History of FC Basel (1893–1918)

Having competed at the highest level of football in Switzerland for most of this time, FCB currently play in the Swiss Super League.

For detail on individual periods of the club's history, see the following articles: FC Basel was started by an advertisement placed by Roland Geldner in the 12 November 1893 edition of the Basler national newspaper, requesting that a football team be formed and that anyone who wished to join should meet up the following Wednesday at 8:15 in the restaurant Schuhmachern-Zunft.

Eleven men attended the meeting, generally from the academic community, founding Fussball Club Basel on 15 November 1893.

The return match was played during the spring and attracted over 2,000 spectators, a respectable number because at that time the city had about 70,000 inhabitants.

Basel goalkeeper and local businessman John Tollmann joined the ASF-SFV board of directors and was the first secretary-treasurer.

[9] 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 (ASF-SFV).

The friendly match against FC Bern was played on neutral ground in Aarau and Basel won this game 4–1.

Georges Fürstenberger was appointed as team captain by the club's board of directors under chairman Charlie Volderauer.

Among the opponents were reigning Swiss champions Anglo-American Club Zürich and Basel won both the home game and the return match.

The start into the season with a home draw against Fire Flies and an away victory against local rivals Old Boys can be considered as good.

At the very beginning FC Basel were lucky to find the Landhof, which had just been taken over by Katharina Ehrler-Wittich from the inheritors of Andreas Merian-Iselin [de], a member of the Merian family.

FC Basel completed the division in second position, seven games, five victories and two defeats with ten points.

At the cost of 150 Swiss Francs the club members removed the bowling alley and made the pitch playable once again.

Basel ended the season in third position in the league table, obtaining 12 points, scoring 28 and conceding 25 goals, in ten games, with five victories, two draws and three defeats.

The seventh league championship, Swiss Serie A season 1904–05, was divided into three regional groups, east, central and west.

Weissenbühl Bern lost all their eight games and were relegated at the end of the season with a goal tally of five scored and 52 conceded.

Basel's other six games all ended in defeats and they landed in second last position in the group table, scoring 18 and conceding 20 goals.

During the 1909–10 season Basel played a total of 37 matches, 25 friendly games, 10 in the domestic league and two in the newly created Anglo-Cup.

The other teams playing in the Serie A central group were Luzern, Biel-Bienne, FC Bern and Young Boys.

The other teams playing in the Central group were Biel-Bienne, FC Bern, Young Boys and Stella Fribourg.

On Christmas Eve they were beaten 1–0 by Genoa and on Boxing day they played a 5–5 draw with SG Andrea Doria.

At the end of the season the team made a short tour to Germany and played games against Kickers Offenbach and Karlsruher FC Phönix.

During the seasin Basel won five league matches, drew two, but lost seven, scoring a total of 30 goals and conceding 34.

[25] The club's chairman was Ernst-Alfred Thalmann, altogether it was his eleventh presidential term and his fifth season in succession.

In their 1912–13 season Basel played a total of 37 matches, 19 were friendly games, 14 were in the domestic league and 5 in the Anglo Cup.

Under club chairman Karl Ibach, Humphreys signed his contract and began his duties on 1 April 1913.

But memories of this soon faded, because the Anglo Cup was not played the following year and in fact it was discontinued completely due to the first world war.

Basel lost contact to the Young Boys at the top of the table and ended the season in joint second position with FC Bern, they were three points behind the group winners.

Other youngsters were Karl Bielser, Max Galler, Theodor Schär and Ernst Zorzotti, who were all later to advance and become important first team players.

Because the holidays for the members of the Swiss Army were now becoming more frequent, a football championship as played in the pre-war years, could again be carried out as of the 1915–16 season.