FC Basel started the 2007–08 season, the 115th season in their existence and 13th consecutive in the top flight of Swiss football, with various warm-up matches against Swiss lower league teams as well as Austrian Bundesliga, German Bundesliga, Scottish Premier League and French Ligue 1 clubs. FCB were looking to win the Swiss championship title for the first time since 2005 and regain the cup title that they won the year before. They also had the opportunity to compete in the UEFA Cup.
Overview At the beginning of the 2007–08 season, Basel strengthened their team by signing Swiss internationalists Benjamin Huggel from Eintracht Frankfurt, Marco Streller from VfB Stuttgart and David Degen on loan from Borussia Mönchengladbach. Carlitos transferred from Benfica in for an estimated €1.5 million (CHF 1,610,000). Five young talents were brought up from the under-21 team. In the other direction, fans' favourites Ivan Rakitić transferred to Schalke 04 (for an estimated CHF 4,830,000) and Mladen Petrić joined Borussia Dortmund (for an estimated CHF 5,635,000). Influential defender Boris Smiljanić returned to his former club, Grasshoppers.
During the winter break, highly rated Switzerland U-21 defender Beg Ferati arrived at St. Jakob-Park from feeder club Concordia Basel on a three-and-a-half-year contract. He was joined by midfielder Marko Perović from Red Star Belgrade and veteran striker Vratislav Lokvenc, on loan from Red Bull Salzburg. Also during the winter break Felipe Caicedo transferred to Manchester City on a four-and-a-half-year deal with a £5.2 million transfer fee (CHF 10 million), which made his sale one of the highest transfers in the history of the Swiss League.
The campaign
Domestic league 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, 1–5 against BSC Young Boys and 0–2 against 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. In this period they won nine and drew two of eleven games. Basel suffered a home defeat against Xamax directly before the winter break and the suffered another defeat in the away match against Young Boys directly as the second half of the season began. Nevertheless Basel stayed in top position in the league table until virtually the end of the championship, slipping to second position twice. The first time as they lost an away match against Luzern and the second time after an away draw against Aarau. In the last eight games of the season, Basel achieved only four victories and four draws. But the team played 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. FCB needed only a point from the match to win the Championship, however if YB 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 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.
FCB obtained 74 points to win the championship and qualify for Champions League second qualifying round. They were four points above YB with 70 points and 18 points ahead of third placed FCZ, who obtained 56 points. These two teams qualified to UEFA Cup second qualifying round. The bottom placed Thun suffered relegation and second last St. Gallen advanced to the relegation/promotion play-pff against Bellinzona. Bellinzona won the play-off and were promoted FCSG suffered relegation.
Domestic Cup Basel's clear aim for the 2007–08 Swiss Cup was to retain the title that they had won the year before. The 10 clubs from the Swiss Super League as well as the 17 clubs of the Swiss Challenge League qualified directly for the cup and entered in the round of 64.
FC Léchelles Basel were paired away against 5th tier FC Léchelles on 19 September 2007 and won with ease. Carlitos, Scott Chipperfield and Eduardo each scored two goals and David Degen, Kōji Nakata and team captain Ivan Ergić each scored one as Basel achieved the end result 9–0.
SC Binningen They then faced local club SC Binningen, also from the 5th tier, away from home at the newly built Spiegelfeld stadium, on 20 October. This time captain Ivan Ergić scored two goals and David Degen, Carlitos, Eduardo and Benjamin Huggel each added another as Basel cruised to a 6–1 victory.
Grasshopper Club Basel then faced a much tougher test in the third round. An away match against the Grasshoppers at the Letzigrund took place on 25 October. The game was equally balanced in a first half low on events. The best chance came from a bicycle kick from Scott Chipperfield. In the second half Basel put on the pressure and after 55 minutes were not awarded a penalty despite a foul on Streller. But nonetheless Basel won 1–0. The goal coming from the penalty spot, scored by Daniel Majstorović after a hand-ball from Guillermo Vallori.
Stade Nyonnais On 15 December, third tier Stade Nyonnais travelled to St. Jakob-Park for the quarter-final. Basel played with second goalkeeper Louis Crayton in place of Franco Costanzo, who was rested in advance of the Uefa Cup game against Hamburger SV, which was a few days later. But it was the Nyonnaise keeper Mathey who saved four, five good attempts alone in the first half. He kept the game goalless at halftime. Stade Nyonnais fought hard as Basel added more pressure. Eren Derdiyok eventually put the hosts one up in the 53rd minute and they kept pressing giving keeper Mathey more chances to show his abilities. Derdiyok finished the game off with another goal in the 90th minute.
