The Fussball Club Basel 1893 1993–94 season was their 101st season since the club's foundation. Peter Epting was the club's chairman for the second period. FC Basel played their home games in the

St. Jakob Stadium The St. Jakob Stadium was a football (soccer), 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 import ...

. Following their relegation in the 1987–88 season this was their sixth season in the second tier of Swiss football.

Overview

Pre-season

Claude Andrey Claude "Didi" Andrey (born 13 June 1951) is a former Swiss footballer, who most recently managed Yverdon-Sport FC in the Challenge League. Andrey took over FC Basel for their 1993–94 season. His team included the likes of Swiss internation ...

was appointed as new first team trainer. He came from Sion where he had been trainer for the previous six months and he came as replacement for

Friedel Rausch Friedel Rausch (27 February 1940 – 18 November 2017) was a German football player and manager. As a manager, he won with FC Luzern the Swiss championship in 1989 and the cup in 1992, thereby becoming the most successful manager in the club's ...

who had only been trainer with the club for the previous season. A number of players left the club during the off-season. Last season's top scorer André Sitek moved on to score his goals for

Locarno Locarno (; ; Ticinese dialect, Ticinese: ; formerly in ) is a southern Switzerland, Swiss List of towns in Switzerland, town and Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district Locarno (district), Locarno (of which it is the capita ...

, another goal scorer Frédéric Chassot returned to

Neuchâtel Xamax Neuchâtel (, ; ; ) is a town, a municipality, and the capital of the Swiss canton of Neuchâtel on Lake Neuchâtel. Since the fusion in 2021 of the municipalities of Neuchâtel, Corcelles-Cormondrèche, Peseux, and Valangin, the city has ap ...

after his loan period had expired and defender Dirk Lellek transferred to

VfB Oldenburg VfB Oldenburg is a Football in Germany, German association football club based in Oldenburg (city), Oldenburg, Lower Saxony. In the 2022–23 season, they played in the 3. Liga, the third level of football in Germany. History Founded by a gro ...

. Christian Marcolli and Manfred Wagner both moved on to local rivals to Old Boys and

Patrick Rahmen Patrick Rahmen (born 3 April 1969) is a Swiss football coach and former player. He played as midfielder or forward. He was most recently the head coach of Young Boys in the Swiss Super League. Club career Patrick Rahmen learned his football s ...

moved on to play for

SR Delémont Sport-Réunis de Delémont (shortened to SR Delémont) is a Swiss Association football, football club based in Delémont and founded in 1909. The team currently play in Swiss 1. Liga (football), 1st League Classic from 2025–26, the fourth tier ...

. In the other direction Swiss international goalkeeper Stefan Huber transferred in from Lausanne-Sport. Two new defender were also transferred in, Andre Meier from

Chiasso Chiasso (; ) is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Mendrisio (district), Mendrisio in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Ticino in Switzerland. As Extreme points of Switzerland, the southernmost of Switzerland's ...

and

Samir Tabakovic Samir (also spelled Sameer) is a male name found commonly in South Asia, the Middle East, and Central Asia. In Arabic, Samir () means "holy", "jovial", "loyal", or "charming". In Albanian, it literally means "so good" but loosely "exquisite", ...

from

NK Belišće NK Belišće is a Croatian football club based in the town of Belišće. History NK Belišće was founded in 1919 under the name BŠK (Belišćanski športski klub). The club's name was changed in 1925 to BRŠK (Belišćanski radnički šports ...

