1999–2000 FC Basel season

Before the domestic League season started on 7 July Basel had little time to get things ready. They organised one test game against lower tier SR Delémont, which was played in Laufen and won 2–0, and they entered the Sempione Cup, which was played in Balsthal. Here Basel played the semi-final against Brasilian team Ituano FC, which was lost, and the third place match against Croatian Dinamo Zagreb, in which they also suffered a defeat.[2]

The qualifying round of the League season 1999–2000 was contested by twelve teams. The first eight teams of the First Stage (or Qualification) were then to compete in the Championship Round. The season started on 7 July. Basel's priority aim was to reach the Championship stage and end the season in the top three. The season started sub-optimal, the team remained unbeaten, but with just three wins and four draws in the first seven rounds, they lost contact to the table leaders. Following their first defeat, in the away game against Lausanne-Sport, Basel improved their position in the table with another three victories. Basel suffered their first home defeat on 2 October against Yverdon-Sports, but they ended the Qualification Round in second position in the league table.

The Championship Round started on 12 March 2000. The participating teams took half of the points (rounded up to complete units) gained in the Qualification as bonus with them. Basel played amongst the table leaders and in the tenth round they even managed a 3–1 victory against league leaders St. Gallen. However, in their last four matches Basel won only two further points and dropped to third position behind champions St Gallen and Lausanne, against whom the final game of the season ended in a 0–3 home defeat on 7 June 2000. Nevertheless, Basel qualified for the 2000–01 UEFA Cup.

Basel's clear aim for the Swiss Cup was to win the title. In the round of 32, they were drawn away against Mendrisio. In the next round a home game against Grasshopper Club, ended in a draw and was eventually won in the penalty shoot out. The quarterfinal against Lausanne ended the cup run.

Basel were qualified for the 1999 UEFA Intertoto Cup. The first round was played against Slovenian team Korotan Prevalje on 20 and 26 June 1999 and won 6–0 on aggregate. The second round draw brought the Czech Republic club Boby Brno to Basel on 4 July. The return leg a week later gave Basel a 4–2 victory on aggregate. Although the first leg of the third round was won away from home against Hamburg, the Germans won the second leg in the Stadion Schützenmatte and Hamburg proceeded due to the away goals rule.

The following is the list of the Basel first team squad. It includes all players that were in the squad the day the season started on 7 July 1999 but subsequently left the club after that date and it includes all players that transferred in during the season.

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK   SUI Pascal Zuberbühler 2 DF   SUI Massimo Ceccaroni 3 DF   SUI Luís Calapes 4 DF   SUI Alexandre Quennoz 5 DF  GER Oliver Kreuzer 6 DF   SUI Philippe Cravero 7 FW  LIE Marco Pérez (loan to SR Delémont) 8 MF   SUI Raphael Kehrli 9 FW  RSA George Koumantarakis 10 MF  RUS Aleksandr Rytchkov 11 FW  TUR Cetin Güner 12 DF   SUI Sébastien Barberis 13 DF   SUI Marco Tschopp 14 FW  RUS Nenad Savić 16 MF   SUI Benjamin Huggel

No. Pos. Nation Player 17 MF   SUI Mario Cantaluppi 18 GK   SUI Oliver Stöckli 19 DF  BRA Fabinho (contract ended) 20 DF   SUI Ivan Knez 21 MF   SUI Didier Tholot 22 MF  TUR Atilla Sahin (loan to Göztepe Izmir) 23 DF   SUI Murat Yakin 24 DF   SUI Thomas Häberli 25 GK  CIV Slaven Matan (on loan to Young Boys) 26 FW  GHA Edmond N'Tiamoah (from youth team) 27 FW  ZIM Agent Sawu 29 FW   SUI Urs Güntensperger — FW  RUS Daniel Dobrovoljski — FW   SUI Deniz Mendi — FW  FRA Olivier Boumelaha (from youth team)

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK   SUI Pascal Zuberbühler (from Grasshopper Club) 4 DF   SUI Alexandre Quennoz (from Sion) 8 MF   SUI Raphael Kehrli (from Young Boys) 9 FW  RSA George Koumantarakis (from Luzern) 14 FW  RUS Nenad Savić (from Xamax)

No. Pos. Nation Player 18 GK   SUI Oliver Stöckli (from Baden) 20 DF   SUI Ivan Knez (from Luzern) 21 MF   SUI Didier Tholot (from Sion) 23 DF   SUI Murat Yakin (from Fenerbahçe) 24 DF   SUI Thomas Häberli (from Kriens) 27 FW  ZIM Agent Sawu (from Young Boys)

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK   SUI Stefan Huber (to Grasshopper Club) 8 MF  LIE Mario Frick (to Zürich)

No. Pos. Nation Player 9 MF  FRA Fabrice Henry (to Hibernian (loan)) 24 DF  BRA Abedi (to Yverdon)

The first eight teams of the Qualification phase competed in the Championship Playoff Round. They took half of the points (rounded up to complete units) gained in the Qualification as Bonus with them.

First round

Korotan Prevalje v Basel

20 June 1999 First leg	Korotan Prevalje	0 – 0	Basel	Stadion na Prevaljah, Prevalje
17:00	Benedejcic  4' Ristic  71'	Summary	69' Cantaluppi  73' Huggel  77' Ceccaroni	Attendance: 2,000 Referee: Georgios Kasnaferis (Greece)

Basel v Korotan Prevalje

26 June 1999 Second leg	Basel	6 – 0 (6 – 0 agg.)	Korotan Prevalje	Stadion Schützenmatte, Basel
17:30	Kreuzer  10' (pen.) Koumantarakis  18', 24', 43', 78' Ceccaroni  38' Cantaluppi  58'	Summary		Attendance: 2,600 Referee: Costas Kapitanis (Cyprus)

Basel won 6–0 on aggregate.

Second round

Basel v Boby Brno

4 July 1999 First leg	Basel	0 – 0	Boby Brno	Stadion Schützenmatte, Basel
17:30		Summary	75' Zubek  80' Zbončák	Attendance: 2,600 Referee: Sorin Corpodean (Romania)

Boby Brno v Basel

11 July 1999 Second leg	Boby Brno	2 – 4 (2 – 4 agg.)	Basel	Stadion Za Lužánkami, Brno
18:00	Křivánek  9'  19' Patrik Holomek  46' Siegl  50' Zbončák  51' Cihlar  84'	Summary	10' (pen.) Tholot  24' Güner  37' Cantaluppi  71' Savić  79' Pérez  89'Kehrli	Attendance: 2,600 Referee: Eduardo Iturralde González (Spain)

Basel won 4–2 on aggregate.

Third round

Hamburg v Basel

18 July 1999 First leg	Hamburg	0 – 1	Basel	Lohmühle, Lübeck
18:00	Hoogma  65'	Summary	15' Koumantarakis  47' Quennoz  72' Zuberbühler	Attendance: 8,192 Referee: Miroslav Radoman (FR Yugoslavia)

Basel v Hamburg

24 July 1999 Second leg	Basel	2 – 3 (3 – 3 agg.)	Hamburg	Stadion Schützenmatte, Basel
16:45	Quennoz  29' Koumantarakis  84'  50', 57' Huggel  90+3'	Summary	37' Fischer  44'Groth  48' Yeboah  62' Grammozis  64' Hashemian	Attendance: 3,756 Referee: René Temmink (Netherlands)

3–3 on aggregate, Hamburg won on away goals rule.