Kay Voser (born 4 January 1987) is a Swiss former professional

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 defender, mainly as left back. He now works as sports journalist.

Club career

Grasshopper Club

Voser started his youth football with local amateur club FC Fislisbach. In summer 1997 he moved to the youth department of Grasshopper Club, advancing through the ranks and for the 2005–06 season he advanced to their U-21 team, who as the time played in the 1. Liga the fourth tier of Swiss football. During that season he also played three games for their first team under head coach

Krasimir Balakov Krasimir Genchev Balakov (, ; born 29 March 1966) is a former Bulgarian footballer and manager. A former attacking midfielder, he was a key member of the Bulgaria national team that finished fourth in the 1994 FIFA World Cup. He is considered ...

. His debut was on 26 March 2006 as Grasshoppers lost 1–0 at home against

Schaffhausen Schaffhausen (; ; ; ; ), historically known in English as Shaffhouse, is a list of towns in Switzerland, town with historic roots, a municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in northern Switzerland, and the capital of the canton of Schaffh ...

. He then advanced to their first team and played six years for them. At the end of May 2011 his contract expired.

Basel

On 31 May 2011, Voser moved from GC to Basel on a free transfer, signing a three-year contract. He joined Basel's first team during their 2011–12 season under head coach

Thorsten Fink Thorsten Fink (born 29 October 1967) is a German football coach and a former footballer, who is the head coach of Belgian Pro League club KRC Genk. Playing career Fink began his career with Borussia Dortmund's reserve squad before moving to S ...

. To the beginning of their 2011–12 season Voser was member of the Basel team that won the 2011 Uhrencup, beating both

Hertha Berlin Hertha, Berliner Sport-Club e. V., commonly known as Hertha BSC () or Hertha Berlin, is a German professional football club based in Berlin. Hertha BSC plays in the 2. Bundesliga, the second tier of German football, following relegation from t ...

3–0 and

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Stratford, London, Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English f ...

2–1, to lead the table on goal difference above Young Boys. After playing in three test games and in both Uhrencup matches, Voser played his domestic league debut for the club in the away game in the

Stadion Wankdorf Wankdorf Stadium () is a football stadium in Bern, Switzerland. The second largest all-seater football stadium in Switzerland, it is the home ground of BSC Young Boys. It was also one of the venues for UEFA Euro 2008. History The present-da ...

on 16 July 2011 as Basel played a 1–1 draw with Young Boys. But after just six league matches and one cup match Voser suffered an injury and had to undergo surgery on his foot and this kept him out of training for the remainder of the season. At the end of the 2011–12 season he won the

Double Double, The Double or Dubble may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Multiplication by 2 * Double precision, a floating-point representation of numbers that is typically 64 bits in length * A double number of the form x+yj, where j^2=+1 * A ...

with his new club. They won the

League League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football * ''League of Legends'', a 2009 multiplayer online battle a ...

Championship title with 20 points advantage. The team won 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 ...

, winning the final 4–3 in a penalty shootout against

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 ...

. Voser recovered from his foot injury and rejoined the team at the beginning of their 2012–13 season. After playing in two test games, Voser played his Champions League debut in the home game in the

St. Jakob-Park St. Jakob-Park () is a Swiss sports stadium in Basel. It is the largest football venue in Switzerland and home to FC Basel. "Joggeli", as the venue is nicknamed by the locals, was originally built with a capacity of 33,433 seats. The capacity w ...

on 24 July 2012 as Basel won 3–0 against

Flora Tallinn FC Flora, commonly known as Flora Tallinn, or simply as Flora, is an Estonian professional football club based in Tallinn that competes in the Meistriliiga, the top flight of Estonian football. The club's home ground is Lilleküla Stadium. Fo ...

. But again Voser was hampered by injuries. In November/December he missed two months due to a foot injury and then in April one month due to a shoulder injury. Basel had started in the

2012–13 UEFA Champions League The 2012–13 UEFA Champions League was the 58th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 21st season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions League. The final was p ...

in the qualifying rounds. But were knocked out of the competition by

CFR Cluj Fotbal Club CFR 1907 Cluj, commonly known as CFR Cluj ( or ) or simply CFR, is a Romanian professional association football, football club based in the city of Cluj-Napoca, Cluj County, that competes in the Liga I. Founded as ''Kolozsvári Vasut ...

in the play-off round. They then continued in the

2012–13 UEFA Europa League The 2012–13 UEFA Europa League was the 42nd season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 4th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. The final was played at the Amsterdam Are ...

group stage. Ending the group in second position, Basel continued in the knockout phase and advanced as far as the

semi-finals A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, ...

, there being matched against the reigning

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

holders Chelsea. Chelsea won both games advancing 5–2 on aggregate, eventually winning the competition. At the end of the Swiss Super League season 2012–13 he won the Championship title with the team. In the

2012–13 Swiss Cup The 2012–13 Swiss Cup was the 88th season of Switzerland's annual football cup competition. The competition commenced on 14 September 2012 with the first game of Round 1 and ended on 20 May 2013 with the Final. The winners of the competition, Gr ...

