The 1968–69 season was Fussball Club Basel 1893's 75th season in their existence. It was their 23rd consecutive season in the top flight of Swiss football after their promotion the season 1945–46. Harry Thommen was the club's chairman of the board for the third consecutive season. Basel played their home games in the

St. Jakob Stadium The St. Jakob Stadium was a football (soccer), football stadium in Basel, Switzerland and the former home of Swiss club FC Basel. It was built in view of the 1954 FIFA World Cup, and as well as serving as a club stadium, it hosted several import ...

Overview

Pre-season

During this season

Helmut Benthaus Helmut Benthaus (born 5 June 1935) is a German former association football, football player and coach. He spent his best playing days at Westfalia Herne and his best coaching days at FC Basel. Early career Born in Herne, Germany, Herne, Benthau ...

was the club's

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 ...

for the fourth consecutive season.

Paul Fischli Paul Fischli (born 6 May 1945) is a Switzerland, Swiss former football (soccer), football player and Head coach, manager. He played as a Defender (football), defender throughout the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s. Career As a sixteen-year-old, Pa ...

joined the team coming from

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 ...

Jürgen Sundermann Hans-Jürgen Sundermann (25 January 1940 – 4 October 2022) was a German football manager and player who played as a midfielder. Playing career Sundermann played his youth football with local club 1. FC Mülheim. In 1958 he signed for Rot-W ...

signed in from

Servette Servette is a district of the city of Geneva, Switzerland. The district's name comes from the Latin word for forest, ''silva'', and means "little forest". Its name alludes to Servette's rural past, before Geneva grew beyond its walls and incorpora ...

and Walter Balmer joined from

Thun Thun () is a List of towns in Switzerland, town and a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the administrative district of Thun (administrative district), Thun in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Canton of Bern, Bern in Switzerland. ...

. In the other direction

Hanspeter Stocker Hanspeter Stocker (* 23 November 1936) is a retired Swiss footballer who played for FC Basel. He played during the 1960s mainly in the position as defender. Football career Stocker played his early football by FC Concordia Basel. In 1960 he tra ...

left the club after eight years and moved to

Baden Baden (; ) is a historical territory in southern Germany. In earlier times it was considered to be on both sides of the Upper Rhine, but since the Napoleonic Wars, it has been considered only East of the Rhine. History The margraves of Ba ...

for his last season before retiring from his active football career. Between the years 1960 and 1968 Stocker played a total of 309 games for Basel scoring a total of 34 goals. 171 of these games were in the Nationalliga A, 28 in the

Swiss Cup The Swiss Cup (; ; ; ) is a football cup competition that has been organised annually since 1925–26 season by the Swiss Football Association. The Swiss Cup final is usually the most important game of the year with a high attendance. The co ...

, 28 were on European level and 82 were friendly games. He scored 22 goal in the domestic league, 3 in the Cup, 2 in the European matches and the other seven were scored during the test games. Markus Pfirter left the club after seven years and went on to St. Gallen. Between the years 1961 and 1968 Pfirter played a total of 263 games for Basel scoring a total of 54 goals. 143 of these games were in the Nationalliga A, 27 in the

, 28 in European competitions and 65 were friendly games. He scored 29 goal in the domestic league, 10 in the Cup and one in the

International Football 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 discon ...

. The other 14 were scored during the test games. Also,

Roberto Frigerio Roberto Frigerio (16 May 1938 – 9 April 2023) was a Swiss professional footballer who played as a forward. Career Early years Frigerio played youth football for FC Chiasso. Aged just 16 years old he made his Nationalliga A debut with their f ...

left the club after a total of seven years. He moved to

Bellinzona Bellinzona ( , ; ; is a municipality, a List of towns in Switzerland, historic Swiss town, and the capital of the canton of Ticino in Switzerland. The town is famous for its Three Castles of Bellinzona, three castles (Castelgrande, Montebello, Sa ...

. Between the years 1958 to 1960 and again from 1963 to 1968, Frigerio played a total of 256 games for Basel scoring a total of 176 goals. 144 of these games were in the Nationalliga A, 23 in the

, 18 in the european competitions (

Cup of the Alps ''Coppa delle Alpi'' (translated as Cup of the Alps) was an official 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. Unqualifi ...

Inter-Cities Fairs Cup The Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, most commonly referred to as the Fairs Cup and sometimes as the European Fairs Cup or Fairs Cities' Cup, was a European football competition played between 1955 and 1971. The Fairs Cup was the idea of FIFA vice-presid ...

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by top-division European clubs. The competition begins with a round robi ...

