René Schaller (1915 – after 1938) was a Swiss

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 1930s. He played as a

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. Schaller played for

La Chaux-de-Fonds La Chaux-de-Fonds () is a Swiss city in the canton of Neuchâtel. It is located in the Jura mountains at an altitude of 1000 m, a few kilometers south of the French border. After Geneva, Lausanne and Fribourg, it is the fourth largest city loc ...

from 1933 to 1937 and was a successful goal scorer. He played his league debut in the La Chaux-de-Fonds team in the

1933–34 Nationalliga Statistics of Swiss Super League in the 1933–34 season. Overview It was contested by 16 teams, and Servette FC Genève won the championship. League standings Results Sources Switzerland 1933-34 at RSSSF {{DEFAULTSORT:1933-34 Nationall ...

season. In the

1935–36 Nationalliga Statistics of Swiss Super League in the 1935–36 season. Overview It was contested by 14 teams, and Lausanne Sports won the championship. League standings Results Sources Switzerland 1935-36 at RSSSF {{DEFAULTSORT:1935-36 Nationalliga ...

season he played in all 26 league games scoring 16 of the team's 47 goals, saving his team from relegation as they ended the season in 12th position just one point above the relegation slot. Again in the following season he scored 12 goals in 22 outings. But because La Chaux-de-Fonds and

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 ...

both had 20 points, they had to have a play-off against relegation. This ended in a draw and so a replay was required. The replay was played in the

Stadion Neufeld Stadion Neufeld is a multi-use stadium in Bern, Switzerland. It is the home ground of FC Bern and the junior team of BSC Young Boys. The capacity of the stadium is 14,000 spectators, including 3000 seats. BSC Young Boys used the stadium from 2001/ ...

Bern german: Berner(in)french: Bernois(e) it, bernese , neighboring_municipalities = Bremgarten bei Bern, Frauenkappelen, Ittigen, Kirchlindach, Köniz, Mühleberg, Muri bei Bern, Neuenegg, Ostermundigen, Wohlen bei Bern, Zollikofen , website ...

on 20 June 1937 and ended in a 1–0 victory for Basel and La Chaux-de-Fonds were relegated. Schaller moved on and joined

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 ...

's first team for their 1937–38 season under player-manager

Fernand Jaccard Fernand Alfred Jaccard (8 October 1907 – 15 April 2008) was a Swiss footballer and manager. He played as midfielder. He was born in La Chaux-de-Fonds and died in Lutry. Playing career Jaccard played his youth football with Étoile-Sporting ...

. After playing two test games, Schaller made his domestic league debut for his new club in the home game at the Landhof on 29 August 1937 as Basel won 1–0 against Young Fellows Zürich. He scored his first league goal for the club in the next game on 5 September away to

Biel-Bienne , french: Biennois(e) , neighboring_municipalities= Brügg, Ipsach, Leubringen/Magglingen (''Evilard/Macolin''), Nidau, Orpund, Orvin, Pieterlen, Port, Safnern, Tüscherz-Alfermée, Vauffelin , twintowns = Iserlohn (Germany) B ...

. It was the last goal of the game as Basel won 3–1. In the following season Schaller played in just three test games. He was injured during the pre-season test game against German club

Freiburger FC Freiburger FC () is a German association football club based in Freiburg, Baden-Württemberg. Freiburger FC were one of the founding clubs of the DFB (German Football Association) in 1900. History Founded in 1897, for many decades FFC were the ...

and that was his final appearance for the club. In the short period that he was with Basel Schaller played 22 games and scored nine goals; 14 games were in the Nationalliga, 2 were 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 6 were friendlies. He scored five goals in the domestic league, two in the

and the other two goals were scored during the test games.

References

Sources

* Rotblau: Jahrbuch Saison 2017/2018. Publisher: FC Basel Marketing AG. * Die ersten 125 Jahre. Publisher: Josef Zindel im Friedrich Reinhardt Verlag, Basel.
Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv" Homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schaller, René FC Basel players Swiss men's footballers Men's association football forwards 1915 births Year of death missing