. The midfield was stregthend with the signings of

Mario Cantaluppi Mario "Lupo" Cantaluppi (born 11 April 1974) is a Swiss former professional footballer who played as a defender or midfielder. Club career Born in Schlieren, Switzerland, Mario Cantaluppi started his professional career with Grasshopper Club Z� ...

from Grasshopper Club, Sergei Derkach from

Dynamo Moscow MGO VFSO "Dynamo" (), commonly known as Dynamo Moscow (), is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. Founded by Felix Dzerzhinsky on 18 April 1923, Dynamo Moscow was the first institution created from the All-Union Dynamo Sports Club. Dynamo Mosco ...

and Didier Gigon from Lausanne-Sport. More notable transfers were those of Swiss international strikers

Dario Zuffi Dario Zuffi (born 7 December 1964) is a Swiss football coach and former international player. He is currently employed as assistant coach for FC Winterthur. Career Playing career Zuffi played his youth football with the local Winterthur team FC ...

and

Philippe Hertig Philippe Hertig (born 2 July 1965) is a Swiss former association football, footballer who played as a striker (association football), striker during the 1980s and 1990s. He is banker and is now assistant director of Mirabaud Group. In 2009 Herti ...

who both came from

Lugano Lugano ( , , ; ) is a city and municipality within the Lugano District in the canton of Ticino, Switzerland. It is the largest city in both Ticino and the Italian-speaking region of southern Switzerland. Lugano has a population () of , and an u ...

. A number of youngsters were brought up from the youth team including the hopeful local lads Markus Lichtsteiner and Roger Schreiber.

Domestic league

After missing promotion during the last five seasons, the club's repeated priority aim was to return to the top flight of Swiss football. There was to be a further reform in the

Swiss football league system The Swiss football league system, is a series of interconnected leagues for association football clubs in Switzerland, with seven teams from Liechtenstein, and one each from exclaves of Germany and Italy, also competing. The system has a hierarchi ...

and the number of teams in the Nationliga B to be reduced from 20 to 16. The 20 teams in the Nationalliga B were divided into two groups of 10, an East and a West group. In the first stage, both groups would play a qualification round. In the second stage, the top two teams in each Nationalliga B group would advance to the promotion round and the bottom eight teams in each group would play a relegation round. In the second stage the tops two teams of each group and the last four teams of the Nationalliga A would play a promotion/relegation round. The top four teams in this groups would play in the top flight the next season, the other four in the second flight. In the relegation round the remaining teams were divided into two groups of eight. In total seven teams would be relegated to the 1st League, the last three teams from each group plus one of both fifth placed teams. Basel were assigned to the Nationalliga B West group, together with local rivals Old Boys and

. Basel started somewhat sloppily into the season with two home defeats against Old Boys and

Grenchen Grenchen () is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Lebern (district), Lebern in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Solothurn (canton), Solothurn in Switzerland. It is located at the foot of the Jura mountains betwee ...

in the first three games of the season. But the newly formed team soon found themselves and they recorded eight victories in the next nine games. Etoile Carouge ended the qualifying phase as group winners, two points above second placed Basel. In the 18 games, Basel recorded 12 victories, one draw and five defeats with a goal difference of plus 25, 39 scored and 14 conceded.

with 11 goals,

Ørjan Berg Ørjan Berg (born 20 August 1968) is a Norwegian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He is the current sporting director of Bodø/Glimt. Berg retired at the end of the 2006 season, having played for Bodø/Glimt, Wetting ...

with eight and

Admir Smajić Admir Smajić (born 7 September 1963) is a Bosnian professional football manager and former player. He played in the Yugoslavia national team and the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team. Club career Partizan Born in Bijeljina,Stefan Huber held a clean sheet in nine of his 17 matches during this first stage of the season. As second placed team in their qualifying group, Basel qualified for the promotion stage. To help with their promotion attempt Axel Kruse was signed in on loan from

VfB Stuttgart Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V. (), commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German professional sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's Association football, football team is currently part of Germany's f ...

until the end of the season, but because of injuries he only played three league games. The other teams in this stage from the Nationalliga B were Etoile Carouge, St. Gallen and

Schaffhausen Schaffhausen (; ; ; ; ), historically known in English as Shaffhouse, is a list of towns in Switzerland, town with historic roots, a municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in northern Switzerland, and the capital of the canton of Schaffh ...

