FC Basel
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| Full name | Footballclub Basel 1893 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | FCB, Bebbi, RotBlau | ||
| Founded | 15 November1893 | ||
| Ground | St. Jakob-Park, Basel | ||
| Capacity | 42,500 | ||
| Chairman |  Mrs Gisela Oeri | ||
| Manager | Christian Gross | ||
| League | Swiss Super League | ||
| 2007-08 | Swiss Super League, 1st | ||
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FC Basel (short for Footballclub Basel) is a Swiss football club based in Basel.
Basel is one of the most successful clubs in Swiss football, having won the Swiss Super League 12 times, the third most for any Swiss club. In the 2005-06 season Basel lost out on the title by one goal and in the 2006-2007 season the club narrowly missed out on being crowned champions for a twelfth time, falling just one point short of eventual champions FC Zürich. This was despite the club defeating Zürich in all three of their meetings in that league campaign. Basel won the Championship in the 2007/08 season.
They have competed in European competition every season since 1999/2000. In the 2001/02 season the club reached the UEFA Intertoto Cup final, losing to Aston Villa F.C., in the 2002/03 season they qualified for the Second Group Stage of the UEFA Champions League and in the 2005/06 season they reached the Quarter-Finals of the UEFA Cup.
History
The Early Years
FC Basel was started by an advertisement on the 12 November 1893 that appeared in the Basler national newspaper requesting that a football team be formed and that anyone that wished to join should meet up the next Wednesday at 8:15. So, on the 15th of November 1893, FC Basel was born in the city of Basel, Switzerland. FC Basel did not have much of an early footballing success; it took Basel 40 years to win their first trophy, winning the Swiss Cup in 1933. They also won the cup in 1947 and then the league in 1953.
Rise and Fall
FCB (which is pronounced "Eff Tsay Bay" in Swiss German) were most successful in the 1960s and 1970s, winning the Swiss Championship seven times (1967, 1969, 1970, 1972, 1973, 1977, 1980) and the National Cup three times (1963, 1967, 1975). They also won the League Cup in 1973 and the Coppa delle Alpi consecutively in 1969 and 1970. In those days, they were a dominant force in Switzerland and they were major competitors in Europe also. In the late 1980s they were relegated to the Nationalliga B (the second highest League in Switzerland). They had fallen away and were only a shadow of the Basel team from the 60s and 70s. In 1994, they were promoted back into the Nationalliga A (the highest League) and have since proved that they belong there by winning numerous league titles and cups, not to mention their successful campaigns in the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Cup.
Return of the Glory Days
| Basel's famous 2002/03 team |
When St. Jakob-Park was opened in 2001, success returned. In 2002 FCB won the Double (Swiss Championship and Swiss Cup) and reached the final of the UEFA Intertoto Cup. In the following season they were the second Swiss team to ever play in the Champions League. Their first game was in the Second Qualifying Round against MŠK Žilina of Slovakia. They won 4-1 on aggregate. In the next round they faced Scottish giants Celtic F.C.. In the first leg at Celtic Park the home side won 3-1, but in the second leg at St. Jakob-Park, FCB came away with a famous 2-0 victory. This meant Basel progressed on the away goals rule after a 3-3 aggregate draw. In the First Group Stage, FCB were drawn into Group B with Valencia CF, Liverpool F.C. and FC Spartak Moscow. On Matchday One, Basel defeated Spartak 2-0 at home. Then on Matchday Two, FCB travelled to Anfield where they managed to draw 1-1 against Liverpool. After a great start to the group stage, FCB were brought back down to earth when they were defeated 6-2 by Valencia at the Estadio Mestalla. They bounced back, however, and held Valencia to a 2-2 draw in the next fixture. Basel were now sitting in second place in the group but they would still need to win at least one of their last two games and hope that Liverpool would not pick up more than two points to secure that place. In Matchday Five, Liverpool lost 1-0 to Valencia and FCB won 2-0 against Spartak at the Luzhniki Stadium. Basel's place in the last 16 was all but secured, although they still had to make sure they did not lose to Liverpool in the last game of the first group stage. On the last Matchday Basel were 3-0 at half-time through goals from Julio Hernán Rossi, Christian Eduardo Giménez and Thimothée Atouba. The second half was a different story, though, and Liverpool fought back to draw 3-3. This was still enough for FCB to qualify for the Second Group Stage. In the last 16, Basel faced Manchester United F.C., Juventus F.C. and Deportivo de La Coruña. They had a poor start, losing back to back games against Manchester United at home and Juventus away. FCB then faced Deportivo in a double-header, with the home side winning 1-0 in both games. Arguably two of FCB's greatest games came next as they held Manchester United to a 1-1 draw at Old Trafford and claimed a 2-1 victory over Juventus at St. Jakob-Park. Despite picking up the same number of points as second placed Juventus, Basel crashed out on goal difference. Basel finished second in the Swiss Super League that season and won the Swiss Cup after beating Neuchâtel Xamax 6-0 in the final.
