History of FC Basel (2000–present)
This is the fifth section and deals with the financial backing that had been put into the club at that time, the move to the new stadium St. Jakob-Park, how success returned and how things have progressed to the present day.
Christian Eduardo Giménez was to play his debut on 18 July in the 3–3 draw with St. Gallen and his first goal for the club was to follow during the 3–1 home win against the Young Boys on the 11 August.
Hereafter things turned for the better and despite two further defeats, and despite that these were in the two matches against the reigning title holders Grasshopper Club Zürich, Basel ended the qualification leading the league table.
The Final was won after extra time against the Grasshoppers thanks to a penalty scored by Murat Yakin after Boris Smiljanić cleared the ball off the goalline with his hand.
Basel's biggest pre-season signings were Julio Hernán Rossi from Lugano, Antonio Esposito from St. Étienne and Bernt Haas on loan from West Bromwich Albion.
In fact, the season started impeccably, Basel won the first thirteen matches straight off, before they lost their first points in the away game against Aarau in the Stadion Brügglifeld with a 2–2 draw.
In the first two rounds of the 2003–04 Swiss Cup Basel were drawn away and won their games against lower league teams, FC Alle and Urania Genève Sport as expected.
Following the last minute loss of the 2005–06 Super League Championship as a result of the 1–2 home defeat against FC Zürich on 13 May 2006 and the subsequent riots, the so-called Basel Hooligan Incident, the club had to carry consequences.
Basel won 6–2 at St. Jakob Park and 1–0 at the Skopje City Stadium to qualify for the group stages where they faced tough opposition: Blackburn Rovers, Nancy, Feyenoord and Wisła Kraków.
[18] At the beginning of the 2007–08 season, Basel strengthened their team by signing Swiss internationalists Benjamin Huggel from Eintracht Frankfurt, Marco Streller from VfB Stuttgart and David Degen on loan from Borussia Mönchengladbach.
Basel won the Swiss Super League for the first time since 2005 on the 10 May 2008 at St. Jakob-Park after a 2–0 win over their main title threats BSC Young Boys.
[19] Basel won the Swiss Cup for the second consecutive season after beating second-tier side AC Bellinzona 4–1 at St. Jakob Park on 6 April 2008.
On matchday 32, none of the first three teams won their game: FCZ did not get more than 1–1 against Luzern, but was able to extend their lead to four points because FCB lost 3–1 in Aarau, contrary to all expectations.
In round three, played on 22 November, FCB was drawn against second tier FC Thun, who hosted the game in the Stadion Lachen, this resulted in a 4–0 victory.
In the second half, the away side started well, but Eren Derdiyok gave FCB a 2–1 lead which they hung on to, securing qualification to the competition's group stage.
Incoming transfers were Gilles Yapi from Young Boys and Yann Sommer who re-joined the team following his loan period to Grasshopper Club Zürich.
Basel played with their B-team, head coach Thorsten Fink changed ten positions in the starting eleven, Gilles Yapi was the only remaining player compared to the previous championship game.
On 84 minutes Xherdan Shaqiri played a neat cross from the right, Streller dummied by striding under the ball and Alexander Frei was there to head it home at the far post.
Although Phil Jones headed the ball home after Federico Macheda's shot had rebounded from the cross-bar, Basel survived a tense final two minutes to advance to the knock-out phase with the 2–1 win.
It came to the penalty shoot-out, Basel converted their first three attempts and keeper Yann Sommer saved low to his right from Tom Huddlestone and Emmanuel Adebayor fired over the top.
In the fourth minute of added time goalkeeper Sommer remained powerless to keep out David Luiz's last-gasp set piece that secured Chelsea a 2–1 victory.
Nine minutes into the extra time, referee Patrick Graf misjudged a controversial scene, Giovanni Sio received a yellow-red card, for an alleged acting performance, instead of a penalty for a foul.
On 86 minutes Basel central defender Fabian Schär played a long diagonal ball from the right over the entire Chelsea midfield into the path of Mohamed Salah who sprinted out of their own half down the left flank.
Of the ensemble that had demystified Chelsea twice in the Champions League group stage, only Sommer, Serey Die, Frei and Stocker remained, but despite this big disadvantage, the game ended goalless.
[45] Basel's four biggest signings for the beginning of the new season were Tomáš Vaclík from Sparta Prague; Yoichiro Kakitani from Cerezo Osaka; Derlis González from Benfica; and Shkëlzen Gashi from Grasshopper.
However, a home draw against Sion followed, then a defeat in the Stade de Suisse against the Young Boys, who moved closer in the table, and again, the criticism mounted against head coach Sousa.
On 18 minutes a knockback for the visitors, as Serey Die took on a ball from Fabian Frei in the middle of the opponents’ half he collided with Cosmin Moți.
Going into added time Yordan Minev advanced on the left and had a shot at goal and the ball deflected slightly off Taulant Xhaka's back and caught goalie Vaclík wrongfooted.
Boëtius, because the Dutchman scored the 1–0 in the 50th minute, Xhaka because of his remarkable preparation down the right-wing, and Salvi because he prevented Lech from equalizing with a strong one-on-one action a quarter of an hour before the end of the game.
The first leg ended with a goalless draw at home in the St. Jakob-Park, but in the away return match Sevilla scored three goals within just a few minutes to lead 3–0 at half time and it stayed that way until the final whistle.
