2015–16 FC Basel season

Management

Paulo Sousa quit his Trainer position in Basel at the end of the 2014–15 season. On 18 June 2015, Basel announced that Urs Fischer had signed a three-year contract as first team manager. His assistants are Marco Walker and Markus Hoffmann. Massimo Colomba remained the Goalkeeper coach. Massimo Ceccaroni is head of the FCB Youth System. Coach of the Youth Team (U–21) was Thomas Häberli until October, at which time, due to the bad results, he had to step back and then Ceccaronii coached the team.

Further information

Last updated: 1 July 2015
Source: FCB Official Site

Off-season and pre-season

At the end of the 2014–15 FC Basel season four first team players left the club to continue their careers elsewhere. These were Fabian Schär to 1899 Hoffenheim, Fabian Frei to Mainz 05, Giovanni Sio to Rennes and Arlind Ajeti. Also no longer in the team for this season was Marco Streller, who retired from professional football. As mentioned above Urs Fischer was the new first team manager. Basel's biggest signings for the beginning of the new season were Daniel Høegh from Odense, Zdravko Kuzmanović from Internazionale, Michael Lang from Grasshopper and Marc Janko, who came in on a free transfer from Sydney FC. Also new to the team are Manuel Akanji, who transferred in from FC Winterthur, and Mirko Salvi, who returned from his one-year loan to FC Biel-Bienne. Because Streller retired, Matías Delgado was named as captain; Marek Suchý and Kuzmanović were named as his vice-captains.

Mid-season break

During the winter break, there were a number of changes to the Basel squad. Ivan Ivanov, who spent the last two years recovering from an injury, left the club by mutual consent. Also outwards were Zdravko Kuzmanović, on loan to Udinese and Albian Ajeti, who never quite managed to enter into the first team; he transferred to FC Augsburg. Also Yoichiro Kakitani, who only played a minor role in manager Fischer's team, transferred back to Japan to rejoin Cerezo Osaka. However, the one transfer deal that made the most news was midfielder Mohamed Elneny's departure to English Premier League side Arsenal.

There were also a few players on the inwards direction. As early as 8 December 2015, the club announced that Andraž Šporar had signed a four-and-a-half-year contract up until the end of June 2020. Then, on 2 January 2016, the club announced it had signed Alexander Fransson, also on a four-and-a-half-year contract. Again, on 12 January, they announced that Renato Steffen had also joined them on yet another four-and-a-half-year deal.

2016–17 off-season

On 4 May, Basel announced that they had signed 18-year-old Paraguayan defender Blás Riveros on a five-year deal. Due to Riveros' commitments with the Paraguay national team at the upcoming Copa América Centenario, he will not be expected to join the Basel first team until the beginning of July. On 10 May, Basel also announced that they had signed Egyptian defender Omar Gaber from Zamalek on a four-year deal.

Super League

Basel's priority aim for the season is to win the league championship for the seventh time in a row. Basel's 2015–16 Swiss Super League season began well with a home victory on 18 July against Vaduz. In fact, they started the season very well, winning each of their first eight games, scoring 22 goals conceding 7. They suffered their first defeat in the Stade de Suisse 3–4 against Young Boys. Four of the next five games were won; the away game against Zürich in Letzigrund ended in a 2–2 draw. Two defeats were followed by two victories. By the winter break, Basel led the league table with 43 points, 10 points ahead of the Grasshoppers and 15 ahead of the Young Boys. They had won 14 and drawing 1 of the first 18 games, scoring 43 goals and conceding just 20. Basel started the second half of the season with three straight wins, a further 2–2 draw against Zürich and another three straight wins. In round 31, on 30 April, the home win against Sion gave Basel a 16-point lead in the league table with just five games left to play and thus the championship title. Basel ended the season with two defeats in the last three games, but won the championship with 83 points and were 14 points ahead of Young Boys and 29 points ahead of Luzern. Basel had won 26 games drawing five and had suffered five defeats; they had scored 88 goals, conceding 38.

