2007–08 FC Basel season


started the 2007–08 season, the 115th season in their existence and 13th consecutive in the top flight of Swiss football, with various warm-up matches against Swiss lower league teams as well as Austrian Bundesliga, German Bundesliga, Scottish Premier League and French Ligue 1 clubs. FCB were looking to win the Swiss championship title for the first time since 2005 and regain the cup title that they won the year before. They also had the opportunity to compete in the UEFA Cup.

Overview

At the beginning of the 2007–08 season, Basel strengthened their team by signing Swiss internationalists Benjamin Huggel from Eintracht Frankfurt, Marco Streller from VfB Stuttgart and Alf Stewart on loan from Borussia Mönchengladbach. Carlitos transferred from Benfica in for an estimated €1.5 million. Five young talents were brought up from the under-21 team. In the other direction, fans' favourites Ivan Rakitić transferred to Schalke 04 and Mladen Petrić joined Borussia Dortmund. Influential defender Boris Smiljanić returned to his former club, Grasshoppers.
During the winter break, highly rated Switzerland U-21 defender Beg Ferati arrived at St. Jakob-Park from feeder club Concordia Basel on a three-and-a-half-year contract. He was joined by midfielder Marko Perović from Red Star Belgrade and veteran striker Vratislav Lokvenc, on loan from Red Bull Salzburg. Also during the winter break Felipe Caicedo transferred to Manchester City on a four-and-a-half year deal with a £5.2 million transfer fee, which made his sale one of the highest transfers in the history of the Swiss League.

The campaign

Domestic league

Basel's priority for the season was to win the league championship. The Swiss Super League season began on 22 July. Basel's first game was at home to FC Zürich which was won 1–0. In the fourth and sixth round of the championship, Basel suffered two defeats, against BSC Young Boys and Grasshopper Club, and slid down to the fourth position in the league table. It took them two months before they climbed back to the leading position. Basel stayed at the top of the table until virtually the end of the championship, slipping to second position twice, but they were strong enough to regain the lead. Basel won the Swiss Super League for the first time since 2005 on the 10 May 2008 at St. Jakob-Park after a 2-0 win over their main title threats BSC Young Boys.
The championship decision was made in the last game of the season. Basel needed only a point from the match to win the Championship, however if Young Boys won then they would have become champions. This was exactly the same situation as the end of the 2005–06 season, then the final match was between Basel and Zürich then. The painful memories of losing the league on the last day of the season in 2006 and the resulting 2006 Basel hooligan incident seemed to spur FCB on. Basel took an early lead through Valentin Stocker and a second goal scored by Marco Streller just a few minutes later wrapped up the victory well before half time.

Domestic Cup

Basel's clear aim for the 2007–08 Swiss Cup was to retain the title that they had won the year before. Basel entered the competition in the round of 64 on 19 September 2007 and were paired away against FC Léchelles, whom they beat 9–0. They then faced SC Binningen away from home on 20 October, winning 6–1. They then faced a much tougher test in the third round, Grasshoppers at the Letzigrund on 25 October, but nonetheless won 1–0. On 15 December, Stade Nyonnais travelled to St. Jakob-Park for the quarter-final; Basel won 2–0, with both goals coming from Eren Derdiyok. The semi-final saw Basel beat FC Thun 1–0 on 27 February. Basel won the Swiss Cup for the second consecutive season after beating second-tier side AC Bellinzona 4–1 at St. Jakob-Park on 6 April. Derdiyok gave Basel the lead in the first half before Bellinzona equalised through Christian Pouga in the second. Daniel Majstorović restored the lead for Basel with a header and Swiss internationals Marco Streller and Benjamin Huggel scored one goal each to make the final scoreline 4–1 in Basel's favour.

