Operation Rebuild

A former Basel player is attempting to restore the club to the top of Swiss football

- Lukas Vrablik

For many years, FC Basel dominated Swiss football, looking down on their rivals from the top of the mountainous country’s summit. Since 2003, they have won the Swiss Super League 11 times, including eight in a row between 2010 and 2017. With more wins came more prize money, particularly from competing in the Champions League, and as their finances grew ever greater so did their dominance.

Between 2009 and 2018, Basel made it into the group stage of the Champions League seven times, advancing to the last 16 on three occasions, alongside a run to the Europa League semi-finals in 2013 and the quarter-finals in 2014 and 2020. Regular European football – and facing the continent’s biggest teams – brought more money, more attention and made the club attractive to its transfer targets. In Switzerland, nobody could stand up to Basel for quite some time.

Yet the powerhouse club has come to a crossroads. The dominance is over, and attempts to replicate the success of the golden era using the same methods have, so far, been unsuccessful.

The changing of the guard came in 2017-18, when Young Boys won the first of four consecutive titles. Last season it was FC Zurich’s turn, but Basel remained competitive, finishing second in four of the last five seasons. But this season the wheels have fallen off domestically at a club that is used to winning, exacerbated somewhat by their stunning run to the Europa Conference League semi-finals.