The FC Basel 1903–04 season was their eleventh season in their existence. The club's chairman was Ernst-Alfred Thalmann, who took over the chairmanship at the AGM for the third time in the club's history. FC Basel played their home games in the Landhof in the Quarter Kleinbasel.
| 1903–04 season | |
|---|---|
| Chairman |  Ernst-Alfred Thalmann |
| First team coach | Daniel Hug (as team captain) |
| Ground | Landhof, Basel |
| Serie A | Central group: third |
| Top goalscorer | n/a[note 03–04 1] |
| Average home league attendance | n/a |
Overview edit
With over 40 active footballers and over 70 patron members Basel were the second largest club in Switzerland at this time, larger was only Grasshopper Club Zürich. Basel's first team played in the Serie A and the second team in the Serie B.[1]
Daniel Hug (the team's most prominent, their best and their largest player) was named as team captain and as captain he led the team trainings and was responsible for the line-ups. Together with goalkeeper Paul Hofer, the players Alphonse Schorpp, Eugen Strauss, Dr. Siegfried Pfeiffer, Ernst-Alfred Thalmann and Emil Hasler, Hug was one of many early national team players who came from the Basel team.
The team played just one pre-season friendly at home against Grasshopper Club. There was another mid-season friendly against local lower tier Nordstern Basel. During the winter break Basel played two more friendly matches. These were the return game against the Grasshoppers which was drawn 6–6 and also an away game against west group team Montriond Lausanne which was won 3–2. At the end of the season Basel played against group winners Old Boys, which was played as warm up the finals. They also played a match against French club Mulhouse, which was lost 6–8, the highest scoring game of the season.[2]
The Swiss Serie A season 1903–04 was divided into three regional groups, east, central and west. Basel were allocated to the central group together with the Young Boys, FC Bern, Floria Biel/Bienne, and two further teams from Basel, Old Boys Basel and Fortuna Basel. Having lost their first six games of the season, local team Fortuna Basel opted out of the league season after the New Year and gave forfait for all their remaining games. FC Basel ended their ten games with five victories, two draws and three defeats in third position in the league table, obtaining 12 points, scoring 28 and conceding 25 goals. The Young Boys and the Old Boys ended level on points and so a play-off match was arranged. The Old Boys won the play-off 3–2 and therefore qualified for the finals.[3]
In the finals St. Gallen first drew 1–1 against group west winners Servette, then they won 1–0 against central group winners Old Boys and because the Old Boys beat Servette 2–0, St. Gallen won their first ever championship title.[4]
Players edit
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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|
Results edit
- Legend
Win Draw Loss Forfait
Friendly matches edit
Pre-season edit
| 18 October 1903 Pre-season | Basel | 2 – 1 | Grasshopper Club | Landhof, Basel |
 |
Summary | |
Referee: H. Gautschy, Old Boys | |
| Note: Grasshopper Club played with 10 men. | ||||
| 6 December 1903 Mid-season | Basel | 2 – 1 | Nordstern Basel | Landhof, Basel |
| |
Summary | |
Winter break and end of season edit
| 17 January 1904 Winter break | Grasshopper Club | 6 – 6 | Basel | Zürich |
| |
Summary | Gossweiler II Gossweiler II Hasler Hasler Laubi Pfeiffer |
Referee: Seeburger |
| 24 January 1904 Winter break | Montriond Lausanne | 2 – 3 | Basel | Lausanne |
| 15:00 | Pflüger 25' (1:1) 50' (2:2) |
Summary | 20' (0:1) 40' (1:2) Pfeiffer (2:3) Ramseyer |
Referee: |
| 20 March 1904 End of season | Basel | 1 – 3 | Old Boys | Landhof, Basel |
| Hasler |
Summary | Seiffert Schwarz Gonser |