After being the surprise package in Europe in the 2002/03 season, Basel could not bring this form into the UEFA Cup in 2003/04 as the were eliminated by Newcastle United F.C. in the second round after defeating Malatyaspor in the previous round.
The club did go on to achieve some success in the Europe in 2004/05, though, as they were dropped into the UEFA Cup after being eliminated by F.C. Internazionale Milano in the Qualification Stage of the UEFA Champions League. After they defeated Russian side FC Terek Grozny in the First Round they faced considerabley tougher opponents Feyenoord Rotterdam, FC Schalke 04, Ferencvárosi TC and Heart of Midlithuania in the Group Stage. They drew 1-1 away to Schalke, were defeated 2-1 at home by Hearts, beat Ferencváros 2-1 at Stadion Albert Flórián and won 1-0 against Feyenoord at home. They finished third in the group on seven points and qualified for the Round of 32 where they were defeated 2-0 on aggregate by Lille OSC. Basel also won the Domestic Title during the 2004/05 campaign.
2005/06 Season
Basel's biggest signings of the 2005/06 season were defenders Daniel Majstorović and Kōji Nakata who were brought in to replace Patrick Müller, who was set to sign for Olympique Lyonnais, and the retiring Murat Yakın. Forward Eduardo was signed after a successful loan spell but Argentinian goalscorers Christian Giménez and Julio Hernán Rossi left the club.
As Swiss champions, Basel entered the UEFA Champions League third qualifying round against German Bundesliga club SV Werder Bremen. Basel won the first leg 2-1 at St. Jakob Park but lost 3-0 at the Weserstadion in the second leg, the aggregate 4-2 in Werder's favour. Basel were then dropped into the UEFA Cup where they met NK Široki Brijeg of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the First Round. Basel sealed a 6-0 aggregate win and were drawn into Group E alongside RC Strasbourg, A.S. Roma, Red Star Belgrade and Tromsø I.L.. FCB lost the first group match 2-0 against Strasbourg at home but won 2-1 away to Red Star, giving themselves an oppurtunity to progress to the next round if they won their next game against Tromsø. They did in a seven-goal thriller, winning 4-3 and securing 3rd place. The last match of the group was against Italian giants Roma at the Stadio Olimpico where the Serie A club won 3-1. In the Round of 32 FCB came up against AS Monaco who they beat 2-1 on aggregate after a 1-1 stalemate in Monaco and a 1-0 victory for Basel in Switzerland. As Basel progressed to the last 16 they played against Strasbourg once again. FCB won the first leg 2-0 and drew 2-2 in the second leg, winning 4-2 overall. In the Quarter-Finals the club came up against Middlesbrough F.C.. FCB won 2-0 at home and looked certain to progress as they travelled to the Riverside Stadium. This was not the case, however, as the Englishmen fought back to win the match 4-1 and the tie 4-3.
