feeder club

FC Concordia Basel FC Concordia Basel is a Swiss football club based in Basel. The club was founded in 1907. They play in the 2nd regional league which is the fifth level, and their home stadium was Rankhof Stadium until the 2008-09 season. FC Concordia Basel has ...

for the rest of the season. He scored 16 goals in 30 starts in the Nationalliga B with Concordia, which made his home club and Gross sit up and take notice. They called him back in 2002, but after playing just three games was loaned out again in January of the following year to

FC Thun Fussballclub Thun 1898 is a Swiss football team from the Bernese Oberland town of Thun. The club plays in the Swiss Challenge League, the second tier of the Swiss football league system, following relegation from the Swiss Super League in the ...

. He scored eight goals in just 16 games for Thun and was subsequently recalled to Basel, being promised first team football.

Basel

During the

2003–04 Swiss Super League The 2003–04 Swiss Super League was the 107th season of top-division football in Switzerland. The competition is officially named ''AXPO Super League'' due to sponsoring purposes. It began on 16 July 2003 and has ended on 23 May 2004. This fi ...

season, he scored 13 goals in 16 games, thus gathering the interest of a handful of

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 ...

clubs including

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 S ...

VfB Stuttgart and 1. FC Köln

Stuttgart eventually signed him ahead of the 2004–05 season. During his debut on 14 March 2005 he also scored his first goal for the VfB. But after returning from an injury he scored just four goals in 28 matches in his two years in Stuttgart. Therefore, and to gain match practice, he was loaned out to 1. FC Köln for their second half of the 2006 season. After returning from Köln, where he made 14 starts, he scored five goals in 27 games as Stuttgart won the Championship, but Streller still failed to impress the Stuttgart board of directors.

Basel

Stuttgart therefore allowed Streller to rejoin his boyhood heroes FC Basel on a free transfer in June 2007. This was his fourth spell at the club and it turned out to be very successful. He was Basel's top goal-scorer during the 2007–08 season with twelve league goals and 16 goals in all competitions. In the last game of the season Valentin Stocker and Marco Streller scored the two goals in Basels 2–0 home win over BSC Young Boys and Basel won the championship. Streller missed the start of the 2008–09 season after returning from

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 ...

injured. He playing his first game of the season in a 1–0 Swiss Cup win over

FC Schötz Fussballclub Schötz is a football club from Schötz Schötz is a municipality in the district of Willisau in the canton of Lucerne in Switzerland. On 1 January 2013 the former municipality of Ohmstal merged into the municipality of Schöt ...

on 20 September 2008. During the

2008–09 Swiss Super League The 2008–09 Swiss Super League was the 112th season of top-tier football in Switzerland. The competition is officially named ''AXPO Super League'' due to sponsoring purposes. It began on 18 July 2008 with a match between Young Boys Bern and rei ...

season Streller played 23 league games, scoring six goals, but Basel finished just third in the League table, qualifying for the

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

. In the 2009–10 season Streller played 29 League games, scoring 21 goals, and Basel 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 * ...

. In the

2010–11 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. ...

season Basel were able to defend the League Title, thus Streller won his fourth Swiss League Medal. For the

2011–12 Swiss Super League The 2011–12 Swiss Super League season was the 115th season of top-tier football in Switzerland. It began on 16 July 2011 and ended on 23 May 2012. Basel successfully defended their title. No team was directly relegated after Neuchâtel Xamax w ...

season trainer

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 ...

named Marco Streller as team captain. He scored his first

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 competi ...

goal for Basel on 22 November in the

Group C Group C was a category of sports car racing introduced by the FIA in 1982 and continuing until 1993, with ''Group A'' for touring cars and ''Group B'' for GTs. It was designed to replace both Group 5 special production cars (closed top touri ...

tie in the

Arena Națională Arena Națională () is a retractable roof football stadium in Bucharest, Romania. It opened in 2011 on the site of the original National Stadium, which was demolished between 2007 and 2008. The stadium hosts major football matches including h ...

, in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

, as Basel won the away game against Oțelul Galați 3–2. At the end of the 2011–12 season, Streller won the Double, the League Championship title and the Swiss Cup with Basel. At the end of the 2012–13 Swiss Super League season Streller won the Championship title for the fourth time in a row and was Swiss Cup runner up with Basel. 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 ...

Basel 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

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 ...

, but were knocked out being beaten 5–2 on aggregate. In a very long season Basel played a total of 76 games (36 in the domestic League, six in the Cup, 20 in Champions und Europa League, as well as 14 Test matches). Streller made 62 appearances, of which 32 were in der domestic League, three in the Cup and 17 in the Champions League and Europa League. On 18 September 2013, he headed the winning goal away to Chelsea in the opening

group A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together. Groups of people * Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity * Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic ide ...

game of the 2013–14 UEFA Champions League. At the end of the 2013–14 Super League season, Streller won his seventh league championship with Basel (fifth time in a row). They also reached the final of the

2013–14 Swiss Cup The 2013–14 Swiss Cup was the 89th season of Switzerland's annual football cup competition. The competition started on 14 August 2013 with the first game of Round 1 and ended in May 2014 with the Final. The winners of the competition qualified f ...

