2021–22 FC Basel season

The FC Basel Holding AG owns 75% of the club FC Basel (FC Basel 1893 AG) and the other 25% is owned by the club members. On 11 May 2021 the FC Basel Holding AG chairman Bernhard Burgener and board member David Degen announced a transfer of ownership rights after months of massiv fan protests. The new situation meant Degen owned 92% of the shares and about 8% is held by four small investors.[1] At the AGM of FC Basel Holding AG on June 15, 2021, Bernhard Burgener, Peter von Büren and Karl Odermatt stood down from the board of directors. A new board of directors stood for election. Since that date the board consists of Reto Baumgartner (president), Dani Büchi (delegate of the board), David Degen (vice-president), Johannes Barth, Marco Gadola, Christian Gross, Sophie Herzog and Andreas Rey. Degen said he will sell a part of the shares within his management team.[2]

On the 18 September the Holding AG announced how the shares had been divided between the share holders. Degen himself kept 40%, Andreas Rey held 18,41%, his wife Ursula Rey also held 18,41%. A group of four other investors, these being Johannes Barth, Marco Gadola, Dani Büchi and Dan Holzmann, held 15,14%. The other 8,04% of the shares remained by another group of investors, these being Manor AG, J. Safra Sarasin, Novasearch AG, MCH Group AG and Weitnauer Holding AG.[3]

The club's 127th AGM is due to take place in written form, during the week from Saturday 5 June and Friday 11 June. The results were communicated on Monday 14 June. On 13 April 2021 the club announced their proposal for the club management.[4] Club chairman Reto Baumgartner and the two directors, Dominik Donzé and Benno Kaiser, remained in the board and three new members were elected. These three being Carol Etter (sports lawyer), Edward Turner (financial specialist) and Tobias Adler (marketingspecialist). Their exact roles are to be decided. Carol Etter was elected as delegate of the board, to represent the club at the meetings of the Holding.[5]

Club chairman	Reto Baumgartner (to date)
Director	Dominik Donzé (to date)
Director	Benno Kaiser (to date)
Director	Carol Etter (new)
Director	Edward Turner (new)
Director	Tobias Adler (new)
Ground (capacity and dimensions)	St. Jakob-Park (38,512[6] (37,500 for international matches)[7] / 120x80 m)

Updated to match played 18 November 2020
Source: FCB Official Site

On 20 May 2021 the club announced that Patrick Rahmen had signed a new contract that made him head coach of the new FCB first team. Since 6 April he had been interim coach. Assistant coach Ognjen Zaric also prolonged his contract for the new season. Massimo Colomba stayed with the club as Goalkeeper Coach.[8] On 15 June 2021 the club announced, that Michael Silberbauer had been hired on a deal for the 2021–22 season, as the clubs new assistant coach under head coach Rahmen.[9]

Youth coach Matthias Kohler was trainer of the U-21, but he left the club on 8 June 2021. He was replaced by Marco Schällibaum. Schällibaum continued with the two existing assistants, Daniel Stucki and Michaël Bauch.[10]

Position	Staff
Manager	Patrick Rahmen
Assistant coach	Michael Silberbauer
Assistant coach	Ognjen Zaric
Goalkeeper Coach	Massimo Colomba
Team leader	Gustav Nussbaumer
Youth Team U-21 Coach	Marco Schällibaum
Youth Team U-21 Co-coach	Daniel Stucki
Youth Team U-21 Co-coach	Michaël Bauch

On the day after the last match of the previous season, 22 May 2021, the club announced a number of changes in their first team squad. Per 30 June 2021 the contracts of Luca Zuffi, Aldo Kalulu, Jasper van der Werff, Elis Isufi and Jozef Pukaj will expire and will not be renewed. In addition, the purchase options in the loan contracts will not drawn for Timm Klose, Amir Abrashi and Jorge Marco de Oliveira Moraes.[11]

