The 2012–13 FC Basel season is the 120th season in club history and the club's 18th consecutive season in the top flight of Swiss football. Basel started their season with various warm-up matches against teams from Switzerland, Romania and Germany. Their 2012–13 Swiss Super League season began on 13 July with the away tie against Servette FC and they started in the 2012–13 Swiss Cup first round on 15 September with the away game against FC Amriswil. Basel entered the Champions League in the qualifying phase and were drawn against Estonian club Flora Tallinn. This and the following qualifying round were successfully negotiated, however in the play-off round Basel lost both games against CFR Cluj and were knocked out.
Following a poor start to the season it was announced on 15 October 2012 that Vogel had been replaced by Murat Yakin as manager. Following their exit from the Champions League, Basel played in the Europa League group stage and were drawn into Group G along with Sporting Clube de Portugal, K.R.C. Genk and Videoton FC. They finished the Group in second position and advanced to the knockout phase round of 32. Here they were drawn against the Ukrainian Premier League team Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk. Basel won 3–1 on aggregate. In the round of 16 they were drawn against Zenit St. Petersburg and, despite being the underdogs, Basel advanced by winning 2–1 on aggregate. Thus they qualified for the quarter-finals and were drawn against Tottenham Hotspur, whom they beat 4–1 on penalties after a 4–4 aggregate draw to progress to the semi-finals. The draw for the semi-final matched Basel against the reigning UEFA Champions League holders Chelsea.
Club FC Basel Holding AG The FC Basel Holding AG (Holding) owns 75% of the club FC Basel (FC Basel 1893 AG) and the other 25% is owned by the club and its members. Chairman of the Holding was Bernhard Heusler, the finance chief was Stephan Werthmüller and Sportdirector was Georg Heitz. As chairman of the Holding Heusler was also chairman of the club.
Club management At the AGM the existing board of directors under president Bernhard Heusler with vice-president Adrian Knup, sportdirector Georg Heitz, financial manager Stephan Werthmüller and marketing manager René Kamm, and the three directors Reto Baumgartner, Dominik Donzé and Benno Kaiser were willing to continue as before. They were all re-elected unanimously
Team management First team manager at the start on the season was Heiko Vogel. His assistants were Marco Walker and Markus Hoffmann. Massimo Colomba retired as a player and was appointed as the new Goalkeeper coach. Massimo Ceccaroni was appointed as the new head of the FCB Youth System. Coach of the Youth Team (U–21) was Carlos Bernegger and Benjamin Huggel, who also retired as player, was appointed as his new assistant.
On 15 October 2012 it was announced that Vogel had been replaced by Murat Yakin as manager, but that the assistants would all remain in their respective positions. On 7 April 2013 it was announced that Carlos Bernegger was released from his still running contract (that was valid until June 2015) so that he could sign a contract with FC Luzern as first team manager. Bernegger started his new job on 8 April and was replaced ad-interim by the Youth Section boss Ceccaroni.
Overview
Offseason and preseason Heiko Vogel remained as first team manager. A number of players left the squad. Massimo Colomba retired as a player and was appointed as the new Goalkeeper coach.
Beni Huggel also retired from his active career and became assistant to coach Carlos Bernegger of the U-21 team. Between the years 1998 to 2005 and again from 2007 to 2012 Huggel played a total of 536 games for Basel scoring a total of 102 goals. 297 of these games were in the Swiss Super League, 30 in the Swiss Cup, 74 in the European competitions (Champions League, Europa League and UIC) and 135 were friendly games. He scored 62 goals in the domestic league, 9 in the cup, 8 in the European competitions and the other 23 were scored during the test games. Huggel won the Swiss championship seven times and the cup five times.
Further, Scott Chipperfield retired from his professional career and moved to local amateur club FC Aesch as player-coach. Between the years 2001 and 2012 Chipperfield played a total of 486 games for the club scoring 106 times. 270 of these games were in the domestic league, 37 in the Cup, 78 in the European competitions and 101 were friendly games. He scored 69 goals in the domestic league, 8 in the cup, 8 in the European competitions and the other 21 were netted during the test games. He is the Basel all-time record holder of titles with the club, with seven Swiss Nationalliga A/Super League and six Swiss Cup honours.
Xherdan Shaqiri left the club and signed a four-year contract with Bayern Munich. The transfer fee was not disclosed by the two clubs. Granit Xhaka also left FC Basel and signed a five-year contract with Borussia Mönchengladbach. The clubs did not disclose the transfer fee. It was also announced that Getafe signed David Abraham in a free transfer and gave him a four-year contract.
