2020–21 FC Basel season

On 26 August the club announced that Ciriaco Sforza had been hired as the first team manager as of 1 September 2020. He had previously been head coach of FC Wil and he brought his assistant Daniel Hasler with him.[1] Massimo Colomba stayed with the club as Goalkeeper Coach. On 21 September the club announced that they had hired Patrick Rahmen as second assistant trainer.[2]

Youth coach Alex Frei had previously been trainer of the U-18 team and moved up to the U-21, but due to differences with the club directors he quit his job on 24 August.[3] On 1 September the club announced that Matthias Kohler was hired as the new U-21 team trainer.[4]

Position	Staff
Manager	Ciriaco Sforza
Assistant manager	Daniel Hasler
Assistant manager	Patrick Rahmen
Goalkeeper Coach	Massimo Colomba
Team leader	Gustav Nussbaumer
Youth Team Coach	Alex Frei until 24 August 2020 Matthias Kohler from 1 September
Youth Team Co-Coach	Daniel Stucki
Youth Team Co-Coach	Michaël Bauch

The club's 126th AGM was due to take place on 9 November 2020.[5] But because of the situation in took place in writen form during the week from 6 November to 13 November 2020. The board of directors up until this date under the holding owner Bernhard Burgener were: Burgener himself as president, CEO Roland Heri, financial manager Peter von Büren, as well as Marco Streller, Reto Baumgartner, Dominik Donzé and Benno Kaiser. Ruedi Zbinden had been sport director the previous year, but resigned on 18 August and returned to his previous job as chef scout.[6]

Chairman	Bernhard Burgener
Sport director	Vacant
CEO	Roland Heri
Finances	Peter von Büren
Director	Marco Streller
Director	Reto Baumgartner
Director	Dominik Donzé
Director	Benno Kaiser

Updated to match played 30 August 2020
Source: FCB Official Site

At the AGM the President Burgener, CEO Heri, Finance director, von Büren and Streller stood down and vacated their positions. The directors Baumgartner, Donzé and Kaiser declared their willingness to continue. Eight further members of the club also declared themselves as candidates. There were 2589 votes with valid rights, the absolute majority was 1295. Baumgartner received 2382 votes, Donzé 1913 and Kaiser 1892 and these three were voted back onto the board. The other eight they failed to reach an absolute majority. For the position as club president Baumgartner received 2326 votes. Therefore from 18 November the clubs board is as follows:

Chairman	Reto Baumgartner
Sport director	Vacant
Director	Dominik Donzé
Director	Benno Kaiser
Ground (capacity and dimensions)	St. Jakob-Park (38,512[7] (37,500 for international matches)[8] / 120x80 m)

Updated to match played 18 November 2020
Source: FCB Official Site

There were a number of changes in the squad during the summer break. Zdravko Kuzmanović,[9] and Kevin Bua[10] left the club because their contracts were not renewed. Edon Zhegrova, Emil Bergström and Eric Ramires[11] also left the club and this because their loan periods had ended. Then on 12 August the club announced that Jonas Omlin was transferred out to Montpellier.[12] After the season had started and the club failed to qualify for the group stage of the 2020–21 UEFA Europa League, the club made three announcements on 5 October, first that Blás Riveros had transferred to Brøndby,[13] then that Kemal Ademi had moved on to Fenerbahçe[14] and finally that Omar Alderete had been transferred to Hertha BSC.[15]

In the other direction, the players Konstantinos Dimitriou, Julian Von Moos, Aldo Kalulu and Dimitri Oberlin were back in the Basel squad after being out on loan for the previous season. Arthur Cabral, who had been on loan from Palmeiras, was signed in on a perminat basis on a three year contract.[16] The contract with Ricky van Wolfswinkel had run out, but he signed in for another two years until the end of the 2021–22 season.[17] On 11 September FCB announced that they had prolonged the contract with Taulant Xhaka until summer 2024.[18] Then it was announced on 15 September that they had also prolonged the contract with captain Valentin Stocker.[19]

Further, on 8 August the former Austrian national team goalkeeper Heinz Lindner was signed in from Wehen Wiesbaden, with a three year contract dated up until summer 2023.[20] Then on 11 September Italian full-back Andrea Padula was signed in from FC Wil, where he had played the last half year under manager Ciriaco Sforza, also on a three year contact.[21] Somewhat surprising came the announcement on 19 September that Juventus had bought U-18 right back defender Albian Hajdari, but he stayed with the squad, being loaned back to Basel for two seasons.[22]