Between the years 2014 and 2021 Luca Zuffi played seven seasons for Basel in a total of 327 games scoring a total of 40 goals. Exactly 200 of these games were in the Swiss Super League, 22 in the Swiss Cup, 30 in the UEFA Champions League, 19 in the UEFA Europa League and 56 were friendly games. He scored 27 goals in the domestic league, two in the domestic cup, four in the Champions League, three in the Europa League and the other four were scored during the test games. With the club, Zuffi won the championship three times and the Swiss Cup twice.[12] The return of Klose to his club of origin was sportingly not a lucky one. Klose could not bring the sporting performance that had been expected. In his one season with the club Klose played a total of 37 games for Basel scoring a total of two goals. 28 of these games were in the Swiss Super League, one in the Swiss Cup and eight were friendly games. He scored both his goals in the domestic league.[13] During the home match on 16 December 2020 against Young Boys Jorge had been injured and had to be substituted out in the 62nd minute. The injury turned out to be difficult and required an oppration and this put him out for the rest of the season. In his one season with the club Jorge played a total of seven games for Basel without scoring a goal. Five of these games were in the Nationalliga A and two were friendly games.[14]

On 2 June the club announced that Julian Von Moos would be loaned out SBV Vitesse for the season with an option for a definite move. Vitesse play in the highest tier of Dutch football, the Eredivisie.[15]

In the other direction, on 17 June FCB announced that Spanish player Jordi Quintillà had signed in on a free-transfer from St. Gallen.[16] Basel also signed the Spanish-German right back Sergio López from Real Madrid. The youngster had played in Real's second team and, during the last season, had been loaned out to Real Valladolid and had played in their second team.[17] Basel also signed the youngster Yacouba Nasser Djiga from Vitesse FC in Burkina-Faso.[18]

On 18 June FCB announced their programme for the pre-season. The trainings began on 21 June, on the 24 June they began their trainings camp in Crans-Montana with the first test game on 27 June against Thun in Lens, Valais. On 1 July a second test game against Dynamo Kyiv in Vevey. The team would then return to Basel and play a further three test games. These being against Grasshopper Club on 6 July on the Youth Campus Basel grounds in Münchenstein, against RC Strasbourg Alsace in Colmar on 9 July and another game in the Youth Campus Basel against Aarau one day later on 10 July.[19] Basel played their seventh and final pre-season friendly against Hamburger SV in their home stadium Volksparkstadion on 17 July.

On the last day of the summer transfer window the club were very active on the transfer front. That evening the club announced the signing of Tomás Tavares, who signed in on loan from Benfica,[20] Dan Ndoye who came on loan from Nice,[21] Joelson Fernandes on loan from Sporting[22] and finally Wouter Burger who transferred in from Feyenoord.[23]

The 2021–22 Swiss Super League season started on the weekend of 24 to 25 July 2021 and will end on 21 May 2022. Basel's first game was an away game against the newly promoted Grasshopper Club and this was won 2–0, the goals coming as an own goal from Leonardo Campana and the second from Sebastiano Esposito. In the second matchday Basel faced Sion at home and won 6–1, with six diffent goal scorers, Pajtim Kasami, Sergio López, Eray Cömert, Sebastiano Esposito, Arthur Cabral and Edon Zhegrova. The third matchday gave Basel another home game against Servette. This was won 5–1. Cabral scored four of these and Esposito the other.[24]

Basel also participated in 2021–22 Swiss Cup and they started in the first round which took place on the week-end 14/15 August 2021, the final will take place on 5 May 2022. Basel's aim for this competition was to win it. In the first round, teams from the Super League and Challenge League were seeded and could not play against each other. In a match, the home advantage was granted to the team from the lower league, if applicable. Basel were drawn against FC Schönenwerd-Niedergösgen.

