2018–19 FC Basel season

Raphaël Wicky was the first team manager at the start of the season. His assistant was Massimo Lombardo and a further member of the training staff was Werner Leuthard. Due to the very poor start into the season Wicky was sacked on 26 July, after the Champions League qualifying defeat against PAOK. Alexander Frei then took over as interim coach until a new manager was named. On 2 August Basel announced that Marcel Koller had signed as new manager. He appointed Thomas Janeschitz and Carlos Bernegger as his assistants. Massimo Colomba stayed as the Goalkeeper coach. Massimo Ceccaroni is head of the FCB Youth System.

Position	Staff
Manager	Raphaël Wicky until 26 July 2018
Manager	A. Frei (interim) from 26 July 2018 until 2 August 2018
Manager	Marcel Koller from 2 August 2018
Assistant manager	Massimo Lombardo until 2 August 2018
Assistant manager	Thomas Janeschitz from 2 August 2018
Assistant manager	Carlos Bernegger from 2 August 2018
Goalkeeper Coach	Massimo Colomba
Fitness Coach	Werner Leuthard until 2 August 2018
Team leader	Gustav Nussbaumer
Youth Team Coach	Arjan Peço
Youth Team Co-Coach	Toni Membrino
Youth Team Co-Coach	Michaël Bauch

The FC Basel annual general meeting took place on 4 June 2018. The board of directors under president Bernhard Burgener with sportdirector Marco Streller, Peter von Büren, financial manager, Patrick Jost, marketing as well as Reto Baumgartner, Dominik Donzé and Benno Kaiser remained on the board. Roland Heri was voted onto the board as COO.[1]

Chairman	Bernhard Burgener
Sportdirector	Marco Streller
COO	Roland Heri
Finances	Peter von Büren
Marketing	Patrick Jost
Direktor	Reto Baumgartner
Direktor	Dominik Donzé
Direktor	Benno Kaiser
Ground (capacity and dimensions)	St. Jakob-Park (38,512[2] (37,500 for international matches)[3] / 120x80 m)

Updated to match played 4 June 2018
Source: FCB Official Site

Between the end of the 2017–18 FC Basel season and this season there were quite a few changes in the team squad. All three goalkeepers left the team. Tomáš Vaclík transferred to Sevilla, Mirko Salvi transferred to Grasshopper Club[4] and Germano Vailati ended his active career. Furthermore, Mohamed Elyounoussi left the club and joined Southampton.[5] Michael Lang also left the club and joined Borussia Mönchengladbach.[6] Cedric Itten transferred to St. Gallen,[7]

In the other direction Basel were not too busy on the transfer market. On 22 June 2018 Basel announced that they had signed goalkeeper Jonas Omlin from Luzern[8] and on 26 June 2018 Basel announced that they had signed Aldo Kalulu from Lyon.[9]

During the winter break, on 4 February 2019, the club announced that Edon Zhegrova had been signed in on loan for 18 months from Genk.[10]

The season started on the weekend of 21–22 July 2018. Basel's priority aim for the new season was to win the league championship.

Basel's clear aim for the cup this season was to win the title. The first round was played on the week-end 29, 30 June and 1 July. Basel played their first-round game on Friday 29 June away from home against lower classed FC Montlingen. In the first round Basel beat Montlingen 3–0, in the second round Echallens Région 7–2 and in the round of 16 Winterthur 1–0. In the quarter-finals Sion were defeated 4–2 after extra time and in the semi-finals Zürich 3–1. All these games were played away from home. The final was held on the 19 May 2019 in the Stade de Suisse Wankdorf Bern against Thun. Albian Ajeti scored the first goal, Fabian Frei the second for Basel, then Dejan Sorgić netted a goal for Thun, but the end result was 2–1 for Basel.[11] Basel's aim for this competition was therefore fulfilled.

Basel entered into the this season's Champions League in the qualifying phase and play-offs (League Path). The draw for the second qualifying round was held on 19 June 2018 (after the completion of the first qualifying round draw). The first legs will be played on 24 and 25 July, and the second legs will be played on 31 July and 1 August 2018. Basel were matched against the greek team PAOK.

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 21 July 2018 but subsequently left the club after that date.