The 2020–21 Swiss Super League started on 20 September, but then on 22 September the club announced that the Kosovar international Edon Zhegrova (who's loan from Genk had actually ended at the end of June) had also signed in new on a three year contract.[23] On 2 October it was announced that Jorge Marco de Oliveira Moraes, simply known as Jorge, had signed in on a loan contract from Monaco.[24] On 7 October the club then announced that Swiss international player Timm Klose had been signed in on loan from Norwich City. Klose had played for the club as youth international, but had moved onto FC Thun in the 2011–12 Swiss Super League season to start his professional football career.[25] Finaly, only hours before the transfer-period closed, the club announced that Pajtim Kasami had signed in on a two year contract.[26] Kasami had previously played for Sion, but FC Sion's president Christian Constantin had terminated his contract with them, without notice, after he had failed to agree to an 80% salary pay cut during coronavirus pandemic.[27] The transfer-period in Switzerland closed on 12 October at mid-night.

In total 12 players had left the club and 12 players had signed in.

On the 5 December 2020 Basel announced that they had terminated the contract with Dimitri Oberlin, without stating the reason, but according to the media it had something to do with a non-corona-conform party.[28] On 14 January the club then announced that they had loaned Tician Tushi out to FC Wil until the end of the season, so that he could gain more playing experience. His trainer in Wil would be Alex Frei who was his coach as he played with the Basel U-18 youth team.[29] Basel's fourth goalkeeper Jozef Pukaj was loaned to Stade Lausanne Ouchy until 30 June 2021.[30] On 27 January Basel announced that they had transferred Konstantinos Dimitriou to Mezőkövesdi SE.[31] On the same day it was made public that Amir Abrashi had signed in on loan from Freiburg.[32] On 30 January Gonçalo Cardoso also signed in on loan from West Ham.[33] On 1 February The club announced that Samuele Campo had been loaned ou to SV Darmstadt 98.[34]

The season starts on the weekend of 19/20 September 2020. Basel's priority aim for the new season is to win the league championship. On Monday 31 August 2020 the Swiss Football League (SFL) published the schedule for the Raiffeisen Super League 2020–21. FCB start the new season on Sunday 20 September with the home game against FC Vaduz in St. Jakob-Park. In a first step, the SFL published the schedule for the first 18 rounds, but only fixed times for the first nine rounds. The final schedule with all games for all 36 rounds will follow by the end of the year. The season started for Basel on 20 September 20201 with a home game against newly promoted FC Vaduz.

Basel's clear aim for the cup is to win the title. The first round of the this seasons Swiss Cup was played on the week-end 28 to 30 August and the second round was played on the week-end 11 to 13 September 2020. The four teams engaged in UEFA competitions received a bye in this round and therefore Basel enter the competition in the third round. Basel were drawn to play away against Winterthur on 9 February 2021.

Basel were qualified for the UEFA Europa League and started in the qualifying phase second qualifying round. The club's aim in this competition was to reach the group stage. The draw for the second qualifying round was held on 31 August 2020 and Basel were drawn with an away game against Osijek of Croatia. This was to be played on 17 September and they won the game with 2–1. In the third qualifying round, to be played one week later on 24 September, they were drawn at home against Anorthosis Famagusta. This game was won 3–2.[35] In the play-off round Basel were drawn at home against CSKA Sofia. Despite taking the lead after 54 minutes, Basel lost 1–3 and failed tp qualify for the group stage. The club's aim was failed.[36]

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 19 September 2020 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.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  SRB Đorđe Nikolić — DF  GRE Konstantinos Dimitriou 3 DF  POR Gonçalo Cardoso (on loan from West Ham) 4 DF   SUI Eray Cömert 5 DF   SUI Silvan Widmer 6 DF  PAR Omar Alderete 6 MF  ALB Amir Abrashi (on loan from Freiburg) 7 MF   SUI Luca Zuffi 9 FW  NED Ricky van Wolfswinkel 10 MF   SUI Samuele Campo 13 GK  AUT Heinz Lindner 14 MF   SUI Valentin Stocker (captain) 15 DF  PAR Blas Riveros 17 DF   SUI Timm Klose 18 FW   SUI Julian Von Moos 19 FW  ANG Afimico Pululu 20 MF   SUI Fabian Frei (vice-captain) 21 DF   SUI Jasper van der Werff (on loan from Red Bull Salzburg) 22 MF   SUI Orges Bunjaku

