FC Basel began their 2009–10 season with various warm-up matches against Swiss lower league, Ukrainian Vyscha Liha, and Super League Greece clubs. The club's aim for their first team during the 2009–10 season were to win back the league championship and to win the cup title. It was also their aim qualify for the UEFA Europa League group stage.
Overview The pre-season started with several major changes, the biggest being the sacking of coach Christian Gross, who was replaced by the German Thorsten Fink. Fink was appointed as Basel's new manager on 9 June 2009. The new manager let several players go by not extending their contracts. These were Ronny Hodel, Jürgen Gjasula, Ivan Ergić and Eduardo. Star striker Eren Derdiyok was sold to Bayer 04 Leverkusen and Eduardo Rubio returned to Cruz Azul because his loan was not made permanent. A number of players were brought into the first team from the under-21 squad to replace them, including Xherdan Shaqiri, Marco Aratore and Oliver Klaus. A number of new players were signed, the highest profile being Alexander Frei from Borussia Dortmund. Others new signings included Turkish Çağdaş Atan from Energie Cottbus, Ghanaian Samuel Inkoom from Asante Kotoko, Massimo Colomba from rivals Grasshopper, Brazilian Antônio da Silva on loan from Karlsruher SC and Cabral who returned after being on loan to Sevilla.
The Campaign Domestic League In domestic affairs, Basel swept the board, despite a poor start to the season. After the eighth round Basel were only in ninth position in the league table, second last. They had lost three and won only two of the first eight league matches. This was also due to the number of injuries that the players suffered in the pre-season and in the early stages. After the weak start the results changed to the better, the team won seven of the eight subsequent matches. Under these were a 4–0 home win against St. Gallen and a 5–0 against Sion. The most spectacular, however, was the 5–4 away win against Luzern, where FCB took the lead three times, only for Luzern to equalise each time, only minutes later. In the 87th minute Luzern went in front for the first time and looked as though they would win, but entering into added time Alexander Frei equalised for FCB and in the fourth minute of added time Marco Streller scored the definitive winner. However, following the team's second defeat against table leaders Young Boys, Basel went into the winter break thirteen points behind the league leaders.
In the second half of the season the team played their best football. Basel with nine straight victories, 16 wins in their last 18 games, they made a comeback in the table. Despite suffering an embarrassing 0–4 away defeat against the Grasshoppers in the fifth last round, Basel drew level with Young Boys on 77 points before the last match of the season. Strangely enough, in the last round the two teams played against each other. This match was in Bern at the Stade de Suisse on 16 May 2010, the YB at home against FCB, with a capacity crowd of 31,120 spectators. Both teams started well into this so-called "Finalissima" and both teams created their chances. However, after Alberto Regazzoni was cautioned for a foul on Valentin Stocker in the 23rd minute, Basel won control of the game and home goalkeeper Marco Wölfli was forced to make a good save following Scott Chipperfield's left footed shot. Jacques Zoua had a good shock blocked and Stocker failed to connect to a cross from the right. In the 38th minute a cross from defender Scott Sutter gave Seydou Doumbia, the YB top scorer his first chance, but the header went wide. Directly after this Basel game forward with a long ball from Zoua to Carlitos, controlling the ball well he saw Stocker free on the other side of the penalty area. Carlitos played a long pass, the ball bounced high on the artificial grass field, but the winger was able to flick the ball into the net. Then, exactly on the hour, a left footed cross from Stocker found Scott Chipperfield unmarked in front of goal and he was able to head home and give Basel a 2–0 win.
Seydou Doumbia became league top goal scorer with 30 goals. Joint second top scorer in the league was Basel's top scorer Marco Streller with 21 goals. He was level with Cristian Ianu from FC Luzern and Émile Mpenza from FC Sion. Second top scorer in the team was Alexander Frei with 15, third was Scott Chipperfield with 13, followed by Valentin Stocker with 12 and Benjamin Huggel with 11 goals. The team achieved their aim by winning the championship.
Domestic Cup Basel entered the 2009–10 Swiss Cup in the first round of the competition and the team's clear aim for the Cup was to win it. 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.
SC Cham (20 September 2009) Basel were drawn against SC Cham, who at that time played in the 1. Liga, the third tier of Swiss football. The match was played at the Herti Allmend Stadion in Zug with a sold-out capacity crowd of 5,210 spectators. Basel dominated their opponents, although they were able to hold on until shortly before the half time whistle. In the 44th minute Federico Almerares was able to put the visitors into the lead. Shortly after the break it was again Almerares who scored Basel's second goal and in 76th minute Orhan Mustafi netted their third. The hosts were getting tired, but although the visitors were creating chances, a shot from Alexander Frei hit the cross-bar, Basel could not increase the score. With the result at 3–0 Basel advanced to the second round.