| 10 April 1904 End of season | Mulhouse  | 8 – 6 | Basel | Mulhouse |
| |
Summary | |
||
| Note: Binser and Hennrichs from Karlsruher FV played for Mulhouse. | ||||
Serie A edit
Central group matches edit
| 25 October 1903 Round 1 | Basel | 3 – 1 | Fortuna Basel | Landhof, Basel |
| Gossweiler II Hasler Thalmann I |
Summary | |
| 8 November 1903 Round 3 | Floria Biel-Bienne | 2 – 4 | Basel | Biel/Bienne |
| 15:00 | Cooper 15' (1:0) Minondo 88' (2:4) |
Summary | (1:1) Thalmann I (1:2) Hasler (1:3) Gossweiler II (1:4) Hug |
Referee: Christen, FC Bern |
| 15 November 1903 Round 4 | Old Boys | 5 – 1 | Basel | Basel |
| Seiffert (1:0) Landerer 10' (2:0)Bolliger (3:1)Bolliger (4:1)Schwarz (5:1) |
Summary | (2:1) Pfeiffer |
Referee: Christen, FC Bern |
| 22 November 1903 Round 5 | Young Boys | 7 – 2 | Basel | Spitalacker, Bern |
| 15:10 | Kratz 15' (1:0) Kämpfer (2:0)O. Schwab (3:2) (4:2) (5:2) (6:2) (7:2) |
Summary | (2:1) (2:2) Hasler |
Referee: Frey, Old Boys |
| 20 December 1903 Round 6 | Basel | 2 – 6 | Old Boys | Landhof, Basel |
| |
Summary | Buser Buser Buser Schwarz Schwarz Kupferschmid |
| 14 February 1904 Round 7 | Fortuna Basel | 0 – 3 FF | Basel | Landhof, Basel |
| Summary | ||||
| Note: Fortuna Basel did not play this game and on 25 February 1904 gave forfait for all their remaining games. | ||||
| 21 February 1904 Round 8 | Basel | 3 – 0 | FC Bern | Landhof, Basel |
| Pfeiffer 40' (1:0) Gossweiler II (2:0)Hasler (3:0) |
Summary | Referee: Frey |
| 28 February 1904 Round 9 | Basel | 6 – 0 | Floria Biel/Bienne | Landhof, Basel |
| Gossweiler II Gossweiler II Pfeiffer Pfeiffer Hug Ramseyer |
Summary | Referee: Frey |
| 13 March 1904 Round 10 | Basel | 2 – 2 | Young Boys | Landhof, Basel |
| |
Summary | |
Referee: Frey |
Central group league table edit
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Old Boys | 10 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 41 | 11 | +30 | 17 | Play-off winners, advance to finals |
| 2 | Young Boys | 10 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 37 | 14 | +23 | 17 | Play-off |
| 3 | Basel | 10 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 28 | 25 | +3 | 12 | |
| 4 | FC Bern | 10 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 19 | 20 | −1 | 9 | |
| 5 | Floria Biel/Bienne | 10 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 11 | 38 | −27 | 5 | Relegated |
| 6 | Fortuna Basel[Fortuna 1] | 10 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 4 | 32 | −28 | 0 | Withdrawn and relegated |
- Note to Fortuna Basel
- ^ The last four games of Fortuna Basel were awarded 3–0 forfait for their opponents.
See also edit
Notes edit
Footnotes edit
- ^ The player lines-ups and goal scorers for 2 of the 9 league games in the 1903–04 season are unknown or incomplete.
1903–1904 season matches: Bern-FCB, FCB-OB
References edit
- ^ Stefan Peter. "Überregionale Meisterschaften, Schweizer und Basler Cup". Retrieved 2020-11-16.
- ^ Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv”. "Test games 1903–04". Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv”. Retrieved 2020-11-16.
- ^ "Central group league table". Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv”. Retrieved 2020-11-16.
- ^ Erik Garin, Luc Nackaerts. "Serie A 1903/04". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 2020-11-16.
Sources edit
- Rotblau: Jahrbuch Saison 2014/2015. Publisher: FC Basel Marketing AG. ISBN 978-3-7245-2027-6
- Die ersten 125 Jahre. Publisher: Josef Zindel im Friedrich Reinhardt Verlag, Basel. ISBN 978-3-7245-2305-5
- Switzerland 1903-04 at RSSSF
(NB: Despite all efforts, the editors of these books and the authors in "Basler Fussballarchiv" have failed to be able to identify all the players, their date and place of birth or date and place of death, who played in the games during the early years of FC Basel. Most of the documentation is missing.)