No. Pos. Nation Player 23 MF   SUI Pajtim Kasami 26 MF  FRA Aldo Kalulu 27 FW   SUI Dimitri Oberlin 28 DF  ITA Raoul Petretta 30 MF  KVX Edon Zhegrova 32 MF   SUI Yannick Marchand 34 MF  ALB Taulant Xhaka (vice-captain) 39 DF   SUI Louis Lurvink (from U-21) 41 FW   SUI Tician Tushi 44 GK   SUI Jozef Pukaj 46 GK   SUI Felix Gebhardt 47 DF   SUI Elis Isufi 72 MF  ITA Andrea Padula 76 MF   SUI Albian Hajdari (on loan from Juventus) 77 FW  SEN Kaly Sene 98 FW  BRA Arthur Cabral 99 FW  GER Kemal Ademi — DF  BRA Jorge (on loan from Monaco) — MF   SUI Lirik Vishi (from U-21)

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 3 DF  GRE Konstantinos Dimitriou (returned after loan to Wil) 13 GK  AUT Heinz Lindner (from Wehen Wiesbaden) 17 DF   SUI Timm Klose (from Norwich City) 18 FW   SUI Julian Von Moos (returned after loan to Wil) 23 MF   SUI Pajtim Kasami (was not under contract) 26 MF  FRA Aldo Kalulu (returned after loan to Swansea City)

No. Pos. Nation Player 27 FW   SUI Dimitri Oberlin (returned after loan to Zulte Waregem) 30 MF  KVX Edon Zhegrova (from Genk) 72 MF  ITA Andrea Padula (from Wil) 76 MF   SUI Albian Hajdari (on loan from Juventus) 98 FW  BRA Arthur Cabral (from Palmeiras) — DF  BRA Jorge (on loan from Monaco)

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

No. Pos. Nation Player — GK   SUI Jonas Omlin (to Montpellier) — MF  SRB Zdravko Kuzmanović (end of contract) 6 DF  PAR Omar Alderete (to Hertha BSC) 15 DF  PAR Blas Riveros (to Brøndby) — DF   SUI Yves Kaiser (to Xamax) — MF   SUI Martin Liechti

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF   SUI Dominik Schmid (to Grasshopper Club) — MF  BRA Eric Ramires (end of loan from Bahia) — MF  SWE Emil Bergström (end of loan from Utrecht) — MF   SUI Kevin Bua (end of contract) — MF   SUI Albian Hajdari (to Juventus) — FW  GER Kemal Ademi (to Fenerbahçe)

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 6 MF  ALB Amir Abrashi (on loan from Freiburg)[32]

No. Pos. Nation Player 3 DF  POR Gonçalo Cardoso (on loan from West Ham)[33] 77 FW  SEN Kaly Sene [37]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF   SUI Samuele Campo (loan to SV Darmstadt 98 until 30 June 2021)[34] — DF  GRE Konstantinos Dimitriou (to Mezőkövesdi SE)[31]

No. Pos. Nation Player — FW   SUI Dimitri Oberlin (end of contract)[28] — GK   SUI Jozef Pukaj (loan to Stade Lausanne Ouchy until 30 June 2021)[30] — FW   SUI Tician Tushi (loan to FC Wil until 30 June 2021)[29]

On Monday 31 August 2020 the Swiss Football League (SFL) published the schedule for the Raiffeisen Super League 2020–21. In a first step, the SFL published the schedule for the first 18 rounds, but only fixed times for the first nine rounds. The final schedule with all games for all 36 rounds followed at the end of the year.

Basel v Vaduz

20 September 2020 1	Basel	2–2	Vaduz	St. Jakob-Park, Basel
16:00	Cabral  5' Stocker  38' Fabian Frei  56'	FCB report	29' Sutter  39' Wieser  40' Milinceanu  78' Milinceanu	Attendance: 1,000 Referee: Fedayi San (Gebenstorf)

Servette v Basel

27 September 2020 2	Servette	1–0	Basel	Stade de Genève, Geneva
16:00	Cespedes  13' Stevanović  51' Schalk  77' (pen.)	FCB report	7' Bunjaku  30' van der Werff  59' van Wolfswinkel  61' Nikolić	Attendance: 1,000 Referee: Luca Piccolo