Schönenwerd-Niedergösgen (15 August 2021)

Basel's first opponents were the fifth tier team FC Schönenwerd-Niedergösgen. The game was played at Sportplatz Inseli, in Niedergösgen and the attendance was 2,254 fans, which meant that the Sportpaltz was sold out. As head coach Patrick Rahmen had announced in advance, he made changes in the starting line-up for the cup game. Thus Đorđe Nikolić, Gonçalo Cardoso, Adrian Durrer and Tician Tushi came to their first appearances this season. Also Kaly Sene and Liam Millar were in the starting line-up for the very first time. Taulant Xhaka led the team as captain. In the first few minutes, the amateurs made it clear that they were not willing to distribute gifts and they quickly put the player leading the ball under pressure. However, the visitors soon took dictation of the game and were twice unlucky as a shot bounced back from the goal post shots during the first quarter of an hour. In the 20th minute the ball landed in the goal for the first time and by the end the result was clear. There were six different goal scorers as Basel won 7–0, Tician Tushi scored twice and the players Raoul Petretta, Matías Palacios, Darian Males and Kaly Sene each scored once, the other goal was an own goal.[25]

Rorschach-Goldach (19 September 2021)

In the second round Basel were again drawn away from home against another fifth tier team, this time FC Rorschach-Goldach. The game was played on 19 September, the goal scorers here were Liam Millar, Taulant Xhaka and Matías Palacios and Basel won 3–0 to advance to the next round.[26]

Étoile Carouge (27 October 2021)

In the third round Basel were drawn against third tier Étoile Carouge. The game was played on 27 October in the Stade de la Fontenette. The team from the Promotion League played a game on par with FCB and earned their qualification for the quarter-finals. Romain Kursner scored the only goal of the game shortly after the start of the second half. A brief rallying period by the guests had no consequences and the longer the game lasted, the more often their attacks got stuck in the defense of the home team. And so nothing changed in the result until the final whistle. Basel suffered a 0–1 defeat and were eliminated from the cup.[27]

Conclusion

Basel were eliminated from the cup with this frustrating result and thus did not achieve their aim. It was not only disappionting following last season's quick dismisal by lower tier team Winterthur, it was also very annoying because other strongly rated teams had also already been eliminated, such as Young Boys, a round earlier, but also Zürich, Servette and Grasshoppers had failed to reach the quarter-finals.

Basel were qualified for the newly created 2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League and they started in the second qualifying round. The draw was held on 16 June 2021 and the first leg matches took place on 22 July 2021 and the return leg was played one week later on 29 July.[28] Basel were drawn against the winners of the match between Sfîntul Gheorghe and Partizani, which the Albanien team decided for themselves.

Partizani (22 July 2021)

The first leg of the second qualifying round tie was held at the St. Jakob-Park in front of an attendance of 6,095 fans. Referee was Dennis Higler of the Royal Dutch Football Association and he reported an excellent pitch on this warm and clear evening. FCB started well, with swing, and put Partizani under pressure. They settled into the opposing half of the pitch for about the first 20 minutes. Subsequently, however, they slackened and the game became more balanced. During a phase in which the Basel team seemed to opperate helpless, the first goal fell for the hosts. Arthur Cabral with a good cross and then Darian Males headed the ball into the centre making it easy for Valentin Stocker to score with a header from very close range shortly before the break. The undisputed highlight of the match was Arthur Cabral's 2–0 in the 52nd minute. The Brazilian goal getter picked up a long, diagonal ball from Fabian Frei in the penalty area with his back to the goal. He lifted the ball on his knee and this high enough for him to perform an overhead kick. It was not just an attempt. The ball slammed with force into the goal. On 80 minutes Michael Lang played a cross and Cabral gave the assist as Stocker side footed the ball in to make it three. A few minutes later, Edon Zhegrova had another chance, but his shot rebounded from the post and so 3–0 was the final score.[29]

Return match (29 July 2021)

The second leg was played at the Elbasan Arena in Elbasan with an attendance of 950 fans. The referee was Gergő Bogár of the Hungarian Football Federation and he reported a soft pitch on a clear evening with 35°C. Basel started well into the game and dominated their opponents Partizani. Up until the opening goal, it had only been FCB that created good chances. Edon Zhegrova hit the post after 17 minutes, from the edge of the penalty area, and a little later the Basel team almost took advantage of a serious defensive error. The superiority of the FCB team was evident over the entire 90 minutes. Shortly before the break, Valentin Stocker scored the opener as he dusted off after an insufficiently cleared shot from Arthur Cabral. Cabral doubled up on 49 minutes. Subsequently, the Basel team did not run into any risk of missing the qualification to the next round. A quarter of an hour before the end, the hosts also had their first good chance at goal, but Stênio Júnior's shot was too weak and it was a safe prey for keeper Heinz Lindner. Partizani had their best chance of achieving a consolation goal in stoppage time, as two men appeared alone in front of Lindner, but they failed to get the ball into the goal and the score remained 2–0 for the visitors.[30]