On May 13th 2006, the FCB lost a league game in the St. Jakob-Park for the first time since December 1st, 2002, when they fell 1:2 against FC Zürich, resulting in riots and property damage by hooligans of both the FCB and their rival after the match (see 2006 Basel Hooligan Incident for more details). On February 26 2006 FC Basel broke their own club record of 52 unbeaten league games in the St. Jakob Park. The new record is 59, but the streak ended there on the final day of the season with a last-minute goal by Iulian Filipescu of FC Zürich, knocking Basel out of contention and giving Zürich their first national championship since 1980/81. A sixtieth straight home league match undefeated would have made Basel champions once again, but the final score was 1:2 in favour of Zürich.
2006/07 Season
Various signings involving FCB took place during the 2006/07 Swiss Super League season. The most notable of these were the replacement of local hero Pascal Zuberbühler, who departed for West Bromwich Albion, with Argentine internationalist Franco Costanzo and the signing of Delron Buckley on loan from Borussia Dortmund. Zdravko Kuzmanović left the club during the Winter break for ACF Fiorentina.
FC Basel's European campaign started in the first qualifying stage of the UEFA Cup when they beat Kazakhi side FC Tobol 3-1 on aggregate. In the second round they played against Liechtensteiner team FC Vaduz, narrowly progressing on the away goals rule after a 2-2 aggregate draw. They were then put up against Macedonians FK Rabotnički. Basel won 6-2 at St. Jakob-Park and 1-0 at the Skopje City Stadium to qualify for the group stages where they faced tough opposition, Blackburn Rovers of England, AS Nancy of France, Feyenoord of The Netherlands and Wisła Kraków of Poland. Basel's first game came against Feyenoord at home. They came away with a respectable 1-1 draw. Their next group match was at Ewood Park against Blackburn Rovers. Basel played reasonably well but shaky defending became their downfall. AS Nancy, at home, were their next opponents and the match ended in a 2-2 draw. Basel's last group game was against Wisła Kraków at the Wisła Stadium. FCB needed a win to qualify but their poor European campaign came to an end after losing 3-1 despite taking an early lead through Mladen Petrić.
Basel won the Swiss Cup after beating FC Luzern 1-0. The winning goal came from the penalty spot through Daniel Majstorović in the 93rd minute.
FCB finished in second place in the Swiss Super League, just one point behind winners FC Zürich. This was despite the club defeating Zürich in all three of their meetings in that league campaign.
2007/2008 Season
At the beginning of the 2007/08 season FC Basel strengthened their team by signing Swiss internationalists Marco Streller from VfB Stuttgart, Benjamin Huggel from Eintracht Frankfurt and David Degen on loan from Borussia Mönchengladbach. Fans' favourite Mladen Petrić joined Borussia Dortmund in a big-money deal and influential defender Boris Smiljanić returned to his former club Grasshopper-Club Zürich. Highly rated Switzerland Under-21 defender Beg Ferati arrived at St. Jakob-Park in January from feeder club FC Concordia Basel on a three-and-a-half year contract. He was joined by veteren striker Vratislav Lokvenc from Red Bull Salzburg and exciting midfielder Marko Perović from Red Star Belgrade who also arrived during the Winter break.