As of 5 August 2018[12]

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 Jonas Omlin 40 GK  ANG Antonio Signori 35 GK  DEN Martin Hansen 44 GK  GRE Jozef Pukaj 3 DF  GRE Konstantinos Dimitriou 4 DF  SUI Eray Cömert 5 DF  SUI Silvan Widmer 23 DF  COL Éder Álvarez Balanta 28 DF  ITA Raoul Petretta 15 DF  PAR Blás Riveros 17 DF  CZE Marek Suchý (Captain) 43 DF  SUI Yves Kaiser 6 MF  SUI Fabian Frei 7 MF  SUI Luca Zuffi 8 MF  SRB Zdravko Kuzmanović

No. Pos. Nation Player 10 MF  SUI Samuele Campo 11 MF  SUI Noah Okafor 14 MF  SUI Valentin Stocker 20 MF  CIV Serey Dié 26 MF  FRA Aldo Kalulu 27 MF  SUI Neftali Manzambi 33 MF  SUI Kevin Bua 30 MF  KOS Edon Zhegrova 34 MF  ALB Taulant Xhaka (Vice-Captain) 36 MF  SUI Robin Huser 37 FW  FRA Afimico Pululu 9 FW  NED Ricky van Wolfswinkel 18 FW  SUI Julian Von Moos 19 FW  SUI Dimitri Oberlin 22 FW  SUI Albian Ajeti

  Win   Draw   Loss   Postponed

The draw for the first round was held in June 2018. 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 and Basel were therefore drawn away. The home advantage was also granted to the team from the lower league in the second and third rounds.

FC Montlingen v Basel

18 August 2018 Round 1	FC Montlingen	0 – 3	Basel	Sportanlage - Kolbenstein, Montlingen
		Report	10' Balanta 66' Bua 84' Kalulu	Attendance: 4,348 Referee: Nikolaj Hänni (Gams SG)

Echallens Région v Basel

15 September 2018 Round 2	Echallens Région	2 – 7	Basel	Sportplatz 3 Sapins, Echallens
16:00	Adam  37' El Allaoui 55' Galokho 90+1'	FCB Report	52', 53'  61' Al. Ajeti 63' van Wolfswinkel 65' Bua 69' Campo 80' Oberlin 85' F. Frei	Attendance: 4,087 Referee: Stephan Klossner

Sion v Basel

27 February 2019 Quarter-finals	Sion	2 – 4 (a.e.t.)	Basel	Stade Tourbillon, Sion
20:30	Adryan  53' André  59' Morgado 70' Grgić 78' Ndoye  115'	Summary	Ajeti 82' Petretta  85' Zuffi 88' (pen.)  117' Stocker 101'  103' 120+3' Álvarez  105+1' Xhaka  112'	Attendance: 9,000 Referee: Stephan Klossner

Zürich v Basel

25 April 2019 Semi-finals	Zürich	1 – 3	Basel	Letzigrund, Zürich
20:15	Odey  82' 90+4' Kasaï  90'	Report	Okafor 5' Suchý  21' van Wolfswinkel  44' Petretta  45' Kuzmanović  81' 87' Ajeti 90+2'	Attendance: 13,400 Referee: Stephan Klossner

Basel were qualified for the 2018–19 UEFA Champions League in the qualifying phase (League Path) in the second qualifying round. The draw for this round was held on 19 June 2018.

PAOK v Basel

24 July 2018 (2018-07-24) 1st Leg	PAOK	2 – 1	Basel	Toumba Stadium, Thessaloniki
19:30 (20:30 EEST)	Cañas 32' Prijović 80'	Report	Dié  32' Stocker  69' Frei  75' Ajeti 82'	Attendance: 24,670[17] Referee: Bobby Madley (England)

Basel v PAOK

1 August 2018 (2018-08-01) Return Leg	Basel	0 – 3 (1 – 5 agg.)	PAOK	St. Jakob-Park, Basel
20:00	Zuffi  33' Dié  44' Suchy  63'	Report	Varela 7' Prijović  16' 52' Matos  48' El Kaddouri 60' Pelkas  77'	Attendance: 14,328[17] Referee: Paolo Valeri (Italy)

Following their elimination in the UEFA Champions League qualifying phase, Basel were qualified for the Europa League third qualifying round.

Vitesse v Basel

9 August 2018 (2018-08-09) 1st Leg	Vitesse	0 – 1	Basel	GelreDome, Arnhem
20:00	Karavayev  65' Gong  73' Van der Werff  83'	Report	Van Wolfswinkel  60', 90+3' Widmer  83'	Attendance: 11,532 Referee: Georgi Kabakov (Bulgaria)

Basel v Vitesse

16 August 2018 (2018-08-16) Return Leg	Basel	1 – 0 (2 – 0 agg.)	Vitesse	St. Jakob-Park, Basel
20:00	Ajeti 30' Petretta  78'	Report	Clarke-Salter  26'	Attendance: 12,334 Referee: Daniel Siebert (Germany)