Heinz Elsässer (born 11 March 1917) was a

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

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 lea ...

who played for

FC Basel Fussball Club Basel 1893, widely known as FC Basel, FCB, or just Basel, is a Swiss professional Association football, football club based in Basel, in the Basel-Stadt, Canton of Basel-Stadt. Formed in 1893, the club has been List of Swiss footba ...

in the second half of the 1930s and in the 1940s. He played mainly as

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

, but also as defender. Elsässer played youth football by

. He joined their first team at the beginning of their 1935–36 season. He played his domestic league debut for the club as defender in the away game on 1 September 1935 as Basel won 4–2 against

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 ...

. He scored his first goal for his club on 3 January 1937 in the home game at the

Landhof The Landhof was a sports stadium in the district Basel-Wettstein in Kleinbasel, Basel. It was the former and first home stadium of FC Basel. It is mentioned for the first time in a chronicle in the second half of the 18th century as a ''nice s ...

against Grasshopper Club. It was the first goal of the game, a penalty kick, as Basel won 2–0. Elsässer played twelve seasons for Basel. In the season 1938/39 Elsässer and his team suffered relegation to the 1 Liga. Although Basel were 1 Liga champions the following season, there was no relegation and no promotion due to the second World War. Again in the 1940/41 season Basel won their 1 Liga group, but in the promotion play-offs Basel were defeated by

Cantonal Neuchatel The 26 cantons of Switzerland are the Federated state, member states of the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. The nucleus of the Swiss Confederacy in the form of the first three confederate allies used to be referred to as the . Two important ...

and drew the game with

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 ...

. Their two play-off opponents were thus promoted and Basel remained for another season in the 1 Liga. In the season 1941/42 Basel were winners of the 1 Liga group East and played a play-off for promotion of the 1 Liga group West,

FC Bern Fussballclub Bern (FC Bern) is a Association football, football team from Bern, the capital city of Switzerland, who currently play in the Gruppe 1, in the Bern/Jura canton.https://www.fcbern1894.ch/ In 1921, the club won the Och Cup (that was ...

. After a goalless first leg away from home, Basel won the return leg 3–1 and achieved promotion. In this same season Elsässer and his team also qualified for the Swiss Cup final. This was played on 6 April 1942 in the

Wankdorf Stadion Wankdorf Stadium (, ) was a football stadium in Bern, Switzerland, and the home of Swiss club BSC Young Boys. Built in 1925, it hosted the finals of the 1954 FIFA World Cup, the 1960–61 European Cup, and the 1988–89 European Cup Winners' Cup ...

against the Nationalliga team Grasshopper Club. The final ended goalless after extra time and thus a replay was required. The replay was on 25 May, again in the Wankdorf Stadion. Basel led by half time 2–0,

Fritz Schmidlin Fritz Schmidlin (born 30 November 1914; date of death unknown) was a Swiss footballer who played for FC Basel in the second half of the 1930s and the first half of the 1940s. He played as midfielder. Schmidlin played his youth football by FC Bas ...

had scored both goals, but after the break two goals from Grubenmann and a third from Neukom gave the Grasshoppers a 3–2 victory. Three years later, in the season 1944/45 Basel were again relegated from the newly arranged Nationalliga A to the Nationalliga B. But Elsässer and his team achieved immediate promotion as Nationalliga B champions a year later. During his last season as active footballer 1946/47 Elsässer played only one game, the team finished the championship in 4th position and won the Swiss Cup final against Lausanne-Sport by three goals to nil. Between the years 1935 and 1947 Elsässer played a total of 215 games for Basel scoring two goals. 154 of these games were in the Nationalliga and 1st League, 16 in 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 ...

and 45 were friendly games. He scored both his goals in the domestic league.

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:Elsässer, Heinz FC Basel players Swiss men's footballers Men's association football midfielders 1917 births Year of death missing 20th-century Swiss sportsmen