1931–32 FC Basel season

Last seasons coach/manager Austrian Gustav Putzendopler stayed on for his second season as trainer. Fellow Austrian international Otto Haftl signed in from AC Sparta Prague to the team becoming Basel's first ever fully professional football player. During his first season at the club he also acted as player-manager after Putzendopler laid down the job as trainer. The team played a total of 35 matches in their 1931–32 season. 16 of these matches were in the domestic league, six matches in the Swiss Cup and 13 games were friendly matches. Of these 13 friendlies four were played in the Landhof, six other games were also played in Switzerland. Only one was played in Germany against FV Lörrach and another one was played in France against CA Mulhouse. Of the freindly games, ten games ended with a victory, two were drawn and one match ended with a defeat.[1]

The newly formed and renamed domestic league, now Nationalliga, started at the end of August. The new 1931–32 Nationalliga was now divided into two groups, each with nine teams, coming from the whole of Switzerland and no longer just regional groups. Basel were allocated to Group 1. The league season started very badly, they lost their first five games straight off, conceding 27 goals. Not only did Basel change their trainer, but also goalkeeper and various players. In the second half of the season things improved and with six victories in the last seven games Basel were able to rise from the foot of the table. They finished the season four points above the relegation zone.

In the 1st principal round of the Swiss Cup Basel were drawn away against and defeated lower classed SC Veltheim. They needed a reply in the second round to beat Lugano and were victorious against lower classed SC Brühl St. Gallen in the third round. Then a quarter-final victory over La Chaux-de-Fonds took the team into a semi-final against Grasshopper Club. However this ended with a rather hefty defeat 1–8 and that fits completely into the picture of a rather disappointing season.

An episode that can be noted in association with the Cup, was the replay away against FC Lugano on 22 November 1931. Alfred Schlecht scored the winning goal early, just two minutes after the game had started. However, after the game there were tumults and riots among the spectators who were not satisfied with the referee's performance. It was some eight hours later, before things were settled enough, for the police to able to bring both the referee and the entire Basel team to safety, by ship over Lake Lugano.[2]

Squad members

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player GK Paul Blumer GK ? Klemm GK Ferenc Plattko GK Gerhard Walter DF Armando Ardizzoia DF Hermann Enderlin (II) DF Ernst Grauer MF Ernst Hufschmid MF Emil Hummel DF Josef Remay DF Ernst Weber MF Vlastimil Borecký MF Max Galler (II)

No. Position Player MF Giovanni Lupi MF Paul Schaub FW Karl Bielser FW Eduard Buser FW Alfred Enderlin (I) FW Adolf Frey FW Otto Haftl FW August Hiss FW Alfred Jaeck FW Leopold Kielholz FW Josef Kratochvil FW Walter Müller FW Alfred Schlecht FW Leopold Wionsowsky

Players who left the squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player GK Traugott Märki GK Hans Nikles GK Ernst Zorzotti MF Otto Meier

No. Position Player MF Walter Notz MF Emil Riedener FW Hector Cosmo Fisher FW Jørgen Juve Template:Country data Fritz Griesbaum

• History of FC Basel
• List of FC Basel players
• List of FC Basel seasons

• 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
• FCB team 1931–32 at fcb-archiv.ch
• Switzerland 1931-32 at RSSSF

• FC Basel official site