The 2024–25 season is FC Basel's 131st season in their existence and the club's 30th consecutive season in the top flight of Swiss football since their promotion in the 1993–94 season. The 2024–25 Swiss Super League season starts on 20 July 2024 and ends on 24 May 2025. In addition to the Swiss Super League, Basel also participate in this season's edition of the Swiss Cup, starting in the third round. This will be the club's first season since 25 years that they will not compete in any European competition, as since their 1999–2000 season they always had always qualified for an UEFA competition.
Club
FC Basel Holding AG
The FC Basel Holding AG owns 75% of FC Basel 1893 AG and the other 25% is owned by the FC Basel 1893 club members. The club FC Basel 1893 functions as a base club independent of the holding company and the AG. FC Basel 1893 AG is responsible for the operational business of the club, e.g. the first team, the women's first team, a large part of the youth department and the back office are affiliated there. All decisions that affect the club FC Basel 1893 are made within the AG.
On 6 May 2024 the AGM of the FC Basel Holding AG and the FC Basel 1893 AG were held and both boards were confirmed. The Holding AG with following members: David Degen (president), Dan Holzmann, Ursula Rey-Krayer and Andreas Rey (vice-president). FC Basel 1893 AG with following members: David Degen (president), Carol Etter (delegate of the club FC Basel), Dan Holzmann, Ursula Rey-Krayer and Andreas Rey (vice-president).
Club management
Basel is the only professional club in Switzerland where the position of holding company's president and the club's president is not the same person. The club AGM also took place on 6 May 2024. With the exception of Dominik Donzé, who left the board of directors voluntarily, the entire board was re-elected with large majorities. These being Reto Baumgartner (club president), Carol Etter, Edward Turner and Tobias Adler. Donzé has held various positions on the FCB board since 2009. Two new members were also voted into the board of directors.[1]
During the previous season the position of the FCB sport director had been left vacant following the dismissal of Heiko Vogel on 31 October 2023. On 15 May 2024 FCB announced that Daniel Stucki had been appointed as new sports director.[4]
During May Fabio Celestini signed a new two-year contract as head coach and on 31 May 2024 they announced their training staff for the coming season:[5]
On 31 May 2024 Basel announced that they had reached an agreement with Hellas Verona for the permanent acquisition of Kevin Rüegg. The 25-year-old full-back, who had joined FCB on loan in September 2023 had signed a three-year contract with the club, dated until the summer of 2027.[6] Further on 21 June the club announced that they had signed the French professional footballer Léo Leroy from Ligue 1 club Montpellier.[7]
On 28 and 29 June the club announced that they prolonged the contracts of two of their youth players until summer 2027, these were Adriano Onyegbule[11] and Arlet Junior Zé.[12] They also extended their contract with Andrin Hunziker until summer 2027 but loaned him out to Karlsruher SC, so as he could gain more playing experience.[13]
On 12 July 2024 the club announced that they load Dion Kacuri out to Yverdon-Sport until the end of the season, so as the player could gain more playing time at top-level Swiss football.[14] Further on that day, they announced that Renato Veiga had signed a contract with Chelsea.[15] At the same time Chelsea confirmed that Veiga had signed a seven-year contract at Stamford Bridge, the contract includes a further one-year option.[16][17]
A further player player who moved in was Marin Šotiček. On 18 July FCB announced the transfer from NK Lokomotiva Zagreb on a four-year deal.[18] Then, on 22 July 2024, FCB announced the transfer of Bénie Traoré, who came in from Sheffield United for an undisclosed fee, signing a four-year deal.[19]
On 25 July 2024 Basel announced that by mutual agreement, Michael Lang and the club had terminated their contract.[20] It therefore turned out, that the last match of their 2023–24 season against Yverdon-Sport, which ended in a goalless draw on 21 May 2024, had been his last competition game with the team.[21] Between the years 2015 to 2018 and again from 2021 to 2024, Lang played a total of 263 games for Basel scoring a total of 36 goals. 151 of these games were in the Swiss Super League, 14 in the Swiss Cup, 56 in the UEFA competitions (Champions League, Europa League and Conference League) and 42 were friendly games. He scored 21 goals in the domestic league, 6 in the cup, 8 in the European games and the other was scored during the test games.[22]
On 9 August, the club announced that Liam Millar had moved on to Hull City in the EFL Championship.[23] He had signed a permanent three-year deal, he transferred for an undisclosed fee.[24]
Chicago Fire and Xherdan Shaqiri mutually agreed to terminate their contract on 14 August. The separation was officially amicable, with Shaqiri explaining that he felt it was the "right time" to "explore new opportunities".[25] On 16 August, two days later, Shaqiri returned to his club of origen, rejoining them on a three-year contract.[26]
Further, the club announced on 31 August that the contract with Jean-Kévin Augustin had been terminated by mutual agreement.[31] Augustin left the club as free agent. In his two seasons with the club, he had played a total of 63 games for them scoring a total of 12 goals. 38 of these games were in the Swiss Super League, four in the Swiss Cup, nine in the UEFA Conference League and 12 were friendly games. He scored five goals in the domestic league, one in the cup, two in the European games and the other two were scored during the test games.[32]
On 2 September, the club announced another player in on loan. The Swede Joe Mendes had joined them from Portuguese club Braga.[33]
On the final day of the transfer window, FCB announced that their captainFabian Frei had decided to rejoin his youth club Winterthur.[34] Between the years 2007 to 2015 and again from 2018 to 2024 Frei played a total of 679 games for Basel scoring a total of 94 goals. 386 of these games were in the Swiss Super League, 46 in the Swiss Cup, 111 in the UEFA competitions (Champions League, Europa League and Conference League) and 136 were friendly games. He scored 41 goals in the domestic league, 10 in the cup, 13 in the European games and the other 30 were scored during the test games. Fabian Frei is the clubs record holder for the number of competition matches played with the club. He played 543 games in league, cup and UEFA.[35]
Players
First-team squad
The following is the list of the Basel first team squad. It also includes players that were in the squad the day the season started on 16 July 2023, but subsequently left the club after that date.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Note: The game kicked off 20 minutes late because FCB coach was delayed by a traffic jam on the way to the venue. Due to the delay and the high temperatures, the teams played only twice 40 minutes.
