The 2015–16 FC Basel season was the club's 123rd season and their 21st consecutive season in the top flight of Swiss football since their promotion in the 1993–94 season. Basel's 2015–16 Swiss Super League campaign began on 19 July at home against Vaduz. In addition to the Swiss Super League, Basel also participated in the season's Champions League, Europa League, and Swiss Cup.
Club FC Basel Holding AG FC Basel Holding AG is a holding company that owns 75% of FC Basel 1893 AG. The club itself owns the other 25%. FC Basel 1893 AG is responsible for all decisions that affect FC Basel as a club, including the operational business, youth department, and back office.
Club management The FC Basel AGM took place on 27 April 2015 in Basel's congress center, comprising
Team management On 18 June 2015 Basel announced Urs Fischer's appointment as the first team head coach on a three-year contract. His assistants were Marco Walker and Markus Hoffmann. Furthermore, Massimo Colomba stayed on the team as the goalkeeping coach in addition to his position as the head of the FCB Youth System. Thomas Häberli was the coach of the youth team (U-21) until October. Due to poor results, he was asked to step back, after which Massimo Ceccaroni coached the team.
Overview Off-season and pre-season Team captain Marco Streller retired from professional football at the end of the 2014–15 season. Between 2000 and 2004 and from 2007 to 2015, Streller played 418 games for Basel, scoring 185 goals. Two hundred thirty-three of these games were in the Swiss Super League, 22 in the Swiss Cup, 70 in UEFA European competitions (Champions League, UEFA Cup Europa League, and UIC), and 93 were friendly games. He scored 111 goals in the domestic league, 9 in the domestic cup, 24 in European competitions, and the other 41 were scored during test games.
In addition to Streller, another six first-team players departed at the end of the season: Derlis González to Dynamo Kyiv, Fabian Schär to 1899 Hoffenheim, Fabian Frei to Mainz 05, Serey Die to VfB Stuttgart, and Giovanni Sio to Rennes, while Arlind Ajeti's contract expired.
New arrivals included Michael Lang from Grasshopper, Daniel Høegh from Odense, Zdravko Kuzmanović from Internazionale, and Manuel Akanji from FC Winterthur. Marc Janko signed on a free transfer from Sydney FC, and Mirko Salvi returned from loan to FC Biel-Bienne.
Matías Delgado was named the new captain, and Marek Suchý was named vice-captain.
Mid-season break and Squad Changes During the winter break, there were several changes in the squad. On 14 January 2014, Ivan Ivanov sustained a knee injury in a friendly match against Eintracht Braunschweig, causing him to miss the rest of the 2013–14 season, which extended into the 2014–15 season. On 15 December 2015, while recovering from injury, he was released from the club by mutual consent. Zdravko Kuzmanović was sent on loan to Udinese. Shkelzen Gashi, the previous season's top scorer, moved to the Colorado Rapids. Albian Ajet was transferred to FC Augsburg. Yoichiro Kakitani was transferred to Cerezo Osaka. One notable transfer was midfielder Mohamed Elneny's departure to English Premier League side Arsenal.
Elneny's departure spurred further changes, signing three midfield players. On 8 December 2015, the club announced Andraž Šporar's arrival from Olimpija Ljubljana. On 2 January 2016, the club announced the signing of Alexander Fransson from IFK Norrköping. Lastly, on 12 January, Renato Steffen from Young Boys joined. All three of these signings were four-and-a-half-year contracts.
The campaign
Domestic League First half of season Basel's 2015–16 Swiss Super League season began with a victory at home against Vaduz on 18 July. Basel started the season well, winning each of their first eight matches; scoring 22 goals, and conceding 7. They suffered their first defeat in Stade de Suisse 3–4 against Young Boys. After their first defeat in the domestic campaign, they won four of their next five games; with a draw against Zürich in Letzigrund, where the final score was 2–2. Basel suffered their first home defeat of the campaign at the beginning of November against GC. By the winter break, Basel led the league table with 43 points, 10 points ahead of the Grasshoppers, and 15 ahead of the Young Boys.
Second half of season Basel started the second half of the season with three straight wins, a 3–0 against Luzern, 4–0 away against GC, and 5–1 at home against Vaduz. In the first 15 games of the second half of the season, they won 11 and drew 4. On matchday 31, 30 April, the home win against Sion gave Basel a 16-point lead in the league table with just five matches left to play. Basel ended the last part of the season with two defeats in their last three games. The domestic season concluded with Basel winning the championship, Young Boys in second, Luzern third, and Zürich suffering relegation.
Conclusion Basel's final point tally for the season was 83, which was 14 points more than young boys in second, and 29 more than Luzern in third. Basel won 26 games, drawing five, and losing five. They managed to score 88 league goals while conceding 38. Marc Janko was the team's top scorer with 16 goals in 20 outings, and he scored a hattrick during their 4–2 home victory against Zürich. Team captain Matías Delgado was the second-top goal scorer with 11 goals and had the most assists on the team with 12. Luca Zuffi made the most appearances, he played all 36 league games.
Swiss Cup Basel's objective for the 2015–16 Swiss Cup was to win the cup. They finished second place in each of the previous three seasons: In 2013 against GC, in 2014 against Zürich, and in 2015 against Sion.
