1996–97 FC Basel Season
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The 1996–97 Fussball Club Basel 1893 season was their 104th season since the club's foundation. Peter Epting retired from the chairmanship and René C. Jäggi became the club's new chairman following the AGM which was held in November. 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 promotion in the 1993–94 season this was their third consecutive season in the highest tier of Swiss football.


Overview


Pre-season

Karl Engel Karl (Rudolf) Engel (Birsfelden, 1 June 1923 - Chernex, 2 September 2006) was a Swiss pianist. In 1952 Engel was awarded the second prize at the Queen Elisabeth competition. Throughout his concert career, he cultivated the art song repertory ...
was trainer at the start of the season, but he was replaced by
Heinz Hermann Heinz Hermann (born 28 March 1958) is a Swiss former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. With 118 international caps (and 15 goals) between 1978 and 1991 for the Switzerland national team, Hermann is the nation's fourth-highest ...
in March 1997. Hermann only remained manager for a few weeks and was replaced by Salvatore Andracchio (ad interim) until the end of the season. The clubs priority aim was to remain in the top flight of Swiss football. A number of players had left the club during the off-season,
Ike Shorunmu Ike Ibrahim Shorunmu (born 16 October 1967) is a former Nigerian football goalkeeper. Career Shorunmu was born in Lagos. After a few years in Nigeria he moved to play in Switzerland, and made his mark there. He was bought by Turkish club Be ...
transferred to
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 ...
,
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 ...
moved to
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 ...
and
Gabriel Okolosi Gabriel Okolosi (born 8 July 1974) is a Nigerian former association football, footballer who played in the 1990s. He played mainly in the position as Forward (association football), striker, but also as midfielder. Football career Born in Niger ...
to Young Boys. Both Davide Orlando and Alexandre Rey moved back to Sion. Further players who left the club were
Marco Walker Marco Walker (born 2 May 1970) is a Swiss football manager and a former international who played as a defender during the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. Club career Walker started his youth football with local club FC Bellach. From 1983 with he was w ...
, who moved to German team
1860 Munich , commonly known as TSV 1860 München (; ''sechzig'' locally ; lettered as ) or 1860 Munich, is a sports club based in Munich. The club's football team plays in the 3. Liga, the third tier of the German football pyramid. Their current home gr ...
,
Lars Olsen Lars Christian Olsen (born 2 February 1961) is a Danish former footballer and current manager, who was most recently the manager of Esbjerg fB in the Danish Superliga. He started his coaching career with Randers in 2003, guiding them to promot ...
returned to Denmark and joined Brøndby and Andre Meier moved on to
FC Schaffhausen FC Schaffhausen is a Swiss Association football, football team from the town of Schaffhausen. The club set to plays in the Promotion League from 2025–26, the third tier of Swiss football after relegation from Challenge League (Switzerland), Ch ...
. To balance this, the club made some new signings as the season started.
Adrian Knup Adrian Knup (born 2 July 1968) is a Swiss former professional footballer who played as a striker in the 1980s and 1990s. He was capped 49 times and scored 26 goals for the Switzerland national team between 1989 and 1996, including three games ...
returned to the club, signed in after a short spell by
Galatasaray Galatasaray Spor Kulübü (, ''Galatasaray Sports Club''), more commonly referred to as simply Galatasaray and familiarly as Cimbom, is a Turkish sports club based on the European side of the city of Istanbul including basketball, wheelchair ...
. Other players who joined from foreign clubs were,
Adrian Falub Adrian Falub (born 8 July 1971) is a Romanian football manager and former player. Club career Falub started to play football at Unirea Dej in the 4'th Romanian league. In 1989, he was transferred to the Liga I team U Cluj where he played 9 cons ...
who came from
Universitatea Cluj Asociația Sportivă Fotbal Club Universitatea Cluj (), commonly known as Universitatea Cluj or simply U Cluj, is a Romanian professional association football, football club based in the city of Cluj-Napoca, Cluj County, that competes in the L ...
and Mariano Armentano from Racing Club. A number of players also transferred from the domestic league, Gaetano Giallanza and
Jean-Pierre La Placa Jean-Pierre La Placa (born 15 June 1973) is a Swiss former footballer, who played for a number of clubs in Switzerland and Belgium throughout the 1990s and 2000s. Career La Placa started his professional career at Lausanne Sports in 1990 and pl ...
both signed in from Sion, Mario Frick came from St. Gallen and
Yann Poulard Yann Poulard (born 17 June 1969) is a Swiss former football (soccer), footballer who played in the late 1980s and the 1990s as Defender (football), defender. Football career Poulard advanced to FC Lausanne-Sport's first team in the 1988–89 N ...
signed in from
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 ...
.