Europe

Because Basel entered the 2007–08 UEFA Cup in the second qualifying round, with the goal to reach the group stage. Basel faced a tough opponent in the form of SV Mattersburg of Austria. Basel won the tie off with a 4–0 away win after a 2–1 victory at St. Jakob-Park. In the next round, Basel were drawn against Bosnian minnows FK Sarajevo in the first round, a tie that Basel won 8–1 on aggregate. Basel were then drawn into a group of death, Group D, alongside Brann, Dinamo Zagreb, Hamburger SV and Rennes, all of which were ranked within the top three of their respective leagues at the start of the stage.
Due to the fact that they had reached the group stage their aim was modified and was set as to remain in the competition over the winter break. Basel won their first UEFA Cup group game against Rennes at home 1–0 thanks to a Marco Streller header. Their next game was away to Dinamo Zagreb in which Basel earned a valuable away point thanks to on form goalkeeper Franco Costanzo, who kept the game at 0–0 for 90 minutes. They then faced Brann at St. Jakob-Park, where they won 1–0 through a Carlitos free-kick and were highly praised for playing attractive and flowing football. Basel then went to Germany to face Hamburg at the HSH Nordbank Arena, where they were fortunate to come away with a 1–1 draw. The goals courtesy of the two captains, Basel's Ivan Ergić and Hamburg's Ivica Olić. Basel then faced Sporting CP in the round of 32 after qualifying in second position in the group alongside first-placed Hamburg and third-placed Brann. Sporting CP finished third in their group in the UEFA Champions League, which is why they were dropped into the UEFA Cup. The first leg took place on the 13 February in Lisbon, where first-choice goalkeeper Franco Costanzo suffered an injured and Basel lost 2–0. The second leg did not fare any better for Basel. Costanzo was still injured and Basel lost 3–0 on the 21 February in the home match, resulting in them being knocked out.
This rounded off a highly successful season for Basel as they conquered on the domestic front, winning both the Swiss Super League and Swiss Cup, and reaching the last 32 of the UEFA Cup. Next season they will have the opportunity to qualify for the Champions League.

Club

The Management

Kit

Other information

Players

First team squad

Multiple Nationality

In

In on loan

Out

Out on loan

Transfers winter 2007-08

In

In on loan

Out

Out on loan

Results and fixtures

Friendly matches

Pre-season/First half of season friendlies

Winter break/Second half of season friendlies

Swiss Super League

First half of season

Second half of season

League table

Season progression chart

2007–08 Swiss Cup

for main article, see 2007–08 Swiss Cup

2007–08 UEFA Cup

For more information, see 2007–08 UEFA Cup

Second qualifying round

For more information, see 2007–08 UEFA Cup qualifying rounds
Basel win 6-1 on aggregate

First round

Group stage

Group D
Final table

Knockout stage

Sporting won 5–0 on aggregate.

Overall

Basel participated in the following major competitions: the Swiss Super League, the Swiss Cup and the UEFA Cup.

Statistics

Total goalscorers

Updated to games played 10 May 2008
All Game ScorerGoals
Marco Streller17
Carlitos15
Ivan Ergić13
Daniel Majstorović12
Eduardo11
Eren Derdiyok10
Scott Chipperfield9
Felipe Caicedo7
Benjamin Huggel6
David Degen5
Valentin Stocker3
Marko Perović2
Kōji Nakata2
Vratislav Lokvenc1
Total goals scored113

Swiss Super League goalscorers/assists

Updated to games played 10 May 2008
League ScorerGoals
Marco Streller12
Daniel Majstorović10
Eduardo8
Eren Derdiyok7
Scott Chipperfield7
Carlitos7
Ivan Ergić6
Felipe Caicedo4
Valentin Stocker3
David Degen3
Benjamin Huggel3
Marko Perović2
Kōji Nakata1
Total goals scored73

NameLeague Assists
Ivan Ergić12
Carlitos11
Marco Streller7
David Degen7
Eren Derdiyok5
Scott Chipperfield5
Felipe Caicedo3
Eduardo3
Valentin Stocker2
Benjamin Huggel2
Reto Zanni2
Daniel Majstorović1
Cabral1
Marko Perović1
Vratislav Lokvenc1
Total Assist Made63

Swiss Cup goalscorers

Updated to games played 6 April 2008
Cup ScorerGoals
Eduardo3
Eren Derdiyok3
Carlitos3
Ivan Ergić3
Daniel Majstorović2
Scott Chipperfield2
David Degen2
Benjamin Huggel2
Marco Streller1
Kōji Nakata1
Vratislav Lokvenc1
Total goals scored23

European goalscorers

Updated to games played 21 February 2008
European ScorerGoals
Carlitos5
Marco Streller4
Ivan Ergić4
Felipe Caicedo3
Benjamin Huggel1
Total goals scored17

Honours and awards