Adrian Knup (born 2 July 1968) is a Swiss former professional footballer who played as a striker in the 1980s and 1990s.[2]

Adrian Knup
Personal information
Date of birth (1968-07-02) 2 July 1968 (age 56)
Place of birth Liestal, Switzerland
Height 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Position(s) Striker
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1986–1988 FC Basel 40 (11)
1988–1989 FC Aarau 33 (13)
1989–1992 FC Luzern 74 (20)
1992–1994 VfB Stuttgart 53 (20)
1994–1996 Karlsruher SC 39 (11)
1996 Galatasaray 5 (2)
1996–1998 FC Basel 29 (8)
Total 273 (85)
International career
1989–1996 Switzerland 49 (26)
Managerial career
2007–2008[1] Switzerland (team leader)
2009–2017 FC Basel (head of youth)
2012–2017 FC Basel (vice president)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

He was capped 49 times and scored 26 goals for the Switzerland national team between 1989 and 1996, including three games at the 1994 FIFA World Cup. From 2009 to 2017 he worked as the head coach of the youth sector at FC Basel. He was also the vice president of the club between 2012 and 2017.[3][4]

Club career

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Knup played his youth football with local team Basel. He advanced to their first team for their 1985–86 season and signed his first professional contract under manager Helmut Benthaus. After playing in one test match, Knup played his domestic league debut for the club in the home game at the St. Jakob Stadium on 19 April 1986 as Basel won 5–0 against Baden.[5] In his first season Knup had just seven league appearances.

During their 1986–87 season Knup advanced and became a regular in the starting team. Knup was a typical No. 9 and was famed for the power he could get behind his headers. He scored his first league goal for his club in the first game of the season on 9 August 1986. It was the last goal of the away match against, but it could not help the team, as Basel were defeated 1–3 against Sion.[6] In the following match one week later

Knup played three seasons with the club and received a call up to the Switzerland national team. But with Basel, apart from one title in the Uhrencup in 1986, he had no big successes. In their 1987–88 season his teammates included goalie Urs Suter, the defenders Peter Bernauer and Massimo Ceccaroni, the Scott Gordon Duffield Smith and two other Switzerland national team players Peter Nadig and Dominique Herr. Despite this personally strongly occupied team Basel were relegated to the Nationalliga B after the 1987–88 Nationalliga A season.[7] One match in this season receives a particular mention, the away game on 29 November 1987 and Knup netted a hat-trick between the 37th and 71st minute as Basel won 4–0 against Zürich.[8]

Following the relegation he left the team and joined FC Aarau in 1988. He spent only one season at Aarau and signed for FC Luzern in 1989 where he was an immediate success. In 1990, he was voted Luzern's Player of the Year. He was then signed by Bundesliga side VfB Stuttgart in 1992 where he played until 1994 when he signed for Karlsruher SC. He reached the 1995–96 DFB-Pokal final with Karlsruhe but they were beaten 1–0 by 1. FC Kaiserslautern. He then had a short spell with Galatasaray S.K. in Turkey before returning to Switzerland.

During the winter break of their 1996–97 season knup returned to his club of origin under manager Karl Engel. But Knup needed some six matches before he found the binding to his new teammates and then it came to being. He scored two goals at home against Grasshopper Club,[9] another goal in the home match against Xamax[10] and another two goals in the home match against Aarau.[11]

Knup stayed with the club for another season before he retired from his active football career. Between the years 1982 to 1988 and again from 1996 to 1998 Knup played a total of 138 games for Basel scoring a total of 54 goals. exactly 100 of these games were in the Nationalliga A, eight in the Swiss Cup and 30 were friendly games. He scored 29 goals in the domestic league, four in the cup and the other 21 were scored during the test games.[12]

International career

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Knup played for the Switzerland national team between 1989 and 1996. He scored 26 goals in 49 games. Two of his goals came against Romania in a 4–1 win at the 1994 FIFA World Cup in the USA.

Personal life

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After retirement from his playing career, Knup became a commentator for Swiss League matches. On 25 May 2007, he was given the job as a coach for the Switzerland national team but demissioned after UEFA Euro 2008.

At the FC Basel AGM in June 2009 Knup was elected into the club's board of directors under club president Gigi Oeri. From 2009 to 2012 he worked as the head coach for the club's the youth sector. At the AGM in 2012, Ms Oeri stood down and Bernard Heusler became the club chairman, Knup was elected as vice president of the club.[13][14] He held this position until 2017. Knup, president Heusler, finance director Stephan Werthmüller, director of football Georg Heitz and marketing director René Kamm all stood downsold together and Heusler sold the clubs Holding AG to Benrhard Burgener.

