Peter Füri (9 October 1937 – 11 May 2015) was a

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player and manager, who played during the 1950s and 1960s. He died on 11 May 2015 at his home in Muttenz due to heart failure. Füri was born and brought up in Kleinbasel a quarter of Basel on the right hand side of the Rhine. He started his football at the small local club FC St. Clara and later joined the youth teams of FC Basel. During his active career Füri first played as a

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

for FC Concordia Basel and later as a defender for FC La Chaux-de-Fonds and FC Basel. Füri joined Basel's first team for their 1961–62 season under trainer

Jiří Sobotka Jiří Sobotka (also known as Georges Sobotka; 6 June 1911 – 20 May 1994) was a Czech football player and manager. He played internationally for Czechoslovakia. Career Sobotka played for Czechoslovakia national football team (23 caps, 8 goa ...

. He played his domestic league debut for his new club in the away game on 5 November 1961 as Basel were beaten 0–1 by

Young Fellows Zürich Sportclub Young Fellows Juventus is a professional Swiss football club based in Zürich. It was founded in 1992 following a merger between Young Fellows Zürich (established in 1903) and Società Calcistica Italiana Juventus Zurigo (1922). The t ...

. He scored his first goal for his club on 11 March 1962 in the away game on 11 March 1962 as Basel drew 2–2 against Lugano. In 1963 he was member of the Basel squad who 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 ...

by beating the favourites

Grasshopper Club Zürich Grasshopper Club Zürich, commonly referred to as simply GC, GCZ, or Grasshoppers, is a multisports club based in Zürich, Switzerland. The oldest and best known department of the club is its football team. With 27 titles, Grasshopper holds the ...

in the Final at the Wankdorf Stadium by 2–0. Basel trainer at that time was

Georges Sobotka Georges may refer to: Places *Georges River, New South Wales, Australia *Georges Quay (Dublin) * Georges Township, Fayette County, Pennsylvania Other uses * Georges (name) * ''Georges'' (novel), a novel by Alexandre Dumas * "Georges" (song), a 19 ...

and team mates were Swiss international goalkeeper

Kurt Stettler Kurt Stettler (21 August 1932 – 8 December 2020) was a Swiss football goalkeeper who played for Switzerland in the 1962 FIFA World Cup.

, team captain Bruno Michaud and Odermatt. Füri played in all cup games except the Final because he became ill. A well-documented curiosity was the fact that during the winter break of their 1963–64 season the team travelled on a world tour. This saw them visit

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, Malaysia, Singapore,

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, New Zealand,

French Polynesia )Territorial motto: ( en, "Great Tahiti of the Golden Haze") , anthem = , song_type = Regional anthem , song = " Ia Ora 'O Tahiti Nui" , image_map = French Polynesia on the globe (French Polynesia centered).svg , map_alt = Location of Frenc ...

, Mexico and the United States. First team manager

together with 16 players and 15 members of staff, supporters and journalists participated in this world tour from 10 January to 10 February 1964. Team captain Bruno Michaud filmed the events with his super-8 camara. The voyage around the world included 19 flights and numerous bus and train journeys. Club chairman, Lucien Schmidlin, led the group, but as they arrived in the hotel in Bangkok, he realised that 250,000 Swiss Francs were missing. The suitcase that he had filled with the various currencies was not with them. He had left it at home, but fortunately Swiss Air were able to deliver this to him within just a few days. During the tour a total of ten friendly/test games were played, these are listed in their 1963–64 season. Five wins, three draws, two defeats, but also three major injuries resulted from these test matches. An eye injury for

Walter Baumann Walter Baumann (born 21 July 1942) is a Swiss former footballer who played in the 1960s. He played mainly as a forward, but also as a defender. Football career Baumann joined Basel's first team during their 1962–63 season under trainer Jiř ...

, a knee injury for Bruno Michaud and a broken leg for Peter Füri himself, soon reduced the number of players to just 13. Between the years 1961 and 1966 Füri played a total of 127 games for Basel scoring a total of three goals. 71 of these games were in the Nationalliga A, 14 in the

, ten in the european competitions ( Cup of the Alps, European Cup Winners' Cup,

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from la, Inter, 'between' + german: toto, 'betting pool'),Most precisely, from (football pool); cf. often abbreviated and more known in the German-speaking world as UI Cup and originally called the International Foot ...

) and 32 were friendly games. He scored two goals in the domestic league and the other was scored during the test games. Füri ended his football career as player-manager with SC Binningen between 1966 and 68. Füri was a qualified electrician and worked up until his retirement as head of department in the distribution center for Coop in Pratteln.

Honours and Titles

Concordia Basel * Swiss 1. Liga champions and promoted: 1957 Basel *

winner: 1963

Sources and References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Furi, Peter 1937 births 2015 deaths Swiss men's footballers Swiss football managers SC Binningen players FC Concordia Basel players FC La Chaux-de-Fonds players FC Basel players Men's association football forwards Men's association football defenders Footballers from Basel