Basel v Luzern

4 October 2020 3	Basel	3–2	Luzern	St. Jakob-Park, Basel
16:00	Cabral  11' Zhegrova  21' Zhegrova  36' Pululu  70' Bunjaku  73' Stocker  77'	FCB report	15' Ndenge  34' Schaub  35' Sidler  42' Knezevic  58' Lucas  60' Bürki  70' Ugrinic	Attendance: 9,257 Referee: Alain Bieri (Solothurn)

St. Gallen v Basel

1 November 2020 6	St. Gallen	1–3	Basel	Kybunpark, St. Gallen
16:00	Duah  13' Quintillà  35' Stillhart  63'	FCB report	6'  19' Cabral  39' F. Frei  71' Kasami	Attendance: 50 Referee: Lukas Fähndrich

Zürich v Basel

4 November 2020 4	Zürich	1–0	Basel	Letzigrund, Zürich
16:00	Doumbia  21' Marchesano  46'	FCB report	21' van der Werff	Attendance: 50 Referee: Alain Bieri (Solothurn)

Young Boys v Basel

21 November 2020 8	Young Boys	2–1	Basel	Stadion Wankdorf, Bern
19:00	Sierro  21' Nsame  41' Elia  61'	FCB report	22' (pen.) Cabral  43' Pululu  77' Cabral	Attendance: 50 Referee: Fedayi San (Gebenstorf)
Note: Debut for Chiappetta

Basel v Lausanne-Sport

25 November 2020 5	Basel	2–1	Lausanne-Sport	St. Jakob-Park, Basel
18:15	Stocker  41' Kasami  66' Padula  73' Kasami  76'	FCB report	15' Geissmann  54' Zekhnini  90+2' Guessand	Attendance: 0 Referee: Stefan Horisberger

Lugano v Basel

29 November 2020 9	Lugano	1–0	Basel	Cornaredo, Lugano
16:00	Gerndt  34' Macek  39' Guerrero  82' Bottani  90+2'	FCB report	25' Hajdari	Attendance: 30 Referee: Lionel Tschudi (Neuchâtel)

Basel v Servette

5 December 2020 10	Basel	1–0	Servette	St. Jakob-Park, Basel
20:30	Widmer  11' Cabral  43' Kasami  51' Klose  74' Frei  79'	FCB report	19' Kyei  42' Ondoua  45+1' Sauthier  79' Imeri  85' Valls	Attendance: 0 Referee: Alessandro Dudic

Basel v Sion

9 December 2020 7	Basel	4–2	Sion	St. Jakob-Park, Basel
18:15	Klose  10' Kasami  36'  81' Arthur Cabral  40' Von Moos  67'	FCB report	Grgić  27' (pen.) Uldriķis  61' Karlen  90+2'	Attendance: 15 Referee: Urs Schnyder

Vaduz v Basel

12 December 2020 11	Vaduz	0–2	Basel	Rheinpark Stadion, Vaduz
20:30	Coulibaly  21' Cicek  32' Prokopič  60'  68'	FCB report	Zhegrova  45+1' Marchand  48'  62' Afimico Pululu  55' Petretta  61' Lindner  79'	Attendance: 5 Referee: Adrien Jaccottet

Basel v Young Boys

16 December 2020 12	Basel	0–2	Young Boys	St. Jakob-Park, Basel
20:30	Jorge  38'	FCB report	Elia  12' Nsame  20'  90+3' Hefti  57' Martins  75' Zesiger  89'	Attendance: 0 Referee: Sandro Schärer

Basel v St. Gallen

19 December 2020 13	Basel	0–0	St. Gallen	St. Jakob-Park, Basel
20:30	Marchand  60'	FCB report	Babic  36'	Attendance: 0 Referee: Fedayi San

Luzern v Basel

23 December 2020 14	Luzern	1–2	Basel	Swissporarena, Luzern
18:15	Emini  50' Schürpf  66'	FCB report	Arthur Cabral  23' Kasami  36'  38'	Attendance: 0 Referee: Alain Bieri

The draw for the first round was held in August 2020. The Super League and Challenge League clubs were seeded and could not be drawn against each other. The lower division teams were granted home advantage three rounds. All teams in the Super League were granted a bye in the first round and all teams engaged in UEFA competitions received a bye in the second round as well. Therefore Basel enter the competition in the third round.