2005–06 FC Basel season

Overview

FC Basel started the season with various warm-up matches. These included teams from the Swiss lower league as well as teams from France, Croatia and the Ukraine. The FC Basel aims for the 2005–06 season were to retain the league title, win the cup and as well as to qualify for the UEFA Champions League group stage.

As Swiss champions, Basel entered the UEFA Champions League third qualifying round against German Bundesliga club Werder Bremen.

Basel's biggest signings of the 2005–06 season were defenders Daniel Majstorović and Kōji Nakata, who were brought in to replace Lyon-bound Patrick Müller and the retiring Murat Yakın. Forward Eduardo was signed permanently following his successful loan spell but Argentinian strikers Christian Giménez and Julio Hernán Rossi left the club.

League

Basel's priority aim for the season was to win the league championship for the third time in a row. Despite the 3-0 defeat by FC Thun in the second round, Basel started the season well and led the championship right until the last day of the league campaign. On 26 February 2006, FC Basel broke their own club record of 52 unbeaten league games at St. Jakob Park, later extending it to 59. The unbeaten home run ended on the final day of the season with a last-minute goal from Zürich's Iulian Filipescu giving Zürich their first national championship since 1980–81. A 60th straight home league match undefeated would have made Basel champions for third time in a row. The final score was 1-2 in favour of Zürich. The last minute loss of the Championship and the subsequent riots, the so-called Basel Hooligan Incident, meant that the club suffer the consequences. As well as a huge fine, the first two home games of the 2006–07 Swiss Super League season were held completely without fans, behind closer doors. The following three matches were held with just a part of the stadium capacity, without the fans from the "Muttenzer Kurve" (the eastern fan block).

Cup

Basel's clear aim for the Swiss Cup was to win it. In the early rounds of the 2005–06 Swiss Cup Basel were drawn away against lower league teams. However, they were defeated in the third round in the away tie against FC Zürich.

Europe

Because Basel entered the Champions League in the third qualifying round, their aim was to reach the group stage. However they lost 4-2 on aggregate to Werder Bremen and subsequently dropped into the UEFA Cup where they met Bosnian club NK Široki Brijeg in the first round. Basel sealed a 6–0 aggregate win. They were then drawn into Group E alongside Strasbourg, Roma, Red Star Belgrade and Tromsø. With some luck they qualified for the knock-out stages. Here they defeated AS Monaco in the round of 32 and Strasbourgh in the round of 16 to qualify for the quarter-finals. They were drawn against Middlesbrough and won the first leg at home 2-0 before travelling to the Riverside Stadium. Here, despite Basel taking an early lead, Middlesbrough fought back to win the match 4–1 and the tie 4–3. In spite of being knocked out, the cup run was considered a success for Basel. Matías Emilio Delgado ended the 2005–06 UEFA Cup season as the contest's top goal scorer.

Other information

Source: Homepage FCB

First team squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Summer

In

Out

Winter

In

Out

Swiss Super League

For more information, see Swiss Super League 2005–06

Final league table

Source:
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Swiss Cup

For more information, see Swiss Cup

UEFA Champions League

For more information, see 2005–06 UEFA Champions League

Third qualifying round

Werder Bremen won 4–2 on aggregate.

UEFA Cup

For more information, see 2005–06 UEFA Cup

First round

All times CET

Basel won 6-0 on aggregate.

Round of 32

Basel won 2–1 on aggregate.

Round of 16

Basel won 4-2 on aggregate.

Quarter-finals

Middlesbrough won 4-3 on aggregate.