1908–09 FC Basel season

Daniel Hug, who had been team captain for many years, left the club and transferred to Genoa CFC as professional. Emil Hasler was the new team captain and as captain he led the team trainings and was responsible for the line-ups. Basel played 14 friendly games and 14 matches in the Swiss domestic league. Of the 14 friendly games that the team played, four were won and 10 ended in defeats. Nine games were played in Switzerland, six of which at home in the Landhof. The other games were played in Italy, both against Genoa as transfer compensation for Hug, and four in Germany, each once against Karlsruher FV, Britannia Frankfurt, Mannheimer VfB Union and Freiburger FC in Freiburg im Breisgau.[1]

The 1908–09 Serie A was divided into two regional groups, an east group with eight teams and a west group with seven teams. Basel were allocated to the east group, together with local rivals Old Boys Basel and Aarau, Zürich, Grasshopper Club, Young Fellows Zürich, Winterthur, and last but not least, St. Gallen.[2]

There were a number of changes in the Basel team. As mentioned Daniel Hug moved to Italy to play for Genoa CFC. Players such as Dr. Siegfried Pfeiffer, Ernst-Alfred Thalmann, Alfred Stöhrmann and Max Senn left the first team and were replaced by younger members. The newly formed team started the season in the worst possible way, six defeats in a row. The two 1–6 away defeats against Old Boys and Zürich, the 0–6 defeat away against Winterthur, together with the 1–2 home result against Young Fellows Zürich, the 4–5 home defeat against Aarau were only the beginning of the evil. The 2–9 home defeat against Grasshopper Club remains the highest home defeat in history until today. It was not until the seventh round, with a 3–2 win against St. Gallen on 22 November 1908, that Basel achieved their first points. After that they were only defeated once more, on 13 December 1908, a home defeat against Winterthur. Basel ended the season in the East group in sixth position.[3]

Winterthur won the east group, obtaining 25 points seven more than St. Gallen in second position in the league table. But Winterthur were defeated 0–1 by Young Boys Bern in the championship final, which was played on 6 June 2009 in Basel.[3]

Squad members

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 Albert Meyer — GK   ? Persenico (from reserve team) — GK  SUI Fridolin Wenger — DF  SUI Ernst Amstein (from reserve team) — DF  SUI Hermann Moll — MF  GER Josef Goldschmidt — MF  SUI Emil Hasler — MF  SUI Max Palatini — FW  SUI Rudolf Bredschneider — FW  SUI Rudolf Gossweiler (I) — FW  SUI Karl Gossweiler (II) — FW   ? Kunz

No. Pos. Nation Player —  SUI ? Albicker —  SUI Eduard Bauer (from reserve team) —   Robert Francey —   ? Glenck (from reserve team) —  SUI ? Gossweiler —   ? Gürtler —   ? Gürtler (I) —   ? Gürtler (III) —  SUI Werner Keller —   H. Légeret —   Gustav Riedlin —   Emil Vogt

Legend

  Win   Draw   Loss

Pre-season

Basel v Karlsruher FV

13 September 1908 Pre-season	Basel	0 – 5	Karlsruher FV	Landhof, Basel
15:00		Summary	(0:1) (0:2) (0:3) (0:4) (0:5)

FC Cantonal Neuchâtel v Basel

27 September 1908 Pre-season	FC Cantonal Neuchâtel	3 – 4	Basel	Colombier, Neuchâtel
14:30		Summary

Winter break to end of season

La Chaux-de-Fonds v Basel

27 December 1908 Winter break	La Chaux-de-Fonds	5 – 1	Basel	Parc des Sports, La Chaux-de-Fonds
14:30	3' (1:0) Goldschmidt (o.g. 2:0) 20' (3:0) (4:1) (5:1)	Summary	(3:1) Gossweiler

Genoa v Basel

1 January 1909 Winter break	Genoa	4 – 2	Basel	Genoa
	Girou (1:2) Francey (o.g. 2:2) (3:2) (4:2)	Summary	(0:1) Glenck (0:2) Persenico

Genoa v Basel

3 January 1909 Winter break	Genoa	5 – 2	Basel	Genoa
	(1:0) (2:2) (3:2) (4:2) (5:2)	Summary	(2:1) Bauer (2:2) Albicker

Basel v Nordstern

24 January 1909 Winter break	Basel	4 – 0	Nordstern	Landhof, Basel
15:00	(1:0) (2:0) (3:0) (4:0)	Summary

Basel v La Chaux-de-Fonds

14 February 1909 Winter break	Basel	1 – 2	La Chaux-de-Fonds	Landhof, Basel
15:00	Légeret 1:1'	Summary	20' (0:1) Reichen (1:2)	Referee: Kupferschmid

