1947–48 FC Basel season

Anton Schall was to continue as first team manager, but he died at the age of 40 years, during a workout on the football field, shortly after the pre-season training had begun. Following this unhappy event captain Ernst Hufschmid then took over as player-manager. Basel played a total of 46 games in this season. Of these 26 in the Nationalliga A, four in the Swiss Cup and 16 were test games. The test games resulted with eight victories, three draws and five defeats. In total, they won 18 games, drew 13 and lost 15 times. In total, including the test games and the cup competition, they scored 100 goals and conceeded 93.[1]

There were fourteen teams contesting in the 1947–48 Nationalliga A, the bottom two teams in the table to be relagted. Suffering under the shock of team manager Schall's death, the team started the season badly, losing six of their first eleven games without a single victory. With seven victories in the second half of the season the team were able to lift themselves out of the relegation zone. Basel finished the season in 10th position in the table, with seven victories from 26 games, ten draws and they lost nine times. The team scored 44 goals in the domestic league. Paul Stöcklin was the teams top goal scorer with 11 goals. Gottlieb Stäuble was second best scorer with eight goals. René Bader and Traugott Oberer both scored five times. Bellinzona won the championship. FC Bern and Cantonal Neuchatel ended the season on the relegation places.[2]

In the Swiss Cup Basel started in round 3 with a home match against SC Balerna, the game was won 7–0. In round 4 Basel were drawn with a home tie against Zürich which was won 2–1. Round 5 gave Basel another home tie in the Landhof against Locarno and this ended with a 5–3 victory. Thus Basel advanced to the quarter-finals, where they were drawn away against La Chaux-de-Fonds. The hosts won the game by two goals to nil and continued to the semi-final and the final. The final was played on 29 March at Wankdorf Stadium in Bern against Grenchen and ended with a 2–2 draw. The replay three weeks later was also drawn 2–2 and so a second replay was required. This was played on 27 June in the Stade Olympique de la Pontaise in Lausanne. La Chaux-de-Fonds won the trophy, winning the game by four goals to nil.[3]

The following is the list of the Basel first team squad during the season 1947–48. The list includes players that were in the squad the day the Nationalliga A season started on 31 August 1947 but subsequently left the club after that date.

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

No. Position Player GK Walter Müller GK Jean Presset GK Hans Rageth DF Werner Bopp DF Hans-Rudolf Fitze DF Ernst Grauer DF Ernst Hufschmid DF Hans Hügi MF Rodolfo Kappenberger MF Willy Monigatti MF Kurt Neuenschwander MF Traugott Oberer MF Pierre Redolfi MF Louis Schenker MF Gottlieb Stäuble

No. Position Player MF Hans Vonthron MF Werner Wenk MF Rudolf Wirz FW René Bader FW Walter Bosshard FW Walter Emmenegger FW Roberto Finazzi FW Erich Grether FW Rudolf Hägler FW Ch. Martin FW Alex Mathys FW Virgilio Muggiasca FW Bernard Mathez FW Paul Stöcklin FW Hermann Suter FW Alfred Weisshaar

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 Kurt Imhof (retired) GK Hans Rothen MF Alexander Ebner (to Cantonal Neuchatel)

No. Position Player MF Heinz Elsässer (retired) MF Kurt Maurer (to FC Bern) FW Fritz Eckert

• 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
• The FCB team 1947–48 at fcb-archiv.ch
• Switzerland 1947–48 by Erik Garin at Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation

• FC Basel official site