Thun The semi-final saw Basel beat FC Thun 1–0 on 27 February. Again played in the St. Jakob-Park Vratislav Lokvenc, who was on loan from Red Bull Salzburg scored the only game of the match as early as the 12th minute.
Bellinzona Basel were heavy favourites before the kick-off, not just because they were facing a lower league side but as the cup final was also being held in their home stadium, which is where UEFA Euro 2008 kicked off nine weeks later. It was Bellinzona, though, who had the better of the opening stages with Basel goalkeeper Franco Costanzo called into action several times. However, Eren Derdiyok scored the opening goal on 31 minutes to calm down things for the Swiss league leaders. Bellinzona equalised after 58 minutes through Christian Pouga but their euphoria was short-lived as they conceded three times in as many minutes to lose any chance of causing an upset. Four minutes later Daniel Majstorovic headed in, substitute Marco Streller made it 3–1 and fellow Swiss international Benjamin Huggel put the match beyond doubt in the 66th minute to make the final scoreline 4–1 in Basel's favour. 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 2008.
Conclusion Basel's aim for the Swiss Cup was to retain the title and this was achieved with ease.
Europe Because Basel entered the 2007–08 UEFA Cup in the second qualifying round, the club set their aim as to reach the group stage. The draw was held on Friday, 3 August 2007 at 13:00 CET in Nyon, Switzerland. It was conducted by UEFA General Secretary David Taylor and Giorgio Marchetti, UEFA's director of professional football. The matches were to be played on 16 and 30 August 2007.
Mattersburg Basel were drawn against a tough opponent in the form of SV Mattersburg of Austria. Mattersburg were Austrian league leaders at the time, with an unbeaten run. The first leg was held at the St. Jakob-Park on 16 August 2007 under referee Martin Ingvarsson of the Swedish Football Association. Basel began strongly, had their fifth corner in the twelfth minute but Scott Chipperfield's good shot was deflected only a short distance wide of the goal. Mattersburg's defender Cem Atan saw his second yellow card after just 17 minutes and was sent off. Nevertheless it was the Austrian team who shortly afterwards took the lead. Basel's defender Nakata deflected a shot into their own goal after 20 minutes. Basel's reply was immediate, capitan Ergić equalised just three minutes later. Mattersburg goalkeeper Robert Almer played strongly, showing six or seven good saves and denying Basel the lead. This eventually came in the 57th minute from Caicedo. Mattersburg were overwhelmed but their keeper kept showing good work. In the end the 2–1 victory meant a lot of work, but too little yield.
Return match Basel won the tie straight off with an easy away win in the Pappelstadion on 30 August, under referee Selçuk Dereli from the Turkish Football Federation. Felipe Caicedo put the visitors one up after 22 minutes, captain Ergić added a second after 36 and Streller netted the third after 40. Basel had decided the game before half time and they played the rest of the game in a lower gear. Eight minutes after the break Carlitos increased the score to the final score of 4–0 and 6–1 on aggregate.
FK Sarajevo In the next round, Basel were drawn against Bosnian minnows FK Sarajevo in the first round. The first leg was played on 20 September in front of 6,000 spectators in the Asim Ferhatović Hase Stadium in Sarajevo under referee Lajuks of the Latvian Football Federation. Carlitos put the visitors in the lead in the 11th minute and captain Ergić added a second after 63 minutes. Basel again played the rest of the game in a lower gear. In the third minute of added time Semjon Milošević scored for the hosts, but this was much too late to make a difference.
Return match The return leg was played on 4 October in the St. Jakob-Park. Basel started quickly. Carlitos netted the first goal in the eighth minute and added a second just one minute later. Then came Swiss international Streller double into the scorers list, scoring his first in the 19th minute and his second ten minutes later. This was the half time score. Basel played as though it was a friendly match, not wishing to hurt themselves or be injured by their opponents, so not really entering the tackles. Huggel scored the team's fifth goal on 75 minutes and then Felipe Caicedo added a sixth as the game entered the added time. The game ended 6–0 and Basel won 8–1 on aggregate.
Basel advanced to the group 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. The draw for the group stage, which was conducted by UEFA's director of professional football Giorgio Marchetti and Michele Centenaro, UEFA's head of club competitions, was held on Tuesday, 9 October 2007 at 12:00 CET in Nyon, Switzerland. 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.
Rennes