Basel reached the final, but were runners up behind Grasshopper Club, being defeated 4–3 on penalties, following a 1–1 draw after extra time. At the start of their 2013–14 season Voser was member of the Basel team that won the 2013 Uhrencup, beating

Red Star Belgrade Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club), commonly referred to as Crvena zvezda () and colloquially referred to as Red Star Belgrade in anglophone media, is a ...

in the final. Voser scored his first goal for the team in the 2013–14 season on 23 November 2013 in the

. It was the team's second goal as they beat

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. ...

4–1. Basel joined the 2013–14 Champions League in the qualifying rounds and they advanced to the group stage. Finishing in third place in their group, Basel qualified for Europa League knockout phase and here they advanced as far as the quarter-finals. But eventually they were beaten by

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

5-3 on aggregate, after extra time. At the end of the 2013–14 Super League season Voser won his third league championship with Basel. The team also reached the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

of the

on 21 April 2014.

Gastón Sauro Gastón Sauro (born 23 February 1990) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Club Atlético Sarmiento. Club career Boca Juniors Sauro made his professional debut with Boca Juniors during the 2008–09 season. FC ...

and

Giovanni Sio Giovanni-Guy Yann Sio (born 31 March 1989) is a professional footballer who plays as a forward. Born in France, he played for France national teams at youth level before switching to the Ivory Coast at senior level. Career Born in Saint-Sébast ...

were both sent off as Basel fell to rivals

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. ...

2–0 in added extra time, after a goalless 90 minutes. But Voser could not play due to injury. On 2 July 2014 Basel announced that Voser had left the club. During his period with the club, Voser played a total of 87 games for Basel scoring one goal. 48 of these games were in the

Swiss Super League The Super League (also known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a professional association football league in Switzerland and the highest level of the Swiss football league system. It has been played in its current fo ...

, five in the

, 13 in the UEFA competitions (Champions League and Europa League) and 21 were friendly games. He scored his only goal in the domestic league, as mentioned above.

Fulham

On 2 July 2014,

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

announced they had signed Voser on a two-year deal with an option for a third. The fee was undisclosed. His contract was terminated by mutual consent in February 2016.

Sion then Zürich

After half a season at

FC Sion Football Club Sion, commonly known as simply FC Sion or Sion, is a Swiss Association football, football club from the city of Sion, Switzerland, Sion. The club was founded in 1909 and play their home matches at the Stade Tourbillon. They have wo ...

he signed a two-year contract with

in June 2016. Zürich had just been relegated, but at the end of the season they achieved promotion. Voser remained with the club, but was no longer a regular starter in the team.

Charlotte Independence

On March 6, 2018, Voser signed with

America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

n side

Charlotte Independence Charlotte Independence is an American soccer team based in Charlotte, North Carolina, that plays in the USL League One, the third tier of the American soccer pyramid. The Independence currently play their home games at American Legion Memoria ...

for the 2018 season. Voser left Charlotte at the end of their 2018 season.

International career

Voser played his Swiss U-16 debut on 26 August 2002 in the 2–2 away draw against the German U-16 team. He made his Swiss U-21 debut on 7 February 2007 in the 4–0 away defeat against the French U-21 team.

Later life

From April 2019, Voser completed an internship as a sports journalist at the

Tages-Anzeiger ''Tages-Anzeiger'' (), also abbreviated ''Tagi'' or ''TA'', is a Swiss German-language national daily newspaper published in Zurich, Switzerland. History and profile The paper was first published under the name ''Tages-Anzeiger für Stadt und K ...

. In May 2021

Schweizer Fernsehen Schweizer Fernsehen (SF; "Swiss Television") was the German-language division of SRG SSR, in charge of production and distribution of television programmes in Switzerland for German-speaking Switzerland. It had its head office in Zürich.

announced that they had hired Kay Voser as new member of their

Super League Super League (also known as the Betfred Super League for sponsorship reasons, and legally Super League Europe Ltd.) is a professional rugby league competition, and the highest level of the British rugby league system, which consists of twelve t ...

expert team.

Titles and honours

Basel *

champion: 2011–12,

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

, 2013–14 *

winner: 2011–12 * Swiss Cup runner-up:

, 2013–14 *

Uhrencup The Uhrencup is a association football, club football tournament, held annually in Grenchen and Biel/Bienne, Biel in Switzerland. The Uhrencup is seen as a testament to the major influence that is exercised by the local watchmaking industry on the ...

winner: 2011, 2013 Zürich *

Swiss Challenge League The Challenge League (known as the Dieci Challenge League for sponsorship reasons) is the second-highest tier of the Swiss football league system and lower of two professional leagues in the country. Ten teams play in the Challenge League; the wi ...

champion and promotion: 2016–17 Individual * Swiss Super League Team of the Year: 2013–14

References

Sources

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

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Voser, Kay 1987 births Living people Men's association football defenders Grasshopper Club Zurich players FC Basel players Fulham F.C. players FC Sion players FC Zürich players Charlotte Independence players Swiss Challenge League players Swiss Super League players Switzerland men's youth international footballers Switzerland men's under-21 international footballers Swiss men's footballers English Football League players USL Championship players Sportspeople from Baden, Switzerland Footballers from Aargau 21st-century Swiss sportsmen Expatriate men's footballers in England