2007–08 FC Basel season

Basel's priority for the season was to win the league championship. The Swiss Super League season began on 22 July. Basel's first game was at home to FC Zürich which was won 1–0. In the fourth and sixth round of the championship, Basel suffered two defeats, against BSC Young Boys and Grasshopper Club, and slid down to the fourth position in the league table. It took them two months before they climbed back to the leading position. Basel stayed at the top of the table until virtually the end of the championship, slipping to second position twice, but they were strong enough to regain the lead. Basel won the Swiss Super League for the first time since 2005 on the 10 May 2008 at St. Jakob-Park after a 2-0 win over their main title threats BSC Young Boys.

The championship decision was made in the last game of the season. Basel needed only a point from the match to win the Championship, however if Young Boys won then they would have become champions. This was exactly the same situation as the end of the 2005–06 season, then the final match was between Basel and Zürich then. The painful memories of losing the league on the last day of the season in 2006 and the resulting 2006 Basel hooligan incident seemed to spur FCB on. Basel took an early lead through Valentin Stocker and a second goal scored by Marco Streller just a few minutes later wrapped up the victory well before half time.

Basel's clear aim for the 2007–08 Swiss Cup was to retain the title that they had won the year before. Basel entered the competition in the round of 64 on 19 September 2007 and were paired away against FC Léchelles, whom they beat 9–0 . They then faced SC Binningen away from home on 20 October, winning 6–1. They then faced a much tougher test in the third round, Grasshoppers at the Letzigrund on 25 October, but nonetheless won 1–0. On 15 December, Stade Nyonnais travelled to St. Jakob-Park for the quarter-final; Basel won 2–0, with both goals coming from Eren Derdiyok. The semi-final saw Basel beat FC Thun 1–0 on 27 February. Basel won the Swiss Cup for the second consecutive season after beating second-tier side AC Bellinzona 4–1 at St. Jakob-Park on 6 April. Derdiyok gave Basel the lead in the first half before Bellinzona equalised through Christian Pouga in the second. Daniel Majstorović restored the lead for Basel with a header and Swiss internationals Marco Streller and Benjamin Huggel scored one goal each to make the final scoreline 4–1 in Basel's favour.

Because Basel entered the 2007–08 UEFA Cup in the second qualifying round, with the goal to reach the group stage. Basel faced a tough opponent in the form of SV Mattersburg of Austria. Basel won the tie off with a 4–0 away win after a 2–1 victory at St. Jakob-Park. In the next round, Basel were drawn against Bosnian minnows FK Sarajevo in the first round, a tie that Basel won 8–1 on aggregate. Basel were then drawn into a group of death, Group D, alongside Brann, Dinamo Zagreb, Hamburger SV and Rennes, all of which were ranked within the top three of their respective leagues at the start of the stage.

Due to the fact that they had reached the group stage their aim was modified and was set as to remain in the competition over the winter break. Basel won their first UEFA Cup group game against Rennes at home 1–0 thanks to a Marco Streller header. Their next game was away to Dinamo Zagreb in which Basel earned a valuable away point thanks to on form goalkeeper Franco Costanzo, who kept the game at 0–0 for 90 minutes. They then faced Brann at St. Jakob-Park, where they won 1–0 through a Carlitos free-kick and were highly praised for playing attractive and flowing football. Basel then went to Germany to face Hamburg at the HSH Nordbank Arena, where they were fortunate to come away with a 1–1 draw. The goals courtesy of the two captains, Basel's Ivan Ergić and Hamburg's Ivica Olić. Basel then faced Sporting CP in the round of 32 after qualifying in second position in the group alongside first-placed Hamburg and third-placed Brann. Sporting CP finished third in their group in the UEFA Champions League, which is why they were dropped into the UEFA Cup. The first leg took place on the 13 February in Lisbon, where first-choice goalkeeper Franco Costanzo suffered an injured and Basel lost 2–0. The second leg did not fare any better for Basel. Costanzo was still injured and Basel lost 3–0 on the 21 February in the home match, resulting in them being knocked out.

This rounded off a highly successful season for Basel as they conquered on the domestic front, winning both the Swiss Super League and Swiss Cup, and reaching the last 32 of the UEFA Cup. Next season they will have the opportunity to qualify for the Champions League.