Újpest (5 August 2021)

In the penultimate qualifying round, Basel faced the traditional club Újpest Budapest. The Hungarians had prevailed against Vaduz with a 2–1 in the first leg and with a 3-1 in the Rheinpark Stadion in Vaduz. The first leg took place in Szusza Ferenc Stadion in Budapest with an attendance of 2,367 fans. The arbitrator was Jérôme Brisard of the French Football Federation and he reported a damp pitch on this partially cloudy evening. FCB was the better team in terms of play and with the technically stronger players and this remained evident throughout the game. Only, they had a hard time with the physically robust hosts, who quickly switched to offensive play after Basel lost the ball. The mistakes in the Basel midfield led to dangerous chances for Újpest, especially in the starting quarter of an hour. Their first chance on six minutes, Branko Pauljević caught a loose ball, prevailed into the box, but his shot rebounded from the post. On 10 minutes an error by Pajtim Kasami and Újpest's French playmaker Yohan Croizet bent a ball from 20 meters goalwards, but keeper Heinz Lindner pushed the ball over. A bad pass by Matias Palacios was intercepted by Vincent Onovo, a fine long ball allowed Croizet to achieved the hosts goal five minutes before half-time. But Basel managed to turn this 0–1 into a 2–1 despite a performance with many shortcomings. Arthur Cabral scored in the 55th minute with his head to equalize after an opponent had involuntarily passed the ball on to him. And in the 74th minute, the Brazilian delivered the pass to Darian Males who made it 2-1, although he was probably in an offside position.[31]

Return match (12 August 2021)

In the second leg the St. Jakob-Park had an attendance of 12,337 people and referee was Yigal Frid from the Israel Football Association. Coach Patrick Rahmen’s team started well into play against their opponents Újpest. Because Edon Zhegrova was injured, Darian Males played on the right wing in the starting formation and he thanked his coach for his nomination with the first goal to the 1–0 lead. This goal he scored from close range with a direct volley after a cross from Sebastiano Esposito. The 2–0 in stoppage time at the end of first half was stuck with the blemish that goal scorer Valentin Stocker had pushed his opponent in the back. The goal would most likely have been cancelled if UEFA had used the VAR in European Cup qualifiers. In the second half, Basel's goalkeeper Heinz Linder had to show a great save against a player who ran unmarked against him. In the 71st minute Esposito fabulously prepared a chance from the left and Arthur Cabral solely had to push the ball home to make it 3–0. Substitute full-back Raoul Petretta ended the scoring with the 4–0 in the 90th minute. Without any effort and with another convincing performance, Basel reached the playoffs in the Conference League.[32]

Hammarby (19 August 2021)

The draw for the play-offs gave Basel a tie against Hammarby IF. The team from Stockholm were the current Swedish cup winners. The first leg was played in the St. Jakob-Park in front of an attendance of 12,144 fans and referee in charge of the game was Sergey Ivanov of the Russian Football Union. Thanks to two late goals and a total of three strikes from the irrepressible goal getter Arthur Cabral, Basel won the first leg against Hammarby 3–1. Coach Patrick Rahmen’s team was nowhere near as irresistible as they had been in all previous home games of the season. Especially in the second half, the Swedes did not have much trouble controlling the match and did not give Basel any scoring chances for the longest of times. Cabral first scored with a header after half an hour. Sebastiano Esposito circled the free kick from the side on to Cabral's head. The Italian teenager, on loan from Inter Milan, was, along with Cabral, the biggest Basel asset - and almost the only asset for a long time in this match. The Swedes equalized through Abdul Khalili after 71 minutes, as the Basel defence failed to clear the ball from the box after a high cross. When there was hardly any indication of further goals, suddenly the Brazilian stricker was successful with a well-placed shot after 86 minutes and then again from a hands penalty after 89 minutes.[33]

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 25 July 2021, but subsequently left the club after that date.

