Iván Knez (born 21 July 1974) is a former footballer who played as a defender during the 1990s and 2000s.

Football career

Although he was born in Argentina, Knez was raised in Switzerland and started playing football in the youth movement of the local club SC Emmen. He began his professional career with FC Lucerne in 1994. After five years at the club, he moved to FC Basel in 1999. Knez joined Basel's first team for their 1999–2000 season under new head coach Christian Gross. After playing one test match, his debut for his new club was in the home game in the Stadion Schützenmatte on 26 June 1999 as Basel beat Korotan 6–0 in return leg of the first round of the 1999 UI Cup and advanced to the next round. After playing in another UIC and another test game Knez played his domestic league debut for the club in the away game in the Cornaredo on 7 July 1999 as Basel played a 1–1 draw against Lugano. He scored his first goal for the club on 24 August in the away game in the stadion

Espenmoos Espenmoos Stadium, is a football stadium in St. Gallen, Switzerland. It was the home ground of the FC St. Gallen until their current stadium Kybunpark The Kybunpark, formerly known as AFG Arena, is a multi-use stadium in St. Gallen, Switzer ...

as Basel played a 1–1 draw against St. Gallen. Knez played as

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

together with

Oliver Kreuzer Oliver Kreuzer (born 13 November 1965) is a German former professional footballer who played as a centre-back for Karlsruher SC, Bayern Munich and FC Basel. Football career Kreuzer started his career in 1985 with Karlsruher SC. He went on to mak ...

. FC Basel reached the final of the

2001 UEFA Intertoto Cup The 2001 UEFA Intertoto Cup finals were won by Aston Villa, Paris Saint-Germain and Troyes. All three teams advanced to the UEFA Cup. First round First leg ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ...

, but they lost to

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

. Knez helped the club win

the Double A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another. Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to: Film and television * Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character * ...

during the 2001/02 season. Between the years 1999 and 2002 Knez played a total of 122 games for Basel scoring just the afore mentioned goal. 68 of these games were in the Nationalliga A, 5 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 ...

, 5 in the UEFA cup, 7 in the

UI Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from la, Inter, 'between' + german: toto, ' betting pool'),Most precisely, from (football pool); cf. often abbreviated and more known in the German-speaking world as UI Cup and originally called the International Foo ...

and 37 were friendly games. In August 2002, he signed for

Austrian Bundesliga The Austrian Football Bundesliga (german: Österreichische Fußball-Bundesliga, italic=no , "Austrian Football Federal League"), also known as Admiral Bundesliga for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Austrian football league system. Th ...

club SK Rapid Wien, but returned to the Swiss Nationalliga a year later with

BSC Young Boys BSC Young Boys (YB by short abbreviation ) are a Swiss sports club based in Bern, Switzerland. Its first team has won 15 Swiss league championships and six Swiss Cups. YB is one of the most successful Swiss football clubs internationally, reac ...

. He then headed off to Germany's second division with FC Augsburg, and he retired in the summer of 2007.

Honours

;Lucerne *

Runner-Up: 1997 ;Basel * Swiss League:

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

: 2002 ;Augsburg * Schwaben Cup: 2005

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

External links

* 1974 births Swiss men's footballers Argentine men's footballers Living people FC Luzern players FC Basel players SK Rapid Wien players BSC Young Boys players FC Augsburg players Swiss Super League players Austrian Football Bundesliga players Swiss people of Argentine descent Sportspeople of Argentine descent Men's association football central defenders Footballers from Buenos Aires {{Switzerland-footy-defender-stub