The FC Basel 1897–98 season was their fifth season since the club's foundation on 15 November 1893. The club's chairman was Charlie Volderauer and he was chairman between 1896 and 1900. He was the third chairman in the club's history, following Roland Geldner (1893–1896) and Emanuel Schiess (1896). FC Basel played their home games in the Landhof, in the Wettstein neighborhood of Kleinbasel (lesser Basel). The official Swiss championship had not yet been called to into life. Although this season a first, unofficial, competition was played, Basel did not compete.
| 1897–98 season | |
|---|---|
| Chairman |  Charlie Volderauer |
| First team coach | unknown |
| Ground | Landhof, Basel |
| Top goalscorer | n/a |
| Average home league attendance | n/a |
Overview edit
Although the first national championship in Switzerland took place in 1897–98 it is considered as unofficial because it was not organized by the Swiss Football Association (SFA; founded in 1895). FC Basel did not participate in this first championship, neither did local rivals Old Boys.[1]
From a local point of view, there were also following clubs from Basel who played football. FC Play Fellows were founded in 1895, FC Excelsior founded 1896 and FC Kleinbasel founded at the beginning of 1898. The football team Buckjumpers-Club, founded 1894, dispanded themselves during 1897 and most players moved to FC Basel who then fielded a reserve team. FC Gymnasia, who were founded 1884 by Gymniasasten and real high school students was also dissolved. The RTV/Realschüler-Turnverein (real school student gymnastics club) had a football team from 1893 to 1898 from which the FC Old Boys emerged in 1894.[2]
For this season FC Basel organised 10 friendly matches for their first team. Five were played at home in the Landhof and all five were won. Two friendlies were played in Zürich and both ended in high scoring defeats, 3–7 against Zürich and 0–7 against Grasshopper Club. The return game against local club Old Boys was drawn and the return game against Biel-Bienne was won 5–2. The friendly match against FC Bern was played on neutral ground in Aarau and Basel won this game 4–1. Of their 10 games Basel won seven, drew once and were defeated twice. The team scored 29 and conceded 20 goals. Much documentation for this season's matches are incomplete, therefore most goal scorers remain unknown.[3]
Players edit
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Results edit
Legend edit
Win Draw Loss
Friendly matches edit
Autumn edit
| 17 October 1897 Friendly | Zürich | 7–3 | Basel | Zürich |
 (1:1)Enderli (2:1) (3:2)Meyer (4:3)Mädler (5:3)Wiederkehr (6:3)Wiederkehr (7:3) |
Summary | (0:1) (2:2) H. Schneider (3:3) |
Referee: J. Suter, (FC Zürich) |
| 24 October 1897 Friendly | Basel | 7–0 | Biel-Bienne | Landhof, Basel |
| H. Schneider (1:0) (2:0) (3:0) (4:0) (5:0) (6:0) (7:0) |
Summary |
| 31 October 1897 Friendly | Basel | 1–0 | Old Boys | Landhof, Basel |
| (1:0) |
Summary | Referee: H. Burkhardt, (Basel) |
| 7 November 1897 Friendly | Grasshopper Club | 7–0 | Basel | Zürich |
| |
Summary |
| 14 November 1897 Friendly | Basel | 3–1 | FC Excelsior Zürich | Landhof, Basel |
| |
Summary | |
Referee: de Costa, (FC Basel) |
Spring edit
| 13 March 1897 Friendly | Biel-Bienne | 2–5 | Basel | Biel/Bienne |
| Dubois Héritier |
Summary | H. Schneider H. Schneider Thalmann I Thalmann I Billeter |
| 1 May 1898 Friendly | Old Boys | 1–1 | Basel | Stadion Schützenmatte, Basel |
| 10:00 | 61' (1:1) |
Summary | 6' (0:1) H. Schneider |
Referee: J. Enderli, (FC Zürich) |
See also edit
References edit
- ^ Erik Garin. "Swiss championship 1897–98". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 2020-11-16.
- ^ Stefan Peter. "Basler Fussballvereine / Basler football clubs". Retrieved 2020-11-16.
- ^ Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv”. "Bilanz 1897–98". Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv”. Retrieved 2020-11-16.
Sources edit
- Rotblau: Jahrbuch Saison 2014/2015. Publisher: FC Basel Marketing AG. ISBN 978-3-7245-2027-6
- Die ersten 125 Jahre. Publisher: Josef Zindel im Friedrich Reinhardt Verlag, Basel. ISBN 978-3-7245-2305-5
- FCB squad 1897-1898 at fcb-archiv.ch
(NB: Despite all efforts, the editors of these books and the authors in "Basler Fussballarchiv" have failed to be able to identify all the players, their date and place of birth or date and place of death, who played in the games during the early years of FC Basel.)