Basel's biggest signings of the 2012–13 season were Mohamed Salah, who transferred in from Arab Contractors, and Marcelo Díaz, who came from Universidad de Chile. Díaz was transferred to Basel in a US$4 million deal and signed a four-year contract. David Degen also returned to his home club after spending four seasons with BSC Young Boys. Stjepan Vuleta, Simon Grether and Mirko Salvi signed from the youth academy.
Winter break Basel started the preparation for the second half of the season on 4 January 2013. They played a friendly on 12 January against Bayern Munich and spent their training camp in Marbella from 14 to 24 January. Here they played four trials, the last being the 2–1 win against the Chinese national team.
On 13 December 2012 FC Basel announced that they had signed Serey Die on a three-and-a-half-year contract and on 17 December 2012 they also announced that Endogan Adili had also been signed on a three-and-a-half-year contract, with an additional one-year option. On 3 January 2013 it was announced that Raúl Bobadilla had been signed on a contract until 2017. On 29 January 2013 it was announced that Basel had signed Mohamed Elneny on loan until the end of the season.
In the other direction, it was also announced that Radoslav Kováč was given a free transfer to Slovan Liberec. During January it was also announced that some of the youngsters would be loaned out to lower league clubs, Pak Kwang-Ryong Simon Grether and Pascal Schürpf to Bellinzona, Stjepan Vuleta to Wil and Marco Aratore to Winterthur so that they could all gain playing experience.
The campaign Domestic league Basel's priority aim for the season is to win the league championship for the fourth time in a row. Basel's 2012–13 Swiss Super League season began on 13 July 2012 with the away tie against Servette FC. The season started poorly, Basel won just three of their first nine games, drawing five with one defeat. They were in fourth position in the league table, eight points behind the leaders Grasshoppers, this even increased to eleven points just three weeks later. Following a poor start to the season the club announced on 15 October 2012 that Vogel had been replaced by Murat Yakin as manager and following the change, the team spirits improved and they played better, achieving the results. FCB ended the first half of the season in second position, they had reduced the arrears to four points and had moved one point ahead of Sion and St. Gallen.
In the second half of the season FC Sion lost their momentum completely and St. Gallen also lost contact to the first two positions in the league table. The Grasshoppers and Basel distanced themselves continually, but remained within a few points of each other. Basel took over the lead in the championship table and, mid-way through the second half of the season, started to open a gap to their last remaining rivals. Despite Grasshoppers winning the direct league fixture against Basel three games before the end of the season, Basel had acquired enough points to finish three points ahead of them and to win their fourth title in a row. Basel thus achieved their main aim that they had set for the season, in fact the league campaign can be described as being a successful one.
Conclusion Basel thus achieved their main aim that they had set for the season, in fact the league campaign can be described as being a successful one. The team ended the season with 61 goals scored and 31 goals against. They had the season's best attacking as well as the best defensive record. Marco Streller was the team's top goal scorer with 14 goals and he was second in the league top scorer ranking behind Ezequiel Scarione from St. Gallen. Alexander Frei was the team's second-best scorer with seven goals, but the due to injuries he only played in 18 of the league 36 games. Valentin Stocker had scored six league goals and Mohamed Salah had netted five.
Domestic Cup Basel entered the 2012–13 Swiss Cup in the first round of the competition and as cup holders the club's clear aim for the team was for them to retain the title. In the first round, teams from the Super League and Challenge League were seeded and could not play against each other. In a match, the home advantage was granted to the team from the lower league, if applicable. Basel were drawn with the away game against FC Amriswil, a team from the OFV (Ostschweizer Fussballverband) eastern regional 2. Liga, the sixth tier of Swiss football.
Amriswil (15 September 2012) Over 5,000 spectators wanted to see how the amateurs from Amriswil would make life difficult for the reigning Swiss champions Basel. But that didn't happen. By the interval it was already 0–4 out of the hosts point of view. Twice a goal from Jacques Zoua and as well as a goal from Fabian Frei and one from Alex Frei had taken the score to this intermediate and had given FCB a nerve-sparing afternoon. Even the consolation goal in the 74th minute could not spoil the visitor's day, because afterwards again Alex Frei and finally Mohamed Salah subsequently increased the score. The Underdogs lost the match against the favourites 1–6.
Chiasso (11 November 2012)