) and 71 were friendly games. He scored 74 goals in the domestic league, 22 in the Swiss Cup, 7 in the european competitions and the other 73 were scored during the test games. Moscatelli left after five years and went to

Lugano Lugano ( , , ; ) is a city and municipality within the Lugano District in the canton of Ticino, Switzerland. It is the largest city in both Ticino and the Italian-speaking region of southern Switzerland. Lugano has a population () of , and an u ...

. Between the years 1964 and 1967 Moscatelli played a total of 95 games for Basel scoring a total of 27 goals. 47 of these games were in the Nationalliga A, 12 in the

, 11 were on European level (

) and 25 were friendly games. He scored 8 goals in the domestic league, three in the Swiss Cup, one in the Cup of the Alps and the other 15 were scored during the test games. Basel played a total of 52 matches in this season. 26 of these games were in the domestic league, three were in the

, five were in the

, two were in the

and 15 were friendly matches. Of these 15 test games 12 were won and two ended with a draw and one ended in a defeat. Seven were played at home and eight played away.

Domestic league

There were 14 teams contesting in the

1968–69 Nationalliga A The following is the summary of the Swiss Super League, Swiss National League in the 1968–69 football season, both Nationalliga A and Nationalliga B. This was the 72nd season of top-tier and the 71st season of second-tier football in Switzerlan ...

. These were the top 12 teams from the previous 1967–68 season and the two newly promoted teams

Winterthur Winterthur (; ) is a city in the canton of Zurich in northern Switzerland. With over 120,000 residents, it is the country's List of cities in Switzerland, sixth-largest city by population, as well as its ninth-largest agglomeration with about 14 ...

and St. Gallen. Basel finished the league season as champions one point ahead of

Lausanne Sports Football Club Lausanne-Sport is a Swiss football club based in Lausanne in the canton of Vaud. Founded in 1896, Lausanne Sport compete in the top-tier Swiss Super League after being promoted in the 2022–23 Swiss Challenge League Season. The ...

in second position, who they defeated 4–0 in the second last match of the season, and six points clear of

FC Zürich Fussballclub Zürich, commonly abbreviated to FC Zürich or simply FCZ, is a professional football club based in Zurich, Switzerland. The club was founded in 1896 and has won the Swiss Super League thirteen times and the Swiss Cup ten times. ...

who finished third. Basel won 13 of the 26 games, drawing ten, losing three times, they scored 48 goals conceding 28. Helmut Hauser was the team's top goal scorer with 16 league goals.

Karl Odermatt Karl Odermatt (born 17 December 1942) is a Swiss former footballer who played for FC Basel and BSC Young Boys throughout the 1960s and 1970s. He played as a midfielder or striker and is generally regarded as one of the best players ever to hav ...

and Walter Balmer each scored 5 league goals. Both Sundermann and Ramseier played in all 26 league matches that season.

Swiss Cup

In the

Basel started in the round of 32 with a 2–1 away win against

and in the round of 16, with a home match, they beat

Luzern Lucerne ( ) or Luzern ()Other languages: ; ; ; . is a city in central Switzerland, in the Languages of Switzerland, German-speaking portion of the country. Lucerne is the capital of the canton of Lucerne and part of the Lucerne (district), di ...

3–1. In the Quarter-final Basel played an away game against

but lost this 1–0.

Inter-Cities Fairs Cup and Cup of the Alps

In the

Basel were drawn against

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

the first leg away from home on 18 September the return leg in Basel on 2 October. Bologna won both games. In the 1968 Cup of the Alps the team managed to win the group and played in the final against

FC Schalke 04 Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as Schalke 04 (), and abbreviated as S04 (), is a professional sports club from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its football team, ...

but were defeated 1–3 after extra time.

Players

;Players who left the squad

Results

;Legend

Friendly matches

Pre- and mid-season

Winter break

Nationalliga

League matches

League standings

Swiss Cup

Inter-Cities Fairs Cup

;First round ''Bologna won 6–2 on aggregate.''

Cup of the Alps

Group A matches

Group A table

Final

References

Sources

* Rotblau: Jahrbuch Saison 2015/2016. Publisher: FC Basel Marketing AG. * Die ersten 125 Jahre. Publisher: Josef Zindel im Friedrich Reinhardt Verlag, Basel.
Switzerland 1968–69 at RSSSF

External links

FC Basel official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:1968-69 FC Basel season FC Basel seasons

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 ...

1968-69

Overview

Pre-season

Domestic league

Swiss Cup

Inter-Cities Fairs Cup and Cup of the Alps

Players

Results

Friendly matches

Pre- and mid-season

Winter break

Nationalliga

League matches

League standings

Swiss Cup

Inter-Cities Fairs Cup

Cup of the Alps

Group A matches

Group A table

Final

See also

References

Sources

External links