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  AUT Heinz Lindner 3 DF  POR Gonçalo Cardoso (on loan from West Ham) 4 DF   SUI Eray Cömert 5 DF   SUI Michael Lang 6 DF  BFA Nasser Djiga 7 MF   SUI Pajtim Kasami 8 MF  ESP Jordi Quintillà 9 FW  ITA Sebastiano Esposito (on loan from Inter Milan) 10 FW  BRA Arthur Cabral 11 FW  ANG Afimico Pululu 13 GK  SRB Đorđe Nikolić 14 MF   SUI Valentin Stocker (captain) 17 FW  CAN Liam Millar 19 MF   SUI Darian Males (on loan from Inter Milan) 20 MF   SUI Fabian Frei (3rd captain)

No. Pos. Nation Player 21 DF  FRA Andy Pelmard (on loan from Nice) 22 DF  GER Sergio López 23 MF  NED Wouter Burger 24 FW   SUI Tician Tushi 27 MF   SUI Dan Ndoye (on loan from Nice) 28 DF  ITA Raoul Petretta 30 DF  POR Tomás Tavares (on loan from Benfica) 34 MF  ALB Taulant Xhaka (vice-captain) 35 MF  ARG Matías Palacios 40 MF   SUI Liam Chipperfield 46 GK  GER Felix Gebhardt 72 MF   SUI Andrea Padula 77 FW  SEN Kaly Sene (loan to Grasshopper Club) 96 MF  POR Joelson Fernandes (on loan from Sporting) 99 MF  KVX Edon Zhegrova

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 29 DF   SUI Adrian Durrer 39 DF   SUI Louis Lurvink 40 MF   SUI Liam Chipperfield

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF   SUI Mihailo Stevanovic — MF   SUI Lirik Vishi 32 FW   SUI Andrin Hunziker

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 5 DF   SUI Michael Lang (from Borussia Mönchengladbach) 6 DF  BFA Nasser Djiga (from Vitesse FC, Burkina-Faso)[18] 8 MF  ESP Jordi Quintillà (free-transfer from St. Gallen)[16] 9 FW  ITA Sebastiano Esposito (on loan from Inter) 17 FW  CAN Liam Millar (from Liverpool) 21 DF  FRA Andy Pelmard (on loan from Nice)

No. Pos. Nation Player 22 DF  ESP Sergio López (from Real Madrid)[17] 23 MF  NED Wouter Burger (from Feyenoord)[23] 27 MF   SUI Dan Ndoye (on loan from Nice)[21] 29 DF   SUI Adrian Durrer (from U21) 30 DF  POR Tomás Tavares (on loan from Benfica)[20] 96 MF  POR Joelson Fernandes (on loan from Sporting)[22]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — DF   SUI Silvan Widmer (to Mainz 05) — MF  ALB Amir Abrashi (end of loan from Freiburg)[11] — MF   SUI Luca Zuffi (end of contract)[11] — FW   SUI Julian Von Moos (on loan to SBV Vitesse)[15] — DF   SUI Jasper van der Werff (end of loan from Red Bull Salzburg)[11] — DF   SUI Timm Klose (end of loan from Norwich City)[11]

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF   SUI Orges Bunjaku (to Grenoble Foot 38) — MF  FRA Aldo Kalulu (end of contract)[11] — MF   SUI Yannick Marchand (on loan to Grenoble Foot 38 until 30 June 2022) — GK   SUI Jozef Pukaj (end of contract)[11] — DF   SUI Elis Isufi (end of contract)[11] — DF  BRA Jorge (end of loan from Monaco)[11] 77 FW  SEN Kaly Sene (loan to Grasshopper Club)

  Win   Draw   Loss   Postponed

The league fixtures were announced on 24 June 2021.[34]