The 2024–25 Super League season was the 128th season of top-tier competitive football in Switzerland. The Swiss Football League (SFL) drew and published the fixtures of the first 22 rounds on 18 June 2024. The rest were drawn at a later date.
^ abFC Basel 1893 (31 May 2024). "Dreijahresvertrag: Kevin Rüegg bleibt beim FCB" [Three-year contract: Kevin Rüegg stays at FCB] (in Swiss High German). FC Basel 1893 AG. Retrieved 2024-05-31.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
^ abFC Basel 1893 (21 June 2024). "Der FCB verpflichtet Léo Leroy" [FCB signs Léo Leroy] (in Swiss High German). FC Basel 1893 AG. Retrieved 2024-06-21.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
^ abFC Basel 1893 (7 June 2024). "Đorđe Jovanović leihweise zu Partizan" [Đorđe Jovanović loan to Partizan] (in Swiss High German). FC Basel 1893 AG. Retrieved 2024-06-07.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
^ abFC Basel 1893 (7 June 2024). "Sergio López wechselt nach Darmstadt" [Sergio López moves to Darmstadt] (in Swiss High German). FC Basel 1893 AG. Retrieved 2024-06-07.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
^ abFC Basel 1893 (22 June 2024). "Maurice Malone leihweise zu Austria Wien" [Maurice Malone loaned out to Austria Wien] (in Swiss High German). FC Basel 1893 AG. Retrieved 2024-06-22.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
^FC Basel 1893 (28 June 2024). "Adriano Onyegbule mit neuem Vertrag bis 2027" [Adriano Onyegbule with new contract until 2027] (in Swiss High German). FC Basel 1893 AG. Retrieved 2024-06-28.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
^ abFC Basel 1893 (12 July 2024). "Renato Veiga unterschreibt beim FC Chelsea" [Renato Veiga signs for Chelsea FC] (in Swiss High German). FC Basel 1893 AG. Retrieved 2024-07-12.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
^ abFC Basel 1893 (30 August 2024). "Mousse Cisse wechselt zum FCB" [Mousse Cisse moves to FCB] (in Swiss High German). FC Basel 1893 AG. Retrieved 2024-08-30.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
^ abFC Basel 1893 (30 August 2024). "Romário Baró leihweise zum FCB" [Romário Baró on loan to FCB] (in Swiss High German). FC Basel 1893 AG. Retrieved 2024-08-30.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
^ abFC Basel 1893 (31 August 2024). "Vertragsauflösung mit Jean-Kévin Augustin" [Termination of contract with Jean-Kévin Augustin] (in Swiss High German). FC Basel 1893 AG. Retrieved 2024-08-31.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
^ abFC Basel 1893 (2 September 2024). "Joe Mendes leihweise zum FCB" [Joe Mendes on loan to FCB] (in Swiss High German). FC Basel 1893 AG. Retrieved 2024-09-02.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
^FC Basel 1893 (9 September 2024). "Fabian Frei wechselt per sofort zum FC Winterthur" [Fabian Frei is moving with immediate effect to FC Winterthur] (in Swiss High German). FC Basel 1893 AG. Retrieved 2024-09-09.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
^FC Basel 1893 (31 July 2024). "Adriano Onyegbule leihweise zum FC Schaffhausen" [Adriano Onyegbule on loan to FC Schaffhausen] (in Swiss High German). FC Basel 1893 AG. Retrieved 2024-07-31.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
^FC Basel 1893 (26 July 2024). "Jonathan Dubasin bleibt vorerst in Spanien" [Jonathan Dubasin stays in Spain for now] (in Swiss High German). FC Basel 1893 AG. Retrieved 2024-07-26.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