Le Mont (17 October 2009) Teams from the Super League were seeded in the second round and could not play each other. In a match, the home advantage was granted to the team from the lower league, if applicable. Basel were drawn against FC Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, who at that time were semi-professional and played in the Challenge League, the second tier of Swiss football. The match was played at Stade Olympique de la Pontaise in front of 1,000 spectators. Basel dominated their opponents from the first minutes. After a corner in the fifth minute and a header from David Abraham a Le Mont defender was able to clear from the goal-line. But then Marco Aratore, Marco Streller and Federico Almerares scored the goals to put Basel three up before half time. Le Mont never gave up and fought until the end. In the 63rd minute Renato Rocha pulled a goal back for the home time, but there wasn't enough for more. With a 3–1 away win Basel advanced to the third round.
Zürich (20 November 2009) In the third round, the ties were drawn, there was no seeding, everyone could meet everyone. The home advantage was granted to the team from the lower league, otherwise to the team that was drawn first. Basel were drawn at home against top tier Zürich and the game was watched by 17,749 supporters. Both teams started well, the game was intensive and both teams created chances. Valentin Stocker was able to score a goal after 17 minutes and this put the home team at an advantage. Zürich reacted and Dusan Djurić with their best chance managed the equaliser after 32 minutes. This was the score at half-time and after the break Basel pressed forwards. In the 53rd minute Alexander Frei put the home team in front. Basel were now in control of the game. Again Frei, just five minutes later, scored to put the home them further into the lead. In the 75th minute Marco Streller put the ball into the Zürich net and the game was as much as decided. In the second minute of over-time Alexandre Alphonse was lucky to collect a diagonal ball from his teammate and he netted to make the final score 4–2 for the home team, who thus advanced to the quarterfinals.
Biel-Bienne (12 December 2009) The quarterfinals were played as the last match of the year and gave Basel another home tie in the St. Jakob-Park. Their opponents were second tier Biel-Bienne and they were watched by a crowd of just 7,503 people. They saw the favourites take control of the game from the very beginning, but the favorites could not profit from their dominance immediately. In the sixth minute Marcos Gelabert saw his shot rebound from the post and in the ninth minute he saw his header rebound from the cross-bar. Basel kept playing forwards, creating chances and in the 24th minute Xherdan Shaqiri also saw his shot rebound from the goal-post. Eventually the goal had to come and in the 45th minute Alexander Frei put the home team in front. After an hour of play Frei doubled up and nine minutes later Marco Streller managed the third. Although immediately after the restart Dennis Hediger pulled a goal back for the visitors the game was decided and Basel won 3–1 to advance to the semi-finals.
Kriens (5 April 2010) The semi-finals were played on the afternoon of Easter Monday and Basel were drawn away against SC Kriens. The match was played in the Stadion Kleinfeld in front of over 5,000 spectators, the conditions were dry but not warm. Basel were missing goalkeeper Franco Costanzo, midfielder Cabral, and their two Swiss international forwards Alexander Frei and Marco Streller due to injury. Their midfielder Valentin Stocker returned for the first time to the club where he had played his early youth football before he moved to Basel in 2005. He was received with a warm welcome from the fans, but was also the victim of the first considerably hard foul during the first minutes of the game. Both teams seemed to make no progress during the early stages and it took up until the 17th minute before the first chance was created. Basel's midfielder Marcos Gelabert played a long diagonal cross from the left side, defender Patrik Baumann was unable to clear the ball and Federico Almerares, who was positioned behind him, put the favorites a goal up. Kriens forward Janko Pacar had two good chances for the home side, one before the break and one after, but they both failed. Basel controlled the game during the second half, but the game became much more physical, the Kriens team collected four yellow cards and the Basel team three, but the narrow result remained until the end. Basel won 1–0 and thus advanced to the final.
Lausanne-Sport (9 May 2010) Basel's opponents in the final were Lausanne-Sport, who at that time played in the Challenge League, the second tier of Swiss football. Lausanne had qualified for the final beat beating top tier St. Gallen 2–1 in the semi-final. The final was played in the St. Jakob-Park in front of 30,100 spectators and under these was also Swiss international team manager Ottmar Hitzfeld. Basel were clear favourites and the two young international players Valentin Stocker in the 28th minute and Xherdan Shaqiri two minutes later put Basel into a comfortable two goal lead by half-time. Just one minute into the second half Jacques Zoua added the third and six minutes later Scott Chipperfield the fourth. The captain of the Swiss international team Alexander Frei came on as a substitute in the 67th minute, making his comeback after being out injured fracture of his right arm since February. Frei gave the assist as Stocker scored the fifth. The final score was 6–0 as international Benjamin Huggel scored with a header in the last minute of the game. It had been a fair game, referee Sascha Kever did not have to show a single yellow card.
Conclusion Basel won the Swiss Cup for the tenth time in the club's history. Basel achieved the double this season and thus completed their domestic aims. As finalists of the Swiss Cup, Lausanne qualified for the second qualification round of the UEFA Europa League.
UEFA Cup Basel's clear aim for this competition was to reach the group stage and to advance to the knock-out stage, which was to start after the winter break.
Second qualifying round