Basel were drawn against Bosnian minnows FK Sarajevo in the first qualifying round of the UEFA Cup, a tie that Basel won 8-1 on aggregate. In the next round Basel faced a considerably tougher opponent in the form of SV Mattersburg of Austria. Nonetheless, Basel finished the tie off with a 4-0 away win after a 2-1 victory at St. Jakob-Park. Basel were then drawn into a 'death group' of Group D alongside SK Brann, NK Dinamo Zagreb, Hamburger SV and Stade Rennais FC, all of which were ranked within the top 3 of their own leagues at the start of the stage. Basel won their first UEFA Cup group game against Rennes at home 1-0 thanks to a Marco Streller header. Their next game was away to Dinamo Zagreb in which Basel earned a valuable away point thanks to on form goalkeeper Franco Costanzo who kept the game at 0-0 for 90 minutes. They then faced Brann at St. Jakob-Park where they won 1-0 through a Carlitos free-kick and were highly praised for playing attractive and flowing football. Basel then went to Germany to face Hamburg at the HSH Nordbank Arena where they were fortunate to escape with a 1-1 draw. The goals came courtesy of captain Ivan Ergić and Hamburg's Ivica Olić. Basel then faced Sporting Clube de Portugal in the last 32 after qualifying 2nd in the group alongside 1st placed Hamburg and 3rd placed Brann. Sporting Lisbon finished third in their group in the UEFA Champions League, which is why they were dropped into the UEFA Cup. The first leg took place on the 13th of February in Lisbon where the first choice goalkeeper, Franco Costanzo, was injured and Basel lost 2-0. The second leg did not fair any better for Basel. Costanzo remained injured and Basel lost 3-0 on the 21st of February in Basel, resulting in the knock out of the UEFA Cup.
FC Basel won the Swiss Cup for the second consecutive season after beating second-tier side AC Bellinzona 4-1 at St. Jakob-Park on Sunday 6 April 2008. Eren Derdiyok gave Basel the lead in the first half before Bellinzona equalised through Christian Pouga in the second. Daniel Majstorović restored the lead for Basel with a header and Swiss internationalists Marco Streller and Benjamin Huggel scored one goal each to make the final scoreline 4-1 in Basel's favour.
Basel won the Swiss Super League for the first time since 2005 on the 10th May 2008 at St. Jakob-Park after a 2-0 win over title threats BSC Young Boys. It was the last game of the season and Basel only needed a point from the match to win the Championship but if Young Boys won then they would be champions, the exact same situation as the end of the 2005/06 season, only it was between Basel and FC Zürich then. The painful memories of losing the league on the last day of the season in 2006 seemed to spur FCB on as they took an early lead through Valentin Stocker before Marco Streller wrapped up the victory with the second.
This rounded off a highly successful season for Basel as they conquered on the domestic front, winning both the Swiss Super League and Swiss Cup, and reaching the last 32 of the UEFA Cup. Next season they will have the opportunity to qualify for the UEFA Champions League.
Supporters and Rivalries
Fans
FC Basel is well known for having a big and loyal local following. Usually when polls are made about the most passionate club football fans, FC Basel's fans usually make the top 20 if not top 10 in the world, resulting in what is by far the highest average attendance in Switzerland with around 23,500 fans [1] attending every home game and with the new extension being built that number is expected to rise to around 40,000. The fans have also made themselves a name in numerous international matches in recent years.
Arguably, its most famous internationally recognisable fan is tennis star Roger Federer. The current World No. 1 is a Basel native and has supported the club since his youth. In one interview Federer said if he weren't as good of a tennis player as he is today, he would have without a doubt tried to play football. He went on to say that if he was successful in the beautiful game, he would have loved to play for FC Basel.
Rivalry
The city of Basel and the city of Zürich have a long-standing, deep-seated traditional rivalry. Therefore, FC Basel's most traditional and fiercest rival (and the biggest recent title threat) is FC Zürich. In the past two seasons, the rivalry between the two clubs has been fueled by FC Zürich's league championships, which were won very narrowly over Basel. They continue to be the two leading championship favourites for the 2007/2008 season. Hooligans from both sides often fight when their teams meet in the league. The worst incident of this in recent years was in May 2006. FC Basel had won the league in the 2003/04 and 2004/05 seasons and were set to make it three in a row if they won or drew against Zürich at home on the last day of the 2005/06 season but if Zürich won, they would get the title. Zürich took the lead after a late goal from Iulian Filipescu. FC Zürich won the match and the league. After the final whistle, players and fans from both teams started fighting on the pitch and in the stands. This incident has fueled hatred and bitterness between fans from FC Zürich and FC Basel. Problems like this are not unusual for teams with such a big following. Ajax/Feyenoord, Celtic/Rangers, Roma/Lazio, Boca/River, and Zenit/Spartak/CSKA all share the same kinds of problems with their supporters, just to name a few.