Meyrin (15 August 2015) In the first round, Basel was drawn away against FC Meyrin, who at that time played in the 2. Liga Interregional, the fifth tier of Swiss football. The match was played in Stade des Arberes, with an attendance of 2,100 spectators. Around the 34th minute, Matías Delgado headed a ball to Albian Ajeti, who connected with the ball through a left-footed shot, making it 1–0. Shkëlzen Gashi's pass to Mohamed Elneny opened the midfielder up to make the score 2–0. Just 60 seconds later Elneny on the right passed inside to Ajeti, assisting him in scoring his second goal that evening, and making it 3–0. Another two minutes later, Philipp Degen's low cross came to Delgado who then added to Basel's three-goal lead. The match concluded with Basel winning 4–0 and advancing to the next round.
YF Juventus (20 September 2015) In round 2, Basel was drawn away against YF Juventus. Due to safety reasons, the match was played at St. Jakob-Park with an attendance of 4,606 spectators. It was a special game for Luca Zuffi as he played for Basel; his two brothers (Sandro and Nico) played for YF Juventus. 15 minutes into the match, Matías Delgado pushed a diagonal pass to the right, and Davide Callà connected with a right-footed shot to put Basel a goal up. Half an hour into the match Basel went up 2–0 with a cross from Callà on the right, which was complemented by Delgado's run to the far post to nod the ball home. Following a goal kick at 50 minutes, Nico Zuffi and Kakitani connected to make it 3–0. In the final actions of the match, Walter Samuel committed a foul. Samuel was given a yellow card, and YF Juventus were awarded a penalty by referee Alain Bieri. Mychell Ruan Da Silva Chagas converted the penalty kick, and the final score was 4–1 to Basel, advancing to the third round.
Muttenz (28 October 2015) In the third round, Basel played against local amateur team SV Muttenz, the first time that the two sides played against each other in a competitive match. At that time Muttenz played in the 2. Liga Interregional, the fifth tier of Swiss football. The match was played at the Margelacker, with a stadium record attendance of 5,800. Shkëlzen Gashi, set up Daniel Hoegh's 1–0 after 25 minutes. Gashi himself went on to score a hat-trick in the match, his goals came at the 35th, 62nd, and 72nd-minute mark. Immediately after the break, Muttenz responded by converting a penalty, awarded through Manuel Akanji's foul on Thomas Eggenberger. In the 75th minute, Albian Ajeti converted a penalty kick to make the final score 5–1, advancing to the quarterfinal.
FC Sion (13 December 2015) In the quarterfinal, Basel played away against FC Sion, the same team they lost to in the previous season's final. The match was played in the Stade Tourbillon with an attendance of 9,200 spectators. The match allowed Basel the opportunity to redeem their defeat in the previous season's final. Sion went 1–0 up in the 37th minute, from a goal by Pa Modou, and in the 66th minute, Ebenezer Assifuah added a second. In the 79th minute, Elneny converted a free kick to make it 2–1. In the 89th minute referee Stephan Klossner awarded Basel a penalty after a duel between Léo Lacroix and Breel Embolo, Marc Janko scored the penalty kick. In extra time, the score remained tied, leading to a penalty shootout. Reto Ziegler missed for Sion, but Birkir Bjarnason and Walter Samuel both missed for Basel. Sion advanced to the semi-final 4–3 on penalties.
Conclusion Sion were beaten 3–0 by FC Zürich in the semi-final. FC Zürich faced Lugano in the final, beating them 1–0, FC Zürich were crowned champions.
From the FCB's point of view, the domestic cup campaign was a disappointment due to not meeting the set goal. Additionally, It was their fifth defeat of the season, and their second season of getting knocked out by FC Sion in the domestic cup.
Champions League Basel entered the season's Champions League in the third qualifying round. The draw for the third qualifying round was held on 17 July 2015, and Basel was drawn against the Polish site Lech Poznań.
Lech Poznań (29 July 2015) The first leg was played in Poznan at the INEA Stadion with an attendance of 25,478 spectators. The home team had the first two proper chances of the game. Nevertheless, Basel took the lead in the 24th minute, and Michael Lang headed the ball home from a corner by Luca Zuffi. Just two minutes later, Poznań equalized with a header from Denis Thomalla. At the 66th-minute mark, Lech defender Tomasz Kędziora saw a red card as he brought down Bjarnason in the box. Basel was awarded a penalty; nevertheless, keeper Jasmin Burić saved Shkëlzen Gashi's penalty. Right around the 77th-minute mark, Marc Janko hammered a loose ball home to give Basel the lead. In the 2nd minute of injury time, Davide Callà scored a goal. The final score concluded with a 3–1 win for Basel in Poznan.
The second leg was played in Basel at St. Jakob-Park, on 5 August, with an attendance of 18,196. The 3–1 cushion from the first leg meant coach Urs Fischer's team could afford breathing space in the second leg. Most of the match was uneventful due to Basel's pragmatic approach to the match, and Poznan's inability to break them down. Nevertheless, Birkir Bjarnason's goal in the final minutes of the match gave Basel a 1–0 lead and sealed the victory. To conclude, Basel advanced to the next round with an aggregate score of 4–1 over two legs.
Maccabi Tel Aviv (19 August 2015)