Career statistics

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Scores and results list Switzerland's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Knup goal.
List of international goals scored by Adrian Knup
No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1 11 October 1989 St. Jakob Stadium, Basel, Switzerland   Belgium 1–0 2–2 1990 World Cup qualifier
2 13 December 1989 Estadio Heliodoro Rodríguez López, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain   Spain 1–1 1–2 Friendly
3 2 June 1990 Espenmoos, St. Gallen, Switzerland   United States 2–1 2–1 Friendly
4 21 August 1990 Praterstadion, Vienna, Austria   Austria 3–1 3–1 Friendly
5 17 October 1990 Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland   Scotland 1–2 1–2 Euro 1992 qualifier
6 14 November 1990 Stadio Olimpico, Serravalle, San Marino   San Marino 3–0 4–0 Euro 1992 qualifier
7 2 February 1991 Miami Orange Bowl, Miami, United States   United States 1–0 1–0 Friendly
8 12 March 1991 Sportplatz Rheinau, Balzers, Switzerland   Liechtenstein 2–0 6–0 Friendly
9 3–0
10 5–0
11 1 May 1991 Vasil Levski National Stadium, Sofia, Bulgaria   Bulgaria 1–2 3–2 Euro 1992 qualifier
12 2–2
13 5 June 1991 Espenmoos, St. Gallen, Switzerland   San Marino 1–0 7–0 Euro 1992 qualifier
14 6–0
15 16 August 1992 Kadrioru Stadium, Tallinn, Estonia   Estonia 3–0 6–0 1994 World Cup qualifier
16 4–0
17 9 September 1992 Wankdorfstadion, Bern, Switzerland   Scotland 1–0 3–1 1994 World Cup qualifier
18 2–1
19 17 March 1993 Stade El Menzah, Tunis, Tunisia   Tunisia 1–0 1–0 Friendly
20 11 August 1993 Ryavallen, Borås, Sweden   Sweden 1–1 2–1 Friendly
21 17 November 1993 Hardturm, Zürich, Switzerland   Estonia 1–0 4–0 1994 World Cup qualifier
22 22 June 1994 Pontiac Silverdome, Pontiac, United States   Romania 3–1 4–1 1994 World Cup
23 4–1
24 23 June 1995 Wankdorfstadion, Bern, Switzerland   Germany 1–1 1–2 Friendly
25 16 August 1995 Laugardalsvollur, Reykjavík, Iceland   Iceland 1–0 2–0 Euro 1996 qualifier
26 15 November 1995 Wembley Stadium, London, England   England 1–0 1–3 Friendly

Honours

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VfB Stuttgart

References

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  1. ^ Adrian Knup 'manager' de l'équipe de Suisse de football‚ swissinfo.ch, 25 May 2007
  2. ^ "Adrian Knup". worldfootball.net. Retrieved 11 March 2012.
  3. ^ Adrian Knup im Führungsgremium des FCB‚ nzz.ch, 22 June 2009
  4. ^ Umsatzrekord und ein neuer Vizepräsident für den FC Basel‚ tagesanzeiger.ch, 30 April 2012
  5. ^ Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv”. "FC Basel - FC Baden 5:0 (1:0)". Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv”. Retrieved 16 November 2020.
  6. ^ "FC Sion - FC Basel 3:1 (3:0)". Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv”. Retrieved 16 November 2020.
  7. ^ Müller, Lukas (2010). "Rotblau: Peter Bernauer - Zuverlässig und kopfballstark im Abwehrzentrum". Rotblau (in German). FC Basel Marketing AG. ISSN 1660-0878.
  8. ^ "FC Zürich - FC Basel 0:4 (0:2)". Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv”. Retrieved 16 November 2020.
  9. ^ "FC Basel - Grasshopper Club 3:3 (2:2)". Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv”. Retrieved 16 November 2020.
  10. ^ "FC Basel - Neuchâtel Xamax 1:3 (1:0". Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv”. Retrieved 16 November 2020.
  11. ^ "FC Basel - FC Aarau 3:2 (0:0)". Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv”. Retrieved 16 November 2020.
  12. ^ Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv”. "Adrian Knup - FCB-Statistik". Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv”. Retrieved 16 November 2020.
  13. ^ (fest/Si) (30 April 2012). "Der FC Basel mit einem neuen Umsatzrekord". fussball.ch. Retrieved 16 November 2020.
  14. ^ Adrian Knup im Führungsgremium des FCB‚ nzz.ch, 22 June 2009
  15. ^ "Deutscher Supercup, 1992, Finale". dfb.de. Retrieved 5 November 2020.
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