Swiss Cup

Basel's clear aim for the 2015–16 Swiss Cup is to regain the title that they last won four seasons ago. In the previous three seasons they had ended the cup competitions as runners-up, in 2013 against Grasshopper Club Zürich, in 2014 against Zürich and the previous season 2015 against Sion. In the first round of this season's competition, which was played on 15 August 2015, Basel are drawn away against Meyrin FC, winning 4–0. In the second round, Basel were drawn away against YF Juventus, which was played on 20 September. Because of safety reasons, however, the game was not played at YF Juventus' home ground, the Utogrund, but instead at St. Jakob-Park. Then in the third round, played on 28 October, Basel were drawn away against SV Muttenz, marking the first time that these two teams played against each other. The game was played at the Sportplatz Margelacker in front of a stadium record attendance of 5,800. The match ended in a 5–1 win for Basel. The fourth round was played on 13 December 2015 away in the Stade Tourbillon against Sion, where Basel lost after a penalty shootout.

Champions League

Basel entered into this season's Champions League in the Third qualifying round. Their initial aim was to remain in the competition and reach the group stage. The draw for the third qualifying round was held on 17 July 2015 and they were drawn against Lech Poznań and in the play-off round against Maccabi Tel Aviv.

The first leg was played in INEA Stadion. Basel took the lead as Michael Lang, in the 24th minute, scored after a corner taken by Luca Zuffi. Just two minutes later, however, Lech Poznań equalized through Denis Thomalla. Although Shkëlzen Gashi missed a penalty in the 67th minute, Marc Janko (77th minute) and Davide Callà (90+2nd minute) completed the 3–1 away win.

The return leg in St. Jakob-Park ended in a home victory for Basel. Basel took control of the game early, but towards the half time break, and again just after, the match turned into a tough fight. French referee Ruddy Buquet had to show both teams three yellow cards before things calmed down again. Just as it looked like both teams would settle for the draw, Birkir Bjarnason scored his first goal for his new club in injury time to give Basel a 1–0 win.

Basel had a home match in the first leg and they dominated from the first minute, but it was Eran Zahavi who but Tel Aviv in the lead with their first chance, in the 31st minute. Basel pushed harder and were awarded a penalty in the 39th minute which captain Matías Delgado netted to equalize after he himself was fouled. Basel continued to dominate but were unable to score a goal until Breel Embolo's 88th-minute goal seemed to have given Basel deserved win. But Zahavi equalised six minutes into added time for Maccabi. Basel had all statistics on their side, 68% possession, 741 to 254 passes, 16 to 5 attempts and 10 to 1 corners. The only statistic against them were the scored goals, as the match ended 2–2.

The return game was played in front of a sold out Bloomfield Stadium with 13,350 spectators. Again Basel dominated the fixture. Luca Zuffi gave the visitors an early lead with a wonderful free-kick in the 11th minute. But Eran Zahavi's seventh goal of this season's competition levels the score in the 24th minute. Maccabi Tel Aviv reached the Champions League group stage for the first time in a decade by withstanding a second-half Basel barrage and progressed on the away goals rule thanks to the characteristically composed finish from Zahavi.

Europa League

Because Basel failed to qualify for the Champions League group stage, they dropped into the 2015–16 UEFA Europa League group stage. The draw was held on 28 August 2015, 13:00 CEST, at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco and Basel were drawn into Group I, together with Fiorentina, Lech Poznań and Belenenses.

Basel's first match was played away at the Stadio Artemio Franchi in Florence. Fiorentina's new first team manager was Basel's ex-manager, Paulo Sousa. Nikola Kalinić scored a fourth-minute opener for Fiorentina and they held the lead until well into the second half of the game. Fiorentina captain Gonzalo Rodríguez was sent off after 66 minutes and following his dismissal the Swiss club took charge and managed to draw level. Birkir Bjarnason beat Luigi Sepe with a low drive from the edge of the area on 71 minutes. Eight minutes later, Mohamed Elneny capped the fightback in style. His super-rising drive from outside the box completed the comeback success. With this 2–1 win, Basel extended their unbeaten run to five matches in Europe this term.

The first home game in the Europa League group stage was against Lech Poznań, who had been opponents in the Champions League qualifying earlier in the season. Lech's Swiss midfielder Darko Jevtić was signed from Basel after a successful loan spell. The 22-year-old was born in Basel and came through the youth ranks at the Swiss club. The first half passed without much action, but the home team dominated. Icelandic midfielder Birkir Bjarnason brought a long ball down with his chest at the edge of the penalty area, kept his balance under pressure, and then turned a finish past Maciej Gostomski to give the hosts the lead after 55 minutes. In the 90th minute, Luca Zuffi made a cross from the right, Marc Janko controlled with his chest and laid off for the waiting Breel Embolo, who finished with a powerful low volley. The final score 2–0 was a deserved result.

