Serge Muhmenthaler (born 20 May 1953) is a Swiss former professional football player and referee. He played as a forward during the 1970s and 1980s. As referee he is known for having refereed a Swiss Cup Final, a UEFA Cup Final and one match in the

UEFA Euro 1996 The 1996 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 96, was the 10th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by European nations and organised by UEFA. It took place in England from 8 to 30 ...

Career as player

Muhmenthaler was brought up in

Grenchen Grenchen (french: Granges) is a municipality in the district of Lebern in the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland. It is located at the foot of the Jura mountains between Solothurn and Biel/Bienne, approximately north of Bern. With over 16,000 i ...

and started his football with the youth teams of the local football club

FC Grenchen FC Grenchen is a Swiss football club, based in Grenchen. They currently play in the 2. Liga, and play their matches at the Brühl Stadium. History FC Grenchen was founded in 1906. In 1937 they gained promotion to the top league of Swiss fo ...

. He also played in their first team in the Nationalliga B and they won promotion to the Nationalliga A in the 1970–71 season. The team also won the

Uhrencup The Uhrencup is a club football tournament, held annually in Grenchen and Biel in Switzerland. The Uhrencup is seen as a testament to the major influence that is exercised by the local industry on the cultural lives of the areas residents. The tou ...

that year and Muhmenthaler scored the first goal in the final, as they beat

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 ...

3–1. In the summer of 1972, Muhmenthaler transferred to BSC Young Boys and he played there as forward for three years. With the Young Boys, Muhmenthaler won the Uhrencup 1973 and he scored a goal in the semifinal against his previous club Grenchen. In 1975, Muhmenthaler transferred with a two-year contract to FC Basel. He made his team debut in the 5–1 home win against Grasshopper Club Zürich and Muhmenthaler scored three of the goals. He was part of the title winning team in the 1976–77 football season. During a cup match in February 1976, he suffered a meniscus rupture. Nevertheless, Basel extended his contract despite the fact that Muhmenthaler had to undergo three operations within the following two years. Muhmenthaler reached his third Uhrencup Final with his third club in 1977 but was unable to repeat the success, the final ended in a 6–1 defeat against

Neuchâtel Xamax , neighboring_municipalities= Auvernier, Boudry, Chabrey (VD), Colombier, Cressier, Cudrefin (VD), Delley-Portalban (FR), Enges, Fenin-Vilars-Saules, Hauterive, Saint-Blaise, Savagnier , twintowns = Aarau (Switzerland), Besançon (F ...

. Reaching the final again in the next year, Basel won the 1978 Uhrencup 2–1 against the same finalists. Muhmenthaler was forced to terminate his playing career early due to his injury.

Career as referee

After his time as an active player Muhmenthaler became referee in the Swiss Football League. His career in brief: 1980–81: 3. Liga. 1981 to 1984: 2. Liga. From the season 1984–85: referee in 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 Switzerlan ...

. From 1989: FIFA-Referee. From 1980 until the end of his career in December 1997 he conducted about 250 Swiss and some 75 international games. Amongst these he describes as one of his personal highlights the

1998 FIFA World Cup qualification 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

match on 11 November 1997 between

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

and

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

(1–0) in front of 80 000 spectators at the

Stadio San Paolo Stadio Diego Armando Maradona (formerly known as Stadio San Paolo) is a stadium in the western Fuorigrotta suburb of Naples, Italy. It is the third largest football stadium in Italy, after Milan's San Siro and Rome's Stadio Olimpico, as well as ...

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

. As part of the then practiced German-Swiss referee exchange 1988–1990, Muhmenthaler led four games in the

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 ...

Honours

Grenchen * Promotion to Nationalliga A: 1970–71 *

: 1971 BSC Young Boys * Uhrencup: 1973 Basel *

Coppa delle Alpi Coppa delle Alpi (translated as ''Cup of the Alps'') was a friendly football tournament, first organized by the Italian national league as it started in 1960 and then they were aided by the Swiss League from 1962, for the reason that the majorit ...

Finalist: 1975 * Swiss National Championship:

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democrat ...

* Uhrencup: 1978 as Referee * Swiss Referee of the Year: 1989, 1998 * 15 May 1989 Swiss Cup Final: Grasshopper Club Zürich –

FC Aarau FC Aarau is a Swiss football club based in Aarau. They play in the Swiss Challenge League, the second tier of Swiss football after being relegated from Swiss Super League. History FC Aarau was formed on 26 May 1902 by workers from a local br ...

(2–1) * 1 May 1996 UEFA Cup Final: Bayern Munich – FC Girondins de Bordeaux (2–0) * 11 June 1996

Group D:

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 ...

–

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

(0–1) * 5 February 1997 1996 UEFA Super Cup Second leg:

Juventus Turin )''I Bianconeri'' (The White and Blacks)''Le Zebre'' (The Zebras)''La Signora Omicidi'' (The Killer Lady)''La Gheuba'' (: The Hunchback) , founded = as Sport-Club Juventus , ground = Juventus Stadium , capacity = 41,507 , owner = Agnell ...

–

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain, Paris, Paris SG or simply PSG is a professional football club based in Paris, France. They compete in Ligue 1, the top division of French football. As Fr ...

(3–1)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Muhmenthaler, Serge Living people 1953 births Association football forwards Swiss men's footballers Swiss Super League players FC Grenchen players BSC Young Boys players FC Basel players Swiss football referees UEFA Euro 1996 referees