. The bottom four teams from the Nationalliga A were Xamax,

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

Kriens Kriens is a city and a municipality in the district of Lucerne in the canton of Lucerne in Switzerland. The municipality lies at the foot of the mountain Pilatus, and is a western suburb of Lucerne. History In the oldest documents of the Bened ...

and Yverdon-Sports. Basel's start in the phase of a somewhat slow stance and three draws in the first four matches and despite an away defeat against Xamax in round six they played well at the top of the group table. Not being defeated in the last eight matches, winning five, drawing three, they ended the group in first place. They were level on points with St. Gallen and Xamax and won promotion. Relegated this season from the top flight were

and Yverdon-Sports. The team's top goal scorer was

with 11 goals, five other players each scored two goals. Stefan Huber held a clean sheet in seven of his 13 matches during the second stage of the season.

Swiss Cup

Basel entered the

Swiss Cup The Swiss Cup (; ; ; ) is a football cup competition that has been organised annually since 1925–26 season by the Swiss Football Association. The Swiss Cup final is usually the most important game of the year with a high attendance. The co ...

in the second round. Here they were drawn away from home in the Herti Allmend Stadion against lower-tier team

Zug Zug (Standard German: , Alemannic German: ; ; ; ; )Named in the 16th century. is the largest List of cities in Switzerland, town and capital of the Swiss canton of Zug. Zug is renowned as a hub for some of the wealthiest individuals in the wor ...

. Thomas Karrer and Ralph Steingruber put the guests 2–0 in front by half time and then in the second half they added even more pressure. In the second half they added another eight goals to final result 10–0. In the third round Basel were drawn at home in the

against higher tier

Aarau Aarau (, ) is a List of towns in Switzerland, town, a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality, and the capital of the northern Swiss Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Aargau. The List of towns in Switzerland, town is also the capital of the d ...

and despite being a goal down through an own goal at half time, Basel again turned up the pressure again in the second half and turned the result to win 4–1. In round four another higher tier team were to visit Basel in their home stadium.

and

and another Zuffi goal gave the host team a 1–0 victory. The fourth higher top flight team to make the visit to the stadium was Yverdon-Sports. The match was goalless after 90 minutes, thus went into over-time. Zuffi gave the hosts a 1–0 victory after extra time with a goal in 118th minute. The semi-final also gave Basel a home game against

, who had suffered a 3–0 defeat here exactly two weeks earlier. But this time the hosts played under capabilities, Schaffhausen played compact and kept the game goalless, even after extra time. The penalty shoot out was decisive. Schaffhausen goalkeeper Erich Hürzeler held striker Zuffi's attempt, Basel keeper

Huber Huber is a German-language surname. It derives from the German word meaning hide, a unit of land a farmer might possess, granting them the status of a free tenant. It is in the top ten most common surnames in the German-speaking world, especial ...

held Engesser's attempt and after 12 penalties things were level at five all. Keeper Hürzeler then held Tabakovic's attempt and so Steffen Ziffert's final penalty gave Schaffhausen the upset. Penalty sinner Tabakovic, the central defender from Bosnia, shed bitter tears.

advanced to the

final for only the second time in the club's history. Here they played Grasshopper Club, but the higher tier team proved their strength winning 4–0. It was GC's 18th Cup victory in their history.

Players

;Players who left the squad

Results

;Legend

Friendly matches

Pre- and mid-season

Winter break

Nationalliga B

Qualifying Phase

League table

Promotion/relegation Phase

League table

Swiss Cup

References

Sources

* Rotblau: Jahrbuch Saison 2015/2016. Publisher: FC Basel Marketing AG. * Die ersten 125 Jahre / 2018. Publisher: Josef Zindel im Friedrich Reinhardt Verlag, Basel.
The FCB squad 1993–94 at fcb-archiv.ch

External links

FC Basel official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:1993-94 FC Basel season FC Basel seasons

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

Overview

Pre-season

Domestic league

Swiss Cup

Players

Results

Friendly matches

Pre- and mid-season

Winter break

Nationalliga B

Qualifying Phase

League table

Promotion/relegation Phase

League table

Swiss Cup

See also

References

Sources

External links