The third game in the group stage was the home match against Belenenses. Basel took an early lead after 15 minutes, Matías Delgado kicked an inswinging corner to the back post from the left and Michael Lang jumped highest to power his header into the goal from five metres. Belenenses leveled after 27 minutes with their first chance. A long ball forward was headed clear by Marek Suchý, but it dropped to Luís Leal, who was 25 metres from goal. He hammered a low volley into the bottom corner and the ball bounced to evade the dive of Germano Vailati. During the extra time of the first half, Leal ran clear on the right flank, rushed into the area, playing the ball across the face of goal to Kuca Miranda who had easyest of finishes, tapping in from just three metres. During the second half, Basel played forward non-stop but were unable to score the equalizer. Until this 1–2 defeat, Basel had been unbeaten this season, in the domestic league (nine games) and in Europe (six).

The return game against Belenenses was played in Estádio do Restelo two weeks after the home game. Basel took early command, a first chance from Breel Embolo hit the post after nine minutes, and Basel continued to dominate their opponents entirely. But it was not until very nearly half time that their efforts were rewarded. In the 44 minute, Embolo was fouled in the penalty area by Filipe Ferreira, and Marc Janko scored from the spot. Embolo himself scored the second goal after being played free by Luca Zuffi's long deep pass into the penalty box which was flicked on by Janko. With this 2–0 victory, Basel avenged their matchday three loss.

Basel's third and last home match in the Europa League group stage was the return game against Fiorentina. Paulo Sousa returned to St. Jakob-Park, but this time to the visitors' bench. Basel's first choice goalkeeper Tomáš Vaclík injured himself shortly before kick-off and was replaced by Germano Vailati. Federico Bernardeschi ended his personal run of 11 games without a goal with a first-half double (23 and 36 minutes) to give Fiorentina a two-goal lead. After 26 minutes, Facundo Roncaglia was punished with a red card after elbowing Breel Embolo in the face. Basel fought back into the game, with Marek Suchý cutting the gap before half-time (40th minute) and Mohamed Elneny equalizing on 74 minutes. The game ended in a 2–2 and Basel advance as Group I winners after recovering from being two down.

As written above, Basel were certain to finish top of the section before matchday six. For the last match in the group stage Basel had to travel to the INEA Stadion in Poznań. Lech Poznań had already lost to Basel three times this season and only a win would have given them any chance of making it through Group I. Unable to play were defenders Manuel Akanji, Philipp Degen and Daniel Høegh (all due to injury), as well as Marek Suchý, who was out suspended. Walter Samuel made his 100th UEFA club competition appearance playing this match. Reserve goalkeeper Germano Vailati was again Basel's starter because of first choice goalkeeper Tomáš Vaclík's injury. In the 44th minute, Vailati himself also suffered an injury as he played a long pass forward. Just before half-time, third-choice goalkeeper Mirko Salvi was introduced and made his professional debut for the club. Adonis Ajeti also made his debut for the club after coming on as a substitute at half-time in place of Michael Lang. Jean-Paul Boëtius scored the only goal five minutes after half-time, it was his first goal for the Swiss champions.

Because Basel ended this stage as group winners, they continued (seeded in the draw) in the knockout phase, which started in February 2016. The draw for the round of 32 was held on 14 December 2015, where Basel were drawn against French side Saint-Étienne. The first leg was played on 18 February at 19:00 and the return leg in the St. Jakob-Park played on 25 February 2016 at 21:05.

The first leg of the round of 32 was played in the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, but without Basel supporters due to the high security alert following the terror attacks in Paris two months earlier. Basel came back from 2–0 down but ended up losing. Moustapha Sall in the fifth minute and Kévin Monnet-Paquet in the 39th minute put the hosts 2–0 in the lead. Then Walter Samuel started Basel's fight-back just before half-time in the 44th minute, becoming the second-oldest scorer in the UEFA Europa League at age 37 years and 332 days; he is surpassed only by Molde FK's Daniel Hestad, who scored at age 40 years and 98 days in this season's group stage. Marc Janko, via a penalty in the 56th minute, put Basel level and the guests pressed for their third goal. After a long clearance, however, defender Jean-Christophe Bahebeck scored for the hosts in the 79th against the run of play, and the final score ended 3–2 in favour of Saint-Étienne.

