Fussball Club Basel 1893 has a long and illustrious history, that spans the period from 1893 to the present day. Having competed at the highest level of football in Switzerland for most of this time, FCB currently play in the Swiss Super League. The club was founded on 15 November 1893.
Due to its size the history of FC Basel has been divided into five sections. 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. For details on other individual periods of the club's history, see the following articles:
History of FC Basel (1893–1918) History of FC Basel (1918–1939) History of FC Basel (1939–1965) History of FC Basel (1965–2000)
The era Gross
108th, St. Jakob-Park
This was the club's 108th season since their foundation. René C. Jäggi was the club's chairman for the fifth consecutive year. FC Basel played their home games in the alternate Stadion Schützenmatte while the new stadium was being built and as of 15 March 2001 in the brand new St. Jakob-Park. Christian Gross was the first team coach for the second successive season. Still forming his team, Gross made a number of signings before the season started. Goalkeeper Miroslav König, midfielders André Muff and Hakan Yakin were signed in from Grasshopper Club. The two strikers Hervé Tum, from Sion, and Jean-Michel Tchouga, from Yverdon-Sports, joined to strengthen the attack. Ivan Ergic joined from Juventus and Carlos Varela was loaned in from Servette. In the other direction Pascal Zuberbühler went on a one-year loan to Bayer Leverkusen, Marco Tschopp was sent on a one-year loan to Xamax and Edmond N'Tiamoah on a six-month loan to SR Delémont.
The qualification round to the League season 2000–01 was contested by twelve teams. The first eight teams of the regular season, or qualification round, then competed in the Championship Playoff Round. The club's aim was to end the qualification round in the top four and in the championship to reach the 2001–02 UEFA Cup. Basel started the regular season with three wins and three defeats, but then became somewhat more consistent, being defeated just once in the following 12 matches. Basel were able to play the games of the championship group in their new stadium, the St. Jakob-Park opened on 15 March 2001. It was sold out with 33,433 spectators on three occasions, against Lausanne-Sport in the first game, against St. Gallen and in the match against Grasshopper Club. The team was much more consistent in the championship stage, they were only beaten twice. But they only won four matches and recorded eight draws, because goal scoring was very rare. Basel ended the season in fourth position in the league table, thus qualifying for the 2001 UEFA Intertoto Cup.
The Swiss Cup started for Basel in the Round of 32 on 18 February 2001. Basel defeated lower class Etoile Carouge, but only after a penalty shoot out. In the next round they were drawn against and beat lower classed Bellinzona. In the quarterfinals Basel were defeated by Lausanne-Sport after another penalty shoot out.
Basel were qualified for the 2000–01 UEFA Cup and in the qualifying round they beat Folgore 12–1 on aggregate. In the first round they beat Brann Bergen with an aggregate score of 7–6. In the second round Basel were tied against Feyenoord. Feyenoord won both matches and so the European season came to a quick end for Basel before the Christmas break.
109th, return of the glory days
Club chairman was René C. Jäggi for the sixth consecutive season. Christian Gross was the first team trainer for the third successive season. Brought up from their reserve team Philipp Degen and Marco Streller signed professional contracts. Further, Pascal Zuberbühler returned from a one-year loan with Bayer Leverkusen. Basel's biggest signing for the new season were Scott Chipperfield, who came from Wollongong Wolves and Christian Eduardo Giménez, who was signed in from Lugano.