Didier Gigon (born 10 March 1968) is a Swiss former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

during the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s.

Football career

Born in

Biel/Bienne Biel/Bienne (official bilingual wording; German language, German: ''Biel'' ; French language, French: ''Bienne'' ; Bernese German, locally ; ; ; ) is a bilingual city in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. With over 55,000 residents, it is the ...

, Gigon started playing professionally with his local side

FC Biel-Bienne FC Biel-Bienne is a Swiss association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball ...

in 1986 before moving to

Neuchâtel Xamax Neuchâtel (, ; ; ) is a town, a municipality, and the capital of the Swiss canton of Neuchâtel on Lake Neuchâtel. Since the fusion in 2021 of the municipalities of Neuchâtel, Corcelles-Cormondrèche, Peseux, and Valangin, the city has ap ...

in 1988. In 1991, he signed for

Lausanne-Sport 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 ...

then moved on in 1993. During the winter break of the

1993–94 Nationalliga A Statistics of the Swiss National League in the 1993–94 football season, both Nationalliga A and Nationalliga B. Overview The 32 teams of the Swiss Football League (Nationalliga) were divided into two tiers. In the top-tier, there were 12 t ...

/B season, Gigon joined

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 ...

under head-coach

Claude Andrey Claude "Didi" Andrey (born 13 June 1951) is a former Swiss footballer, who most recently managed Yverdon-Sport FC in the Challenge League. Andrey took over FC Basel for their 1993–94 season. His team included the likes of Swiss internation ...

. At that time Basel played in the Nationalliga B, the second tier of Swiss football. Gigon made his debut for his new club 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 ...

home game 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 ...

on 12 February 1994 as Basel won 1–0 against

. He played his domestic league debut for the club in the away game in the

Espenmoos Espenmoos Stadium, is a football stadium in St. Gallen, Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, German ...

on 27 February as Basel played a goalless draw with St. Gallen. His teammates in Basel's 1993–94 season were the likes of Swiss international goalkeeper

Stefan Huber Stefan Huber (born 14 June 1966) is a Swiss former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper during the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s. Club career Huber played his youth football by local club FC Unterstrass. He then moved to Grasshoppe ...

, defenders

Massimo Ceccaroni Massimo Ceccaroni (born 15 August 1968) is a Swiss former professional footballer who played as a defender or midfielder. He played for FC Basel for very nearly his entire career. He was later trainer at amateur club BSC Old Boys and then trai ...

Marco Walker Marco Walker (born 2 May 1970) is a Swiss football manager and a former international who played as a defender during the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. Club career Walker started his youth football with local club FC Bellach. From 1983 with he was w ...

and

Samir Tabakovic Samir (also spelled Sameer) is a male name found commonly in South Asia, the Middle East, and Central Asia. In Arabic, Samir () means "holy", "jovial", "loyal", or "charming". In Albanian, it literally means "so good" but loosely "exquisite", ...

, the midfielders

Mario Cantaluppi Mario "Lupo" Cantaluppi (born 11 April 1974) is a Swiss former professional footballer who played as a defender or midfielder. Club career Born in Schlieren, Switzerland, Mario Cantaluppi started his professional career with Grasshopper Club Z� ...

Martin Jeitziner Martin Jeitziner (born 13 January 1963) is a Swiss former professional footballer who played as a midfielder in the 1980s and 1990s. Career Jeitziner played his youth football with FC Basel and advanced to their first team during their 1980– ...

Admir Smajić Admir Smajić (born 7 September 1963) is a Bosnian professional football manager and former player. He played in the Yugoslavia national team and the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team. Club career Partizan Born in Bijeljina,Ørjan Berg Ørjan Berg (born 20 August 1968) is a Norwegian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He is the current sporting director of Bodø/Glimt. Berg retired at the end of the 2006 season, having played for Bodø/Glimt, Wetting ...

and the Swiss international strikers

Dario Zuffi Dario Zuffi (born 7 December 1964) is a Swiss football coach and former international player. He is currently employed as assistant coach for FC Winterthur. Career Playing career Zuffi played his youth football with the local Winterthur team FC ...

and

Philippe Hertig Philippe Hertig (born 2 July 1965) is a Swiss former association football, footballer who played as a striker (association football), striker during the 1980s and 1990s. He is banker and is now assistant director of Mirabaud Group. In 2009 Herti ...

. Together they won the promotion/relegation group and became Nationalliga B champions and thus won promotion to the top flight of Swiss football. This after six seasons in the second tier. After their promotion, Gigon stayed with Basel for another season. He scored his first league goal for the club in the home game on 31 May 1995. It was the first goal of the match, but it did not save the team from a 1–2 defeat against

. During his one and a half years with the club Gigon played a total of 58 games for Basel scoring a total of five goals. 35 of these games were in the domestic league, five in the

, one in the

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 17 were friendly games. He scored one goal in the domestic league, one in the cup and the other three were scored during the test games. Gigon then returned to Neuchâtel Xamax where he played for three seasons. During the 1998–99 season he played for Sing Tao of Hong Kong and Portugal's

F.C. Alverca Futebol Clube de Alverca is a Portuguese Association football, football club based in Alverca do Ribatejo, Vila Franca de Xira. It currently plays in the Liga Portugal 2. History F.C. Alverca was founded on 1 September 1939. After many decades i ...

and returned to Switzerland late in the season to play for Neuchâtel Xamax for a third time.

Étoile Carouge Étoile may refer to: Places ;France * Charles de Gaulle – Étoile, station of the Paris Métro * Étoile-Saint-Cyrice, commune in the Hautes-Alpes department in France * Étoile-sur-Rhône, commune in the Drôme department in France * L'Étoil ...

signed him in 2000, and he retired in the summer of 2001. He earned one

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head co ...

for the Swiss national team on 3 April 1990 in the

Stadion Allmend Stadion Allmend was a multi-purpose stadium in Lucerne, Switzerland. Its current primary use was for football matches. The stadium had a capacity of 25,000, although security concerns mandate limiting audiences to 15,000. The stadium had been ho ...

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 ...

, as

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

won 2–1 against

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

Honours

;Neuchâtel Xamax *

Swiss Super Cup The Swiss SuperCup was a match that was played between the winners of the Swiss Super League and the Swiss Cup. It was held from 1986 to 1990. Winners Total Titles References External links * Garin, Erik"Switzerland Super Cup Finals" RSSSF. ...

: 1988, 1990

References

Sources

* Die ersten 125 Jahre. Publisher: Josef Zindel im Friedrich Reinhardt Verlag, Basel.
Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv" Homepage

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gigon, Didier 1968 births Living people Sportspeople from Biel/Bienne Footballers from the canton of Bern Men's association football midfielders Swiss men's footballers Swiss expatriate men's footballers Switzerland men's international footballers FC Biel-Bienne players Neuchâtel Xamax FCS players FC Lausanne-Sport players F.C. Alverca players FC Basel players Étoile Carouge FC players Swiss Super League players Swiss Challenge League players Expatriate men's footballers in Hong Kong Sing Tao SC players 20th-century Swiss sportsmen