Serge Gaisser (born 5 January 1958) is a French 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 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 ...

and is best known for his years with

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 ...

and

FC Mulhouse Football Club de Mulhouse (; commonly referred to as FCM or simply Mulhouse) is a Football in France, French association football club based in Mulhouse. The club was founded in 1893 and currently play in the Championnat National 3, the fifth le ...

Career

Born in Muespach, Gaisser grew up in

Saint-Louis, Haut-Rhin Saint-Louis (; ; ) is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France. The inhabitants are called ''Ludoviciens''. History Following the conquest of the Sundgau and other parts of the Alsace by France in the course ...

and started his football by the localclub Saint-Louis Neuweg, who at that time played in the French Division 3, the third tier of French football. However, he started his professional football career by

Racing Besançon Racing Besançon is a French football club based in Besançon. It was founded in 1904. They play at the Stade Léo Lagrange. The club currently competes in the Championnat National 3, the fifth tier of France Football. History Founded in 1904 by ...

in the

1977–78 French Division 2 Statistics of Division 2 in the 1977/1978 season. Overview It was contested by 36 teams, and Angers and Lille Lille (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city in the northern part of France, within French Flanders. Positioned along the Deûle river, near Fra ...

. But because he only played in six games during the entire season as the team finished in second position in the league, Gaisser returned somewhat disillusioned to Saint-Louis, who in the meantime had suffered relegation. A year later Gaisser signed for

, under head coach

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 ...

, at the begin of the

1979–80 Nationalliga A The following is the summary of the Swiss National League in the 1979–80 football season, both Nationalliga A and Nationalliga B. This was the 83rd season of top-tier and the 82nd season of second-tier football in Switzerland. Overview The ...

season. In the pre-season Gaisser played in nine test games. Two of these were in the 1979

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 ...

and in the final against

Grenchen Grenchen () is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Lebern (district), Lebern in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Solothurn (canton), Solothurn in Switzerland. It is located at the foot of the Jura mountains betwee ...

) he scored a goal as Basel won 4–1 to lift the trophy. Gaisser played his domestic league debut for his new club in the 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 11 August 1979 as Basel won 2–1 against Sion. He scored his first goal for his new team on 25 November in the home game as Basel won 7–0 against

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 ...

. He played 23 league games during that season, scoring 3 goals, and thus helped Basel win the championship title. In the first round of the

1980–81 European Cup The 1980–81 European Cup was the 26th season of the European Cup, UEFA's premier club football competition. The tournament was won for a third time by Liverpool, who beat six-time champions Real Madrid in the final. In the 11 seasons up to and ...

, in the return leg, Gaisser scored the last goal of the game as Basel won 4–1 against

Club Brugge (), known simply as Club Brugge (in English also: ''Club Bruges''), is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges, Belgium. It was founded in 1891 and its home ground is the Jan Breydel Stadium, which has a capacity of 29,042. They pl ...

to advance to the next round. In the 1981

Coppa delle Alpi ''Coppa delle Alpi'' (translated as Cup of the Alps) was an official football tournament, first organized by the Italian national league as it started in 1960 and then they were aided by the Swiss League from 1962, for the reason that the majorit ...

final against

Sochaux Sochaux () is a commune in the Doubs department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in eastern France. Geography Sochaux lies east of Montbéliard, and southeast of Paris. Population Inhabitants are known as ''Sochaliens''. Economy ...

, which ended 2–2 and Basel won in the penalty shoot-out, Gaisser scored one goal and successfully converted his penalty. He stayed with Basel for four seasons and during this time he played a total of 144 games for Basel scoring a total of 32 goals. 71 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 ...

, 12 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 ...

and League Cup, seven in the UEFA competitions (

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 Cup of the Alps) and 54 were friendly games. He scored nine goals in the domestic league, two in the

, one in the afore mentioned match in the European Cup and the other 18 were scored during the test games. Gaisser transferred to

Mulhouse Mulhouse (; ; Alsatian language, Alsatian: ''Mìlhüsa'' ; , meaning "Mill (grinding), mill house") is a France, French city of the European Collectivity of Alsace (Haut-Rhin department, in the Grand Est region of France). It is near the Fran ...

before the start of the 1983–84 French Division 2 season. He played three seasons for Mulhouse, he played regularly during his first season, but there-after played mainly in their reserve team. He transferred back to Switzerland in 1986 and joined Concordia Basel to end his football career.

Personal life

Later, Gaisser acted as trainer for the youth teams by local French clubs Sierentz, Muespach and Blotzheim. Gaisser worked in accounting, finance and controlling in the construction and transport department of

Basel-Stadt Canton of Basel-Stadt or Basel-City ( ; ; ; ) is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of three municipalities with Basel as the capital. It is traditionally considered a " half-canton", the other half being B ...

until his retirement.

Honours

Swiss League The Swiss League, also known as the Sky Swiss League for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of the main professional ice hockey league in Switzerland, behind the National League (ice hockey), National League. The winners of the league each ...

: 1979–80 *

: 1979, 1980 * Cup of the Alps: 1981

References

Sources

* Rotblau: Jahrbuch Saison 2017/2018. Publisher: FC Basel Marketing AG. * Die ersten 125 Jahre. Publisher: Josef Zindel im Friedrich Reinhardt Verlag, Basel.
Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv" Homepage

External links

Winners, goals and results from 1962-2010 of the Uhrencup
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gaisser, Serge Living people 1958 births French men's footballers Men's association football fullbacks Ligue 2 players Swiss Super League players FC Saint-Louis Neuweg players Racing Besançon players FC Basel players FC Mulhouse players FC Concordia Basel players French expatriate men's footballers French expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland 20th-century French sportsmen