2006–07 FC Basel season

Overview

Following the last minute loss of the 2005–06 Swiss Championship as a result of the 1-2 home defeat against FC Zürich on 13 May 2006 and the subsequent riots, the so-called Basel Hooligan Incident, the club had to carry consequences. As well as the big fine, the first two home games of the 2006–07 Swiss Super League season were held completely without fans, as so called "ghost matches". 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).

Ahead of the 2006–07 Swiss Super League season Basel made a number of transfers. The most notable was the replacement of Swiss international goalkeeper Pascal Zuberbühler, who transferred to West Bromwich Albion, with the Argentinian international Franco Costanzo. Delron Buckley was signed on loan from Borussia Dortmund. Franco Costanzo was voted to player of season Zdravko Kuzmanović left the club during the Winter break for Fiorentina.

Domestic League

Following a very poor start to the season, five defeats in the first ten rounds, Basel were ten championship points behind the table leaders. They started a catch up race after the winter break and finished the league campaign as runners-up, just one point behind champions FC Zürich. This was despite the fact that they defeated Zürich in three of the four direct matches during that league season. Basel missed their championship aim.

Domestic Cup

In the early rounds of the 2006–07 Swiss Cup Basel were drawn with away games against lower league teams. In the first round against local team FC Liestal and in the second against FC Lugano. Basel clearly won both ties. However, in the third round game against FC Baulmes extra time was needed before the tie was decided. The quarterfinal was a home tie against FC Aarau and the semifinal an away tie against FC Wil. Both were mastered and Basel won the Cup by beating FC Luzern 1–0 in the Final. The winning goal in the Final came from the penalty spot through Daniel Majstorović in the 93rd minute. Basel achieved their aim.

Europe

FC Basel's European campaign started in the first qualifying stage of the UEFA Cup, here they beat Kazakhi side FC Tobol 3–1 on aggregate. In the second qualifying round they drawn against FC Vaduz from Liechtenstein, narrowly progressing on the away goals rule after a 2–2 aggregate draw. In the first round of the competition Basel were drawn against Macedonians FK Rabotnički. Basel won 6–2 at St. Jakob-Park and 1–0 at the Skopje City Stadium. Thus they qualified for the group stages where they faced tough opposition, Blackburn Rovers of England, AS Nancy of France, Feyenoord of The Netherlands and Wisła Kraków of Poland. Basel's first game was at home against Feyenoord. This ended with a respectable 1–1 draw. Their next group match was an away tie at Ewood Park against Blackburn Rovers. Basel played reasonably well but shaky defending towards the end of the game sealed their downfall.

Their next opponents were AS Nancy, a home game on 23 November. Basel went behind twice, but were able to draw level both times. Basel were pushing for the winning goal, as during the last minute of the game they were caught by a counterattack. Goalkeeper Franco Costanzo was only able to stop the Nancy attack by fouling Issiar Dia, which resulted in his sending off and a penalty against him. Basel had already used all three substitutes, therefore striker Mladen Petrić donned the goalkeeper shirt and stood between the posts. He was able to save the penalty kick taken by Mickaël Chrétien, thus helping his team to the 2–2 draw.

Basel's last group game was against Wisła Kraków at the Wisła Stadium. FCB needed a win to qualify but their poor European campaign came to an end after losing 3–1 despite taking an early lead. Basel missed their aim to remain in European competition over the winter break.

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.

Multiple Nationality

Swiss Super League 2006–07

For more information, see Swiss Super League 2006–07

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 Cup

For more information, see 2006–07 UEFA Cup

Qualifying rounds

Basel won 3–1 on aggregate.

2-2 on aggregate, Basel win on away goals

Basel won 7–2 on aggregate.