The return game against was played a week later and Basel had to win to qualify for the next round. This was very apparent as Basel played forwards immediately and levelled the aggregate as midfielder Luca Zuffi curled in a 25-yard free-kick on 15 minutes. Saint-Étienne went close, but goalkeeper Tomáš Vaclík saved the shot from substitute Romain Hamouma. Both teams were later reduced to ten men: In the 82nd minute, Saint-Étienne midfielder Valentin Eysseric collected two quick yellow cards for a foul and then a clash with Renato Steffen, while Basel's 19-year-old attacker Breel Embolo followed him off the pitch for a second caution. Saint-Étienne thought they had won it when captain Moustapha Sall netted from close range with just one minute of regular time left, only for Zuffi to crash the ball home in added time to level the tie at 4–4 and send Basel through on away goals.

The first leg of the round of 16 was played in the Basel and Sevilla had not won a European away game all season, so the goalless draw in Switzerland represented an improvement. Three second-half saves from Basel goalkeeper Tomáš Vaclík kept the home team in contention, but reigning Europa League title holders Sevilla cannot be unhappy with a goalless draw in this first leg. Marc Janko jumped high to head Basel's first chance just a little bit wide as early as the seventh minute – easily Basel's best chance of the first half – with Sevilla dominating possession thereafter. Steven N'Zonzi went quite close with headers at either end of the period, while Éver Banega twice found Coke with free-kicks but the Sevilla captain was unable to find the target from either position. Basel's resolve returned after the half time break, if not their composure, Birkir Bjarnason blazing off target from a loose ball after a Renato Steffen shot was blocked. The Icelandic midfielder then pulled a decent ball across from the right, only for substitute Adama Traoré to scuff his attempted conversion. However, it could have been worse for the Swiss team but for Vaclík, who was very awake and saved with his feet after N'Zonzi was played in and then kept out Kévin Gameiro's low drive, going to ground once more to repel Yevhen Konoplyanka as time ticked down. Midfielder N'Zonzi's dismissal near the end of the game offered Basel hope, but Sevilla held firm.

The return game against was played a week later on 17 March 2016 at the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán Stadium. Defender Adil Rami opened the scoring as he stooped to head a José Antonio Reyes corner in off the post. The match then slipped out of Basel's reach inside two minutes at the end of the first half. Reyes danced through the Basel defence and his low cross gave Kévin Gameiro an easy finish from close range. A minute later, Michael Krohn-Dehli advanced with a quick run and was the provider of the cross that found Gameiro. The striker's header came back off the underside of the crossbar and bounced in off his leg to make it 3–0 at half-time. Basel showed only small signs of a fightback. Luca Zuffi's effort from 25 yards out was still rising as it flew over the crossbar. Breel Embolo missed two chances late in the game as the Swiss side were dumped out of the competition. The result extended Sevilla's run of Europa League home wins to 11 – the longest in the competition's history and put a dent in Basel's impressive away record in Europe this season.

First team squad

The following is the list of the Basel first team squad. It also includes players that were in the squad the day the season started on 18 July but subsequently left the club after that date.

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

Results and fixtures

Kickoff times are in CET

Legend

  Win   Draw   Loss   Postponed

Third qualifying round

The draw for the third qualifying round was held on 17 July 2015. The first leg is to be played on 29 July, and the second leg will be played on 5 August 2015.

Basel won 4–1 on aggregate.

Play-off round

The draw was held on 7 August 2015.

Maccabi Tel Aviv won on away goals rule.

Group stage

The draw was held on 28 August 2015, at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco and Basel were drawn into Group I.

Round of 32

The draw for the round of 32 was held on 14 December 2015. The first leg was played on 18 February, and the second leg played on 25 February 2016.

4–4 on aggregate. Basel won on away goals.

Round of 16

The draw was held on 26 February 2016. The first leg played on 10 March, and the second leg played on 17 March 2016.

Sevilla won 3–0 on aggregate.