Basel opposition analysis: Barcelona mystique and pharma power | OneFootball

Ahead of Thursday's UEFA Europa League home match

Names, names, names. There are plenty that come to mind when it comes to FC Basel. Captain and returning player Xherdan Shaqiri is one most football followers are familiar with, as is Flavius ​​Daniliuc for our fans after half a year on loan with our Red Bulls. We've taken a closer look at our upcoming UEFA Europa League opponents ahead of our home match this Thursday (21:00 CET)!

There have already been some overlaps in personnel with Noah Okafor, whose path from Basel to us Enrique Aguilar is currently following, while Jasper van der Werff and Dimitri Oberlin also played for both teams in the past.

Liverpool, Arsenal or Altach – a club of globetrotters

The Swiss side have a history of regularly developing players to the biggest stage of football. Mohamed Salah, Ivan Rakitic, Granit Xhaka, Yann Sommer, Aleksandar Dragovic, and, more recently, Arsenal's Riccardo Calafiori all played for the Red and Blue in the early stages of their careers.

Basel's coaches have also repeatedly made a name for themselves, such as Urs Fischer and Marcel Koller. However, there is no match for Christian Gross, who was Basel's head coach from 1999 to 2009 (3,668 days!) for a total of 493 matches. Incidentally, the current coach was in charge of Altach in the Austrian Bundesliga in 2022: Ludovic Magnin.

FC Basel's undisputed number one status in Switzerland for many years was largely due to strong support from the local business community shortly after the turn of the millennium. The close ties to the pharmaceutical giant Novartis – whose headquarters are in Basel – laid the financial foundation for the golden years and countless magical nights at St. Jakob-Park. However, the main sponsorship contract expired in the summer of 2025 and was not renewed.

Nevertheless, the club managed to reclaim the top spot last season. The ever-successful Basel side had been side to beat in Switzerland in the 2010s, winning eight consecutive league titles, until the momentum shifted. The Red and Blue went seven seasons without a championship before finally winning it again in 2024/25.

21 league titles won by FC Basel. Only Grasshoppers Zürich (28) have more.

Red and Blue mystique: a legendary connection

Anyone wondering about the distinctive red and blue jerseys of Basel inevitably encounters one of football's most charming myths. The most popular theory states that Joan Gamper, Basel's original captain and later founder of FC Barcelona, ​​simply exported the colors to Catalonia. Even though sports historians still don't entirely agree, the visual similarity between Bebbi and Barca remains a fascinating topic of conversation.

This Thursday at 21:00 CET, however, it's not legends or names that matter, but only the performance on the pitch at the Red Bull Arena. A win is crucial to keep hopes alive for a place in the knockout stages and to maintain the upper hand in the Austria-Switzerland match. Tickets for the game are still available online in our Ticket Shop! Only registered ticket holders from the current season and the last three seasons are eligible to purchase tickets (deadline: July 1, 2022).

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