Domestic league

The season did not start too well, it took until the twelfth round until the team recorded their third victory and one of these three was a forfeit victory because YB had used an unqualified player,
Erol Bekir Erol Bekir, formerly known as Erol Bekirovski, (born 25 January 1974) is a Turkish-Swedish football manager and former player of Turkish origin with roots from Macedonia. Playing career Club He started out playing for his hometown club Malm ...
ovski, in the match in the fourth round. As the first half of the season came to an end, the team had gathered five victories, ten draws and had suffered seven defeats in which the team scored 32 goals and conceded 33. Gaetano Giallanza was the team's top scorer with nine goals and Mario Frick was second best with six goals. Basel were in eighth position in the league table, thus, they qualified for the Championship round. During the winter break
Markus Schupp Markus Schupp (born 7 January 1966) is a German football manager and former player. Club career Born in Idar-Oberstein, Rhineland-Palatinate, Schupp started playing professionally in 1984 at 1. FC Kaiserslautern, where he won the German Cup i ...
signed in on loan from
Hamburger SV Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V. (), commonly known as Hamburger SV () or Hamburg (), or HSV (), is a German sports club based in Hamburg, with its largest branch being its Association football, football department. Though the current HSV was founde ...
,
Franco Foda Franco Foda (born 23 April 1966) is a German football manager and former player who is the manager of Kosovo national team. Playing career Foda appeared in over 400 top-flight matches in (West) Germany, Switzerland and Austria. During his seco ...
signed in 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 ...
and Fabrice Henry signed in from
CD Toledo Club Deportivo Toledo, S.A.D. is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Toledo, Spain, Toledo, in the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha. Founded in 1928 it plays in , holding home games at ''Estadio Salto del Cab ...
. Also during the winter break
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,Young Boys. In the Championship round the team suffered six defeats in a row. During this period head-coach
Karl Engel Karl (Rudolf) Engel (Birsfelden, 1 June 1923 - Chernex, 2 September 2006) was a Swiss pianist. In 1952 Engel was awarded the second prize at the Queen Elisabeth competition. Throughout his concert career, he cultivated the art song repertory ...
was fired and was replaced by
Heinz Hermann Heinz Hermann (born 28 March 1958) is a Swiss former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. With 118 international caps (and 15 goals) between 1978 and 1991 for the Switzerland national team, Hermann is the nation's fourth-highest ...
. The football did not improve and after just a few weeks Hermann was replaced by Salvatore Andracchio. Basel ended the championship round with nine defeats in twelve games. They had won only three games and so they ended the group in the last position in the league table. The team scored just 16 goals and had conceded 28. Gaetano Giallanza was the team's top scorer, he had netted eight times in this stage.


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 third principal round. The opponent here was lower tier
FC Münsingen FC Münsingen is a Swiss football club from the town of Münsingen in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. The team currently plays in the 1. Liga Classic, the fourth tier in the Swiss football pyramid. History Among the sporting highlights of t ...
. Basel won the match after extra time. In the fourth round hosted the game against Young Boys and won 2–1. Oumar Kondé and
Jean-Pierre La Placa Jean-Pierre La Placa (born 15 June 1973) is a Swiss former footballer, who played for a number of clubs in Switzerland and Belgium throughout the 1990s and 2000s. Career La Placa started his professional career at Lausanne Sports in 1990 and pl ...
each scored a goal and turned the game, after the team had been a goal behind early in the match. In the round of 16 Basel hosted
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 ...
but they were knocked out, losing 1–4. The cup final was played between Sion and
Luzern Lucerne ( ) or Luzern ()Other languages: ; ; ; . is a city in central Switzerland, in the Languages of Switzerland, German-speaking portion of the country. Lucerne is the capital of the canton of Lucerne and part of the Lucerne (district), di ...
and ended with three all draw after extra time. Sion won the penalty shoot out and won the trophy. Because Sion won the double, as Swiss champions, they were qualified for the 1997–98 Champions League. Therefore, as finalists Luzern qualified to the 1997–98 Cup Winners' Cup.


UEFA Intertoto Cup

In the
1996 UEFA Intertoto Cup The 1996 UEFA Intertoto Cup finals were won by Silkeborg, Guingamp, and Karlsruhe. All three teams advanced to the UEFA Cup. No English team took part in support of Tottenham Hotspur and Wimbledon initially getting banned by UEFA from European co ...
Basel played in group 7 together with
Rotor Volgograd SC Rotor Volgograd () is a Russian professional football club from the large city of Volgograd, Volgograd Oblast (formerly Stalingrad). The club plays in the second-tier Russian First League, and are the largest and best supported Volgograd club. ...
,
Antalyaspor Antalyaspor Kulübü is a Turkish professional multi-sport club based in Antalya, southern Turkey. The club's colours are red and white. The association football, football side play their home matches at the Antalya Stadium. In Turkey, the cl ...
,
Shakhtar Donetsk Football Club Shakhtar Donetsk () is a Ukrainian professional Association football, football club that was based in the city of Donetsk until 2014 when, due to the War in Donbas (2014–2022), War in Donbas, the club was forced to move to Lvi ...
and Ataka-Aura Minsk. Basel won in Turkey against Antalyaspor and at home 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 ...
against Minsk. They drew at home with Shakhtar, but lost the in Russia against Volgograd who ended at the top of the group and continued to the next round. Basel ended the competition as second-placed team in the group league table.


Players

The following is the list of the Basel first team squad. It also includes players that were in the squad the day the season started on 10 July 1996 but subsequently left the club after that date. ;Players who left the squad


Results

;Legend


Friendly matches


Pre- and mid-season


Winter break


Nationalliga A


Qualifying phase


League table


Championship group


League table


Swiss Cup


Intertoto Cup


Group 7 matches


Group 7 table


See also

*
History of FC Basel Fussball Club Basel 1893 has a long and illustrious history, that spans the period from 1893 to the present day. Having competed at the highest level of football in Switzerland for most of this time, FCB currently play in the Swiss Super League. ...
* List of FC Basel players *
List of FC Basel seasons This is a list of seasons played by FC Basel in Swiss and European Association football, football, from the club's founding in 1893 to the present. It details FC Basel's record in each major competition entered including different divisions of t ...


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.
1996–97 Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv” homepage

FCB squad 1996–97 at Joggeli.ch



External links


FC Basel official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:1996-97 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 ...