Peter Füri (9 October 1937 – 11 May 2015) 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 ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player and

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, who played during the 1950s and 1960s.

Career

Füri started his youth football with the small local club FC St. Clara and later joined the youth teams of

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 ...

. During his active career Füri first played as a striker. After his youth football he moved tor

FC Concordia Basel FC Concordia Basel is a Swiss football club based in Basel. The club was founded in 1907. They play in the 2. Liga Interregional (fifth level), and their home stadium was Rankhof Stadium until the 2008–09 season. Concordia is ranking as the ...

who at that time played in the 1st League, the third tier of Swiss football. At the end of the 1956–57 season Concordia won their central group and in the play-offs became 1st League champions and were promoted to the Nationalliga B. Füri stayed with the club and played the next two season for the team. However, at the end of the 1958–59 season they were second last in the division and suffered relegation. Top tier club

FC La Chaux-de-Fonds FC La Chaux-de-Fonds is a Swiss football club based in La Chaux-de-Fonds. It was founded on 4 July 1894 and used to play at the Stade Charrière. History The team has won the Swiss first division in seasons 1953–54, 1954–55, and 19 ...

took advantage of the situation and signed Füri with a semi-professional contract. He played with them for two seasons and they let him appear as a defender. After two seasons Füri returned to his home town. Füri joined

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 ...

's first team for their 1961–62 season under

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n head coach

Jiří Sobotka Jiří Sobotka (also known as Georges Sobotka; 6 June 1911 – 20 May 1994) was a Czech football player and manager. He played internationally for Czechoslovakia. Career Sobotka played for Czechoslovakia national football team (23 caps, 8 goals ...

. He played his domestic league debut for his new club, again as defender, in the away game on 5 November 1961 as Basel were beaten 0–1 by

Young Fellows Zürich Sportclub Young Fellows Juventus is a professional Swiss football club based in Zürich. It was founded in 1992 following a merger between Young Fellows Zürich (established in 1903) and Società Calcistica Italiana Juventus Zurigo (1922). The ...

. He scored his first goal with his new team on 11 March 1962 in the away game as Basel drew 2–2 against

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. In the 1962–63 season Füri was member of the Basel squad who won the

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by beating the favourites

Grasshopper Club Zürich Grasshopper Club Zurich (GCZ), commonly referred to as Grasshopper Club or simply just GC, is a professional sports club, multisports club based in Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland. They are nicknamed the ''Grasshoppers'' or sometimes just ''Hopper ...

in the final at the

Wankdorf Stadium 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' C ...

by 2–0. Basel head coach at that time was Georges Sobotka and team mates were Swiss international goalkeeper Kurt Stettler, team captain Bruno Michaud and Karl Odermatt. Füri played in all cup games except the final because he became ill on the day. A well-documented curiosity was the fact that during the winter break of their 1963–64 season the team travelled on a world tour. This saw them visit

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and the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. First team manager

together with 16 players and 15 members of staff, supporters and journalists participated in this world tour from 10 January to 10 February 1964. Team captain Bruno Michaud filmed the events with his super-8 camara. The voyage around the world included 19 flights and numerous bus and train journeys. Club chairman, Lucien Schmidlin, led the group, but as they arrived in the hotel in Bangkok, he realised that 250,000 Swiss Francs were missing. The suitcase that he had filled with the various currencies was not with them. He had left it at home, but fortunately Swiss Air were able to deliver this to him within just a few days. During the tour a total of ten friendly/test games were played, these are listed in their 1963–64 season. Five wins, three draws, two defeats, but also three major injuries resulted from these test matches. An eye injury for Walter Baumann, a knee injury for Bruno Michaud and a broken leg for Peter Füri himself, soon reduced the number of players to just 13. The injury cost Füri an entire year of his football career. Between the years 1961 and 1966 Füri played a total of 127 games for Basel scoring a total of three goals. 71 of these games were in the Nationalliga A, 14 in the

, ten in the european competitions ( Cup of the Alps,

European Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European association football, football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The competition's official name was originally the European Cup Winners' Cup; it was renam ...

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from , "between" and , " betting pool"),Most precisely, from ( football pool); cf. originally called the International Football Cup, was a summer football competition between European clubs. The competition was dis ...

) and 32 were friendly games. He scored two goals in the domestic league and the other was scored during the test games. Füri ended his football career as

player-manager A player–coach (also playing coach, captain–coach, or player–manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. Player–coaches may be head coaches or assistant coaches, and they may make chang ...

with

SC Binningen Sport Club Binningen is a Swiss football club based in Binningen. Founded in 1920, the club competes in 2. Liga, the fifth tier of the Swiss Football League. They play at Spiegelfeld, a stadium in Binningen which opened in 2005 and has a capac ...

between 1966 and 1968.

Private life

Füri was born and brought up in Kleinbasel, a quarter of

on the right hand side of the

Rhine The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...

. Füri married Verena Grass and the couple had two children, a daughter named Sandra and a son named Markus. Markus also became footballer and he too played for Basel, three seasons, between 1986 and 1989. Peter Füri was a qualified electrician and worked up until his retirement as head of department in the distribution center for

Coop Coop or Co-op most often refer to: * Chicken coop or other animal enclosure * Cooperative or co-operative ("co-op"), an association co-operating for mutual social, economic or cultural benefit ** Consumer cooperative ** Food cooperative ** Housin ...

Pratteln Pratteln (Swiss German: ''Brattele'') is a municipality in the canton of Basel-Landschaft in Switzerland, located in the district of Liestal. History Pratteln is first mentioned around 1102-03 as ''Bratello''. Geography Pratteln has an area, ...

. He died on 11 May 2015 at his home in

Muttenz Muttenz is a municipality with a population of approximately 17,000 in the canton of Basel-Country in Switzerland. It is located in the district of Arlesheim and next to the city of Basel. History Under the Roman Empire a hamlet called Montet ...

due to heart failure.

Honours and Titles

Concordia Basel * Swiss 1. Liga champions and promoted: 1957 Basel *

winner: 1963

References

Sources

*
Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv" Homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Furi, Peter 1937 births 2015 deaths Swiss men's footballers Swiss football managers SC Binningen players FC Concordia Basel players FC La Chaux-de-Fonds players FC Basel players Men's association football forwards Men's association football defenders Footballers from Basel-Stadt 20th-century Swiss sportsmen