, but were beaten 2–0 by

Zürich , neighboring_municipalities = Adliswil, Dübendorf, Fällanden, Kilchberg, Maur, Oberengstringen, Opfikon, Regensdorf, Rümlang, Schlieren, Stallikon, Uitikon, Urdorf, Wallisellen, Zollikon , twintowns = Kunming, San Francisco Zürich ...

after extra time. In the 2013–14 Champions League season, Basel finished in the

group stage A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concen ...

in third position to qualify for Europa League knockout phase and here they advanced as far as the quarter-finals. In their season 2013–14, with

Murat Yakin Murat Yakin ( tr, Yakın; born 15 September 1974) is a Swiss football coach and former player. He is the manager of the Switzerland national football team. Playing career Yakin spent the longest spell of his career playing for his hometown c ...

as trainer, Basel played a total of 68 matches (36 Swiss Super League fixtures, six Swiss Cup, ten Champions League and six Europa League and ten test matches). Streler totaled 44 appearances, 25 in the Super League, three in the Cup, eight Champions League and two Europa League appearances, as well six in the test games. He totaled 18 goals in these matches, of which ten were scored in the Super League, one in the Champions League and two in the Europa League. The season 2014–15 was a very successful one for Basel and their captain Marco Streller. The championship was won for the sixth time in a row that season and in the 2014–15 Swiss Cup they reached the final. But for the third season in a row, they finished as runners-up, losing 3–0 to

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 ...

in the final. Basel entered the Champions League in the

and reached the

knockout phase 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 ...

as on 9 December 2014 they managed a 1–1 draw at

Anfield Anfield is a football stadium in Anfield, Liverpool, Merseyside, England, which has a seating capacity of 53,394, making it the seventh largest football stadium in England. It has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since their formation in 189 ...

against

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

. But then Basel then lost to Porto in the

Round of 16 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 ...

. Basel played a total of 65 matches (36 Swiss League fixtures, six Swiss Cup, 8 Champions League and 15 test matches). Under trainer

Paulo Sousa Paulo Manuel Carvalho de Sousa, CavIH (; born 30 August 1970) is a Portuguese football manager and former professional player who played as a defensive midfielder. Starting his career at Benfica, he also represented Sporting CP in his countr ...

Streller totaled 40 appearances, 24 League, one Cup, five Champions League, as well 10 in test games. He scored 20 goals in these matches. At the end of the 2014–15 FC Basel season Streller retired from professional football. Between the years 2000 to 2004 and again from 2007 to 2015 Streller played a total of 418 games for Basel scoring a total of 185 goals. 233 of these games were in the Swiss Super League, 22 in the Swiss Cup, 70 were in a UEFA European-competitions (Champions League, UEFA Cup Europa League and UIC) and 93 were friendly games. He scored 111 goals in the domestic league, nine in the domestic cup, 24 in European competitions and the other 41 were scored during the test games.

International career

Youth international

Streller represented Switzerland at Under-20 and Under-21 levels. He played his Swiss U-20 debut on 7 November 2001 in the 1–3 away defeat against the Dutch U-20 team. His U-21 debut was on 21 August 2002 in the 1–0 home win against the Austrian U-21 team. He scored his first goal for the U-21 on 15 January 2003 in the 2–3 defeat against the German U-21, in fact during this game he scored both Swiss goals. Just four days later on 19 January 2003 he scored a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

against the Qatar national under-23 football team as the Swiss won 3–1.

Full international

Streller played his debut as full international on 11 October 2003, being substituted in, during the 2–1 home win against the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern ...

in the final match of the Group 10 qualifying match to the

UEFA Euro 2004 The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football competition contested by the men's national teams of UEFA member associations. The ...

. Streller was in the squad for the

, but pulled out due to injury. During a 2006 WC qualifier against

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

, he was lashed at and kicked by Turkey player Alpay Özalan. He played at the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host th ...

and during the tournament's final stage he missed a spot-kick during his side's

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

against

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

, who emerged victorious. His substitution in the last friendly game before the

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 Europea ...

, against the Principality of Liechtenstein, was accompanied by catcalls from Swiss supporters, being dissatisfied with Streller's performance in that game. As a consequence, Streller announced his international retirement after the Euro 2008, citing he does not have "the full support of the fans". He was bashed about announcing such a move in front of the tournament not only by the Swiss press.

Ottmar Hitzfeld Ottmar Hitzfeld (; born 12 January 1949) is a German former professional football player ( striker) and manager. He accumulated a total of 18 major titles, mostly in his tenures with Grasshopper Club Zürich, Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich. ...

, designated Swiss manager from July 2008, convinced Streller to continue his international career. Streller scored Switzerland's second goal in a 4–1 victory against

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

in a

Euro 2012 The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2012 or simply Euro 2012, was the 14th European Championship for men's national football teams organised by UEFA. The final tournament, held between 8 June and 1 ...

qualifier on 13 October 2010. On 5 April 2011, he stepped down from the national team along with Alexander Frei, after being sharply criticised by home fans following a 0–0 draw with

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

for the Euro 2012 qualifier.

Career statistics

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

Honours

Basel * Swiss Super League: 2003–04, 2007–08, 2009–10,

, 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, 2014–15 * Swiss Cup: 2007–08, 2009–10, 2011–12 VfB Stuttgart *

: 2006–07

References

External links

Marco Streller
at FC Basel * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Streller, Marco 1981 births Living people Footballers from Basel Swiss men's footballers FC Basel players FC Concordia Basel players FC Thun players VfB Stuttgart players 1. FC Köln players 2006 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2008 players Switzerland youth international footballers Switzerland international footballers Swiss expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Germany Swiss Super League players Bundesliga players Association football forwards FC Basel non-playing staff