It usually takes a special occasion for tennis legend Roger Federer to pay a visit to the dressing room of the Swiss first division club FC Basel. The reason should usually be a success for the footballers. And it wasn’t that long ago that that was the case.
At the end of May this year, Federer visited the St. Jakob Park cabin. The ardent supporter of “FCB der Schweiz” congratulated the players on reaching qualification for the Conference League. After Basel had only failed in the semi-finals against AC Florence in the smallest of the three European Cup competitions in the previous season, this time it was over in the playoffs in August – against Tobol Kostanay, the representative of Kazakhstan.
Since then, the European Cup has become a long way off for FCB. The reality is: relegation battle! Last place in the Swiss Super League! It is a seemingly surreal situation for the former series champion, who won the title 20 times and reached the group stage of the Champions League six times in the 2010s and even reached the round of 16 three times.
But the last participation in the premier class so far was in 2017/18, the last championship title so far was in 2017. The great successes on the Rhine knee were a long time ago – and can still be attributed to the era of Bernhard Heusler. The trained lawyer retired in the summer of 2017 after being responsible for a phase of sustained success from 2012 onwards, building on the foundation of patron Gigi Oeri, who had supported the club with millions from the pharmaceutical industry. While Heusler was president, FCB always won the championship – and was the first Swiss club to achieve sales of more than 100 million francs.
Heusler’s departure weighed heavily. The media entrepreneur Bernhard Burgener took over 90 percent of the shares in FC Basel Holding AG. When he took office, Burgener announced that he wanted to rely more on young players. Burgener also found the personnel costs too high and should be reduced – the club had thrived under Heusler. Burgener significantly reduced the cost of salaries and the number of employees. This did not contribute to a good working atmosphere. Although transfer profits were generated, the corona pandemic and the resulting lack of ticket revenue made the situation more difficult.
The Young Boys are now top of the league – and are collecting the Champions League millions
The austerity and shrinking measures had their price, and if there is no sporting success, the downward spiral can accelerate. In addition, Swiss clubs can no longer make much money from international business, with the exception of the champions, who can take part in the Champions League. But Basel is far from that.
In their own country, the Young Boys from Bern have long since escaped FCB. They replaced Basel as series champions and have won almost all titles since 2018 – only in 2022 did FC Zurich surprisingly triumph. Basel have been lagging behind in all these years. Burgener had focused too much on the numbers and balance sheets and had lost sight of the sporting aspects. The criticism was then free and lavish, the fans publicly called for Burgener’s end.
Four years after joining, Burgener transferred his shares to David Degen. The former footballer, who grew up in the canton of Baselland and was previously active for FCB as a professional, temporarily took over 90 percent of the shares in FC Basel Holding AG and is currently still the largest shareholder. The club is close to his heart, he has a feel for the sport and the fans.
But Degen is also continuing its austerity measures. Basel started 2023 with a structural deficit of 30 million francs, and wage costs are to be further reduced. Young players should be brought in and sold on at a profit. In the summer, the club earned 55 million francs thanks to transfers, but only late in the transfer period. The championship started at the end of July and the squad planning was far from complete.
A miscalculation, as it turned out. As a former player, Degen still has more credit with the fans than Burgener, but the situation has by no means improved under his direction. “There is something astonishing about how much lobbying Degen enjoys – while the previous leadership team (…) was wished to hell in an almost degrading way,” the Neue Zürcher Zeitung recently commented. German coach Timo Schultz (previously FC St. Pauli), hired at the start of the season, took over a team in transition in July – and failed miserably. After just seven game days with five points, Schultz was fired. His compatriot Heiko Vogel, until then Basel’s sports director, stepped in as interim coach, lost four games and also had to leave.
Fabio Celestini has been training Basel since October, it is already his fifth employer within five years, and he also lost again on Sunday, 1:4 at Servette Geneva. This means that Basel remains last in the Swiss league, which is being played in playoff mode for the first time: the top six in the table ultimately play for the title and the European Cup places, the last six have a direct relegation and a participant in the relegation.
The situation at FC Basel is extremely worrying and it could be a while before Roger Federer’s next visit.