Chairman	Mrs Gisela Oeri
Ground (capacity and dimensions)	St. Jakob-Park (42,500 / 120x80 m)

Source: Homepage FCB

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

No. Position Player 1 GK Franco Costanzo 3 DF Ronny Hodel 4 DF Michel Morganella 5 DF Daniel Majstorović (vicecaptain) 6 DF Kōji Nakata 8 MF Benjamin Huggel 9 FW César Carignano 9 MF Marko Perović 10 FW Marco Streller 11 MF Scott Chipperfield 12 MF Papa Malick Ba 14 MF Valentin Stocker 15 MF Franz Burgmeier 16 MF Fabian Frei 17 DF Patrik Baumann

No. Position Player 18 GK Louis Crayton 19 FW Vratislav Lokvenc 20 MF Felipe Caicedo 21 DF François Marque 22 MF Ivan Ergić (captain) 23 FW Eduardo 24 MF Cabral 25 GK Jayson Leutwiler (25) GK Riccardo Meili 28 DF Beg Ferati 30 MF Carlitos 31 FW Eren Derdiyok 32 DF Reto Zanni (vicecaptain) 34 GK Oliver Stöckli 37 MF David Degen

• 1 Franco Costanzo
• 5 Daniel Majstorović
• 9 Marko Perović
• 11 Scott Chipperfield
• 18 Louis Crayton
• 22 Ivan Ergić
• 24 Cabral
• 28 Beg Ferati
• 31 Eren Derdiyok

for main article, see 2007–08 Swiss Cup

FC Léchelles v Basel

16 September 2007 Round 1	FC Léchelles	0 – 9	Basel	Stade Universitaire Saint-Léonard, Fribourg
		(Report) (in German)	7', 64' Carlitos  21', 62' Chipperfield  32' Ergić  57' D. Degen  66', 69' Eduardo  75' Nakata	Attendance: 3,549 Referee: Guido Wildhaber

SC Binningen v Basel

20 October 2007 Round 2	SC Binningen	1 – 6	Basel	Spiegelfeld, Binningen
	Tobias Fumagalli  35'	(Report) (in German)	7', 47' Ergić  23' Eduardo  39' Carlitos  72' D. Degen  82' Huggel	Attendance: 6,450 Referee: Claudio Circhetta

Grasshopper Club v Basel

25 November 2007 Round 3	Grasshopper Club	0 – 1	Basel	Letzigrund, Zurich
	Rinaldo  19'	(Report) (in German)	2' Zanni  56' D. Degen  58' Streller  65' Eduardo  66' Carlitos  90' (pen.) Majstorović	Attendance: 8,400 Referee: Jérôme Laperrière

Basel v Stade Nyonnais

15 December 2007 Quarterfinal	Basel	2 – 0	Stade Nyonnais	St. Jakob-Park, Basel
	Derdiyok  53', 90' Carlitos  83'	(Report)	39' Germanier  52' Roux	Attendance: 8,430 Referee: Guido Wildhaber

Basel v Thun

27 February 2008 Semifinal	Basel	1 – 0	Thun	St. Jakob-Park, Basel
20:15	Lokvenc  12' D. Degen  91'	(Report)(in German)	22' Zakrzewski  33' Gavatorta  73' Burgmeier	Attendance: 10,759 Referee: René Rogalla

AC Bellinzona v Basel

6 April 2008 Final	AC Bellinzona	1 – 4	Basel	St. Jakob-Park, Basel
	Carbone  20' Pouga  58'	(Report)(in German)	30' Derdiyok  62' Marque Majstorović  64' Streller  66' Huggel	Attendance: 33,000 Referee: Cyril Zimmermann (Münsingen)

For more information, see 2007–08 UEFA Cup

For more information, see 2007–08 UEFA Cup qualifying rounds

Basel v SV Mattersburg

16 August 2007 First leg	Basel	2 – 1	SV Mattersburg	St. Jakob-Park, Basel
20:15 CET	Ergić  23' Caicedo  53'	Report	20' (o.g.) Nakata	Attendance: 9,203 Referee: Martin Ingvarsson

SV Mattersburg v Basel

30 August 2007 Second leg	SV Mattersburg	0 – 4	Basel	Pappelstadion, Mattersburg
18:15 CET		Report	22' Caicedo  36' Ergić  41' Streller  53' Carlitos	Referee: Selçuk Dereli

Basel win 6-1 on aggregate

Sporting CP v Basel

13 February 2008 1st Leg	Sporting CP	2 – 0	Basel	Estádio José Alvalade, Lisbon
21:45	Vukčević  8', 58'	(Report)	29' Carlitos	Attendance: 16,639 Referee: Kevin Blom (Netherlands)

Basel v Sporting CP

21 February 2008 2nd Leg	Basel	0 – 3	Sporting CP	St. Jakob-Park, Basel
21:00		(Report)	Pereirinha  2' Liédson  41', 51'  80' Abel	Attendance: 16,360 Referee: Tommy Skjerven (Norway)

Sporting won 5–0 on aggregate.

Basel participated in the following major competitions: the Swiss Super League, the Swiss Cup and the UEFA Cup.

Source: Competitions

Updated to games played 10 May 2008

All Game Scorer Goals Marco Streller 17 Carlitos 15 Ivan Ergić 13 Daniel Majstorović 12 Eduardo 11 Eren Derdiyok 10 Scott Chipperfield 9 Felipe Caicedo 7 Benjamin Huggel 6 David Degen 5 Valentin Stocker 3 Marko Perović 2 Kōji Nakata 2 Vratislav Lokvenc 1 Total goals scored 113