Young Boys v Basel

21 February 1909 Winter break	Young Boys	5 – 0	Basel	Spitalacker, Bern
14:30	Rubli (1:0) Kämpfer (2:0) (3:0) (4:0) (5:0)	Summary		Attendance: 700

Karlsruher FV v Basel

21 March 1909 Mid-season	Karlsruher FV	8 – 0	Basel	Karlsruhe
	(1:0) (2:0) (3:0) (4:0) (5:0) (6:0) (7:0) (8:0)	Summary

Basel v Bern

28 March 1909 Mid-season	Basel	4 – 0	Bern	Landhof, Basel
	Moll (1:0) Wenger (2:0) Wenger (3:0) Keller (4:0)	Summary		Referee: John André (FC Basel)

Britannia Frankfurt v Basel

11 April 1909 Mid-season	Britannia Frankfurt	3 – 2	Basel	Frankfurt
	(pen. 1:2) (2:2) (3:2)	Summary	(0:1) (0:2)

Mannheimer VfB Union v Basel

12 April 1909 Mid-season	Mannheimer VfB Union	3 – 2	Basel	Mannheim
	(1:0) 46' (2:2) (3:2)	Summary	(1:1) 35' (1:2)

Freiburger FC v Basel

9 May 1909 End of season	Freiburger FC	1 – 4	Basel	Freiburg im Breisgau
		Summary

Basel v Karlsruher FV

31 May 1909 End of season	Basel	1 – 4	Karlsruher FV	Landhof, Basel
	Wenger 63' (1:3)	Summary	10' (0:1) Hirsch 20' (0:2) 51' (0:3) (1:4)

Basel v Karlsruher FV

27 June 1909 End of season	Basel	5 – 4	Karlsruher FV	Landhof, Basel
		Summary

East group results

Basel v Young Fellows Zürich

11 October 1908 Round 1	Basel	1 – 2	Young Fellows Zürich	Landhof, Basel
15:00	Gossweiler (I) 20' (1:0)	Summary	(1:1) Staub (1:2) Burki	Referee: Rudolf Schwarz (Old Boys)

Old Boys v Basel

18 October 1908 Round 2	Old Boys	6 – 1	Basel	Margarethenwiese, Basel
1:00		Summary		Referee: Lalive

Basel v Grasshopper Club

25 October 1908 Round 3	Basel	2 – 9	Grasshopper Club	Landhof, Basel
15:00	Hasler (pen. 1:3) (2:3)	Summary	(0:1) (0:2) Taylor (0:3) (2:4) (2:5) (2:6) (2:7) (2:8) (2:9)

Zürich v Basel

1 November 1908 Round 4	Zürich	6 – 1	Basel	Zürich
	(1:0) (2:0) (3:0) (4:0) (5:0) (6:0)	Summary	(6:1)	Referee: Hüni (Grasshopper Club)

Basel v Aarau

8 November 1908 Round 5	Basel	4 – 5	Aarau	Landhof, Basel
15:00	(1:5) (2:5) (3:5) (4:5)	Summary	(0:1) (0:2) (0:3) (0:4) (0:5)

Winterthur v Basel

15 November 1908 Round 6	Winterthur	6 – 0	Basel	Winterthur
	10' (1:0) (2:0) (3:0) (4:0) (5:0) (6:0)	Summary		Referee: Fritz Seiffert (Old Boys)

Basel v St. Gallen

22 November 1908 Round 7	Basel	3 – 2	St. Gallen	Landhof, Basel
15:00		Summary		Referee: Rudolf Schwarz (Old Boys)

Young Fellows Zürich v Basel

29 November 1908 Round 8	Young Fellows Zürich	2 – 2	Basel	Zürich
15:00	Staub (I) (1:1) (2:2)	Summary	(0:1) (1:2)	Referee: Koch (St. Gallen)

Basel v Winterthur

13 December 1908 Round 9	Basel	1 – 3	Winterthur	Landhof, Basel
		Summary

Basel v Old Boys

20 December 1908 Round 10	Basel	5 – 5	Old Boys	Landhof, Basel
14:00		Summary		Referee: Lang (Winterthur)

Basel v Zürich

28 February 1909 Round 11	Basel	4 – 3	Zürich	Landhof, Basel
15:00	Keller 10' (1:0) Keller 20' (2:1) Keller (3:1) Gossweiler (4:3)	Summary	15' (1:1) (3:2) Schlegel 80' (3:3)

Grasshopper Club v Basel

18 April 1909 Round 12	Grasshopper Club	3 – 7	Basel	Zürich
		Summary		Referee: Keller (Zürich)

St. Gallen v Basel

25 April 1909 Round 13	St. Gallen	3 – 3	Basel	St. Gallen
		Summary

Aarau v Basel

2 May 1909 Round 14	Aarau	2 – 5	Basel	Aarau
		Summary		Referee: Schrader (Grasshopper Club)

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