The

FC Basel Fussball Club Basel 1893, widely known as FC Basel, FCB, or just Basel, is a Swiss football club based in Basel, in the Canton of Basel-Stadt. Formed in 1893, the club has been Swiss national champions 20 times, Swiss Cup winners 13 times, a ...

1907–08 season was their fifteenth season since the club was formed. The club's chairman was Dr.

Siegfried Pfeiffer Dr Siegfried Pfeiffer (19 October 188315 February 1959) was a Swiss international footballer. He played mainly as striker, but also as midfielder. Between the years 1899 und 1908 Pfeiffer played a total of 72 games for FC Basel scoring a total ...

, it was his first presidential term. FC Basel played their home games in 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 su ...

Overview

First, a mention to the football ground

. The first ever international match between the Swiss national team and the

German national team German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

was scheduled to take place here in April 1908. Therefore the authorities decided to build the first spectator stand in Switzerland, at the cost of four thousand Swiss Francs and a building time of more than six months. Following this, the ground was used a number of times as international venue. Second, a mention to club chairman

, who had joined the club in 1899. During his presidential term for the club, he played his only international game for his country. Pfeiffer scored two goals in this legendary 5–3 victory over Germany. Then, a mention to team captain

Daniel Hug Daniel Hug (17 September 1884 – 28 November 1918) was a Swiss international footballer who played for FC Basel and Genoa C.F.C. He played mainly in the position as defender, but also as midfielder. Football career Basel In his early years Hu ...

. It was his third year in succession as Captain and he also played in the afore mentioned international game. Hug was Basel's most prominent and their largest player and as captain he led the team trainings and was responsible for the line-ups. It would end out, that at the end of the season he would transferred to Italy, to play professionally for

Genoa C.F.C. Genoa Cricket and Football Club, commonly referred to as Genoa (), is a professional football club based in Genoa, Liguria, Italy, that competes in , the second division of the Italian football league system. Established in 1893, Genoa is ...

in the Italian football championship. Before the season started, Basel played three test games, in

La Chaux-de-Fonds La Chaux-de-Fonds () is a Swiss city in the canton of Neuchâtel. It is located in the Jura mountains at an altitude of 1000 m, a few kilometers south of the French border. After Geneva, Lausanne and Fribourg, it is the fourth largest city loc ...

, in

Freiburg im Breisgau Freiburg im Breisgau (; abbreviated as Freiburg i. Br. or Freiburg i. B.; Low Alemannic: ''Friburg im Brisgau''), commonly referred to as Freiburg, is an independent city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With a population of about 230,000 (as o ...

and in

Strassburg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label= Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the E ...

. They lost the first two games but came home with a 10–0 victory over FC Frankonia 1900 Strassburg. They also played four friendly games during the winter break. The first in their home stadium against Strassburger FV. The other three were away, the first game in

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Situ ...

. Over the Christmas period the team travelled to

Mannheim Mannheim (; Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (german: Universitätsstadt Mannheim), is the second-largest city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg after the state capital of Stuttgart, and Germany's ...

and

Hanau Hanau () is a town in the Main-Kinzig-Kreis, in Hesse, Germany. It is located 25 km east of Frankfurt am Main and is part of the Frankfurt Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region. Its station is a major railway junction and it has a port on the rive ...

to play Mannheimer FG 1896 and 1. Hanauer FC 1893. The first was won the second ended in a defeat. The 1907–08 Serie A was divided into two regional groups, an east group and a west group. Together with local rivals

Old Boys The terms Old Boys and Old Girls are the usual expressions in use in the United Kingdom for former pupils of primary and secondary schools.''Oxford English Dictionary'' While these are traditionally associated with independent schools, they are ...

, Basel were allocated to the east group. The other teams in that group were Aarau,

Grasshopper Club Grasshoppers are a group of insects belonging to the suborder Caelifera. They are among what is possibly the most ancient living group of chewing herbivorous insects, dating back to the early Triassic around 250 million years ago. Grasshopp ...

Zürich , neighboring_municipalities = Adliswil, Dübendorf, Fällanden, Kilchberg, Maur, Oberengstringen, Opfikon, Regensdorf, Rümlang, Schlieren, Stallikon, Uitikon, Urdorf, Wallisellen, Zollikon , twintowns = Kunming, San Francisco Zürich () i ...

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 t ...

Winterthur , neighboring_municipalities = Brütten, Dinhard, Elsau, Hettlingen, Illnau-Effretikon, Kyburg, Lindau, Neftenbach, Oberembrach, Pfungen, Rickenbach, Schlatt, Seuzach, Wiesendangen, Zell , twintowns = Hall in Tirol (Austri ...

and

St. Gallen , neighboring_municipalities = Eggersriet, Gaiserwald, Gossau, Herisau (AR), Mörschwil, Speicher (AR), Stein (AR), Teufen (AR), Untereggen, Wittenbach , twintowns = Liberec (Czech Republic) , website ...

. The group was an evenly balanced group and at the end of the season the teams from second to eighth position were only separated by six points. Only Winterthur had a good run of results and were able to move clear at the top of the league table, winning the group with a six point advantage. Thus Winterthur qualified for the league final, which was held in

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS) ...

on 31 May 1908. Winterthur won the Swiss Championship title beating

Young Boys Bern 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 ...

by four goals to one.

Players

;Squad members

Results

;Legend

Friendly matches

Pre-season

Winter break

Serie A

East group results

East group league table

References

Sources

* Rotblau: Jahrbuch Saison 2014/2015. Publisher: FC Basel Marketing AG. * Die ersten 125 Jahre. Publisher: Josef Zindel im Friedrich Reinhardt Verlag, Basel.
Switzerland 1907-08 at RSSSF

FCB team 1907-08 at fcb-archiv.ch

External links

FC Basel official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:1907-08 FC Basel season FC Basel seasons