1968–69 FC Basel season

FC Basel

1968–69 season
Chairman	Harry Thommen
Manager	Helmut Benthaus
Ground	St. Jakob Stadium, Basel
Nationalliga A	Champions
Swiss Cup	Quarter-finals
Fairs Cup	R1
Top goalscorer	Helmut Hauser (10)
← 1967–68 1969–70 →

The 1968–69 season was Fussball Club Basel 1893's 75th season in their existence. It was their 23rd consecutive season in the top flight of Swiss football after their promotion the season 1945–46. They played their home games in the St. Jakob Stadium.

Overview

During this season Helmut Benthaus was the club player-manager, for the fourth consecutive season. There were 14 teams contesting in the 1968–69 Nationalliga A and Basel finished the championship just one point clear of Lausanne Sports in second position and six points ahead of FC Zürich who finished third. Basel won 13 of the 26 games, drawing ten, losing three times, they scored 48 goals conceding 28. Helmut Hauser was the teams top goal scorer with 16 league goals. Karl Odermatt, Jürgen Sundermann and Walter Balmer each scored 5 league goals.

In the Swiss Cup Basel started in the round of 32 with a 2–1 away win against Thun and in the round of 16, with a home match, they beat Luzern 3–1. In the Quarter-final Basel played an away game against Servette but lost this 1–0.

In the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup Basel were drawn against Bologna the first leg away from home on 18 September the return leg in Basel on 2 October. Bologna won both games.

Players

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

No. Position Player GK Marcel Kunz (games: 18) GK Jean-Paul Laufenburger (games: 10) GK Claude Iff (games: 1) DF Josef Kiefer (games: 23) DF Bruno Michaud (games/goals: 25/2) DF Walter Mundschin (games: 5) DF Roland Paolucci (games/goals: 22/1) DF Manfred Shädler (games: 1) MF Helmut Benthaus (games/goals: 12/1) MF Otto Demarmels (games/goals: 8/2)

No. Position Player MF Karl Odermatt (games/goals: 24/5) MF Bruno Rahmen (games/goals: 7/1) MF Peter Ramseier (games: 26) MF Anton Schnyder (games: 1) MF Urs Siegenthaler (games: 9) MF Jürgen Sundermann (games/goals: 26/5) FW Walter Balmer (games/goals: 11/5) FW Helmut Hauser (games/goals: 19/10) FW Janos Konrad (games/goals: 6/2) FW Dieter Rüefli (games/goals: 12/3) FW Peter Wenger (games/goals: 20/4)

Results

Nationalliga

League standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts	Remarks
1	FC Basel	26	13	10	3	48	28	36	Champions
2	Lausanne Sports	26	15	5	6	70	43	35
3	FC Zürich	26	12	6	8	61	37	30
4	BSC Young Boys	26	12	6	8	49	36	30
5	FC Lugano	26	11	7	8	37	26	29
6	AC Bellinzona	26	10	8	8	38	41	28
7	FC Biel-Bienne	26	9	8	9	52	59	26
8	Servette FC Genève	26	9	7	10	32	39	25
9	Grasshopper Club Zürich	26	7	9	10	43	47	23
10	FC St. Gallen	26	6	11	9	29	37	23
11	FC Winterthur	26	5	12	9	28	43	22
12	FC La Chaux-de-Fonds	26	5	11	10	51	53	21
13	FC Sion	26	7	6	13	39	52	20	Relegated
14	FC Lucerne	26	6	4	16	35	71	16	Relegated

Swiss Cup

Legend

      Win       Draw       Loss

Thun v Basel

2 November 1968 Round of 32	Thun	1 – 2	Basel	Thun
				Stadium: Stadion Lachen

Basel v Zürich

15 December 1968 Round of 16	Basel	3 – 2	Zürich	Basel
				Stadium: St. Jakob Stadium

Servette v Basel

22 February 1969 Quarter-final	Servette	1 – 0	Basel	Geneva

1968–69 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup

First round

Bologna v FC Basel

18 September 1968 First leg	Bologna	4 – 1	FC Basel	Bologna
	Turra  12' Cresci  50' Pace  53' Savoldi  83'		Konrad  48'

FC Basel v Bologna

2 October 1968 Second leg	FC Basel	1 – 2	Bologna	St. Jakob Stadium Basel
	Hauser  42'		Pace  46' Savoldi  63'

Bologna won 6–2 on aggregate.

See also

• History of FC Basel
• List of FC Basel players
• List of FC Basel seasons

Sources and References

• Rotblau: Jahrbuch Saison 2015/2016. Publisher: FC Basel Marketing AG. ISBN 978-3-7245-2050-4
• Switzerland 1968–69 at RSSSF