A secondary rivalry exists between FC Basel and Grasshopper Club, due to Grasshopper's basis in Zürich and their great historical success. Younger FCB supporters tend to consider Grasshopper Club a very fierce rival (on par with FC Zürich), whereas most older supporters still consider the rivalry with FC Zürich to be significantly more important. In the past couple of years, with FC Zürich's rise to power and their very close competition with FC Basel, the FCB-FCZ rivalry has clearly taken centre-stage again.
Player Drain To The German Bundesliga
One fact for FC Basel is that a lot of promising players end up leaving for the German Bundesliga. Basel has quality players good enough to compete in the Bundesliga but they do not have the same quality of opposition. Many Basel players have been snapped up by German clubs because they are usually also offered larger pay cheques than from FC Basel. Some examples of FC Basel players who have signed for Bundesliga teams in recent years are:
Youth System
FC Basel is known throughout Switzerland for having the best youth system in the Super League. It is often compared to the youth systems of Ajax, Celtic, Manchester United and Real Madrid. It has produced Swiss internationalists such as Philipp Degen, Alexander Frei and Marco Streller. Also, in more recently times, young talents like the Ecuadorian international youngster Felipe Caicedo, Croatian Ivan Rakitić, Serbian Zdravko Kuzmanović and the Swiss Yann Sommer along with Eren Derdiyok have risen through the ranks there. Some successful players who have came throgh the Basel youth system are:
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Greats |
Current Players |
Promising Youngsters |
Stadium
FC Basel play their home games at the 42,500 capacity St. Jakob-Park which translates into English as St. Jacob's Park. UEFA have awarded the stadium a 4-star rating, the highest rating that could be given to a stadium of that capacity. St. Jakob-Park was opened in 2001, holding an attendance of 38,000 originally but the stadium was upgraded to 42,500 due to Switzerland being co-hosts of Euro 2008. The stadium is nicknamed "Joggeli" by the fans and has 2 restaurants called "Restaurant UNO" and "Hattrick's Sports Bar" and a shopping centre which opened on 1 November 2001. It also has parking space for 680 cars and has its own train station. St. Jakob-Park will host 6 games during EURO 2008, including the opening game and a semi-final. The most interesting feature of the stadium is the translucent outer layer, which can be illuminated in different colours for impressive effects much like Bayern Munich's Allianz Arena.
Affiliated Clubs
FC Concordia Basel - FC Basel have a loose affiliation with Concordia Basel. FC Basel are almost like a parent-club to Concordia who play in the league below Basel. They have FC Basel player Simone Grippo and Patrik Baumann on loan during the 2007-08 season. Ex-Concordia goalkeeper Louis Crayton is now at Basel.
FC Vaduz - FC Basel are also like a parent-club to Vaduz who are the most successful team in Liechtenstein. Basel goalkeeper Yann Sommer is currently on loan at Vaduz. Ex-Basel players Tim Grossklaus and Damir Džombić are currently playing for Vaduz. Also, Ex-Basel youth coach Heinz Hermann is now a manager at Vaduz.
SV Werder Bremen - Although FC Basel and Werder Bremen have no official connection there is a close friendship between their supporters. The last time these clubs met in a tournament was a UEFA Champions League third round qualifier in September 2005 which Werder won 4-2 on aggregate. However, the most recent encounter between the two clubs was a friendly match during the 2007 pre-season where FC Basel won 2-0 at Sportpark Eschen-Mauren in Liechtenstein.
Colours and Logo
FC Basel's traditional kit is red and blue shirts, blue shorts with gold trim and blue socks with red trim. From this comes the nickname "RotBlau" which is Swiss German for Red and Blue. Their away kit is all silver with blue trim. FC Basel's kits are manufactured by Nike and sponsored by Novartis, a multinational pharmaceutical company which is based in the city of Basel.
The famous "blaugrana" colours of FC Barcelona are said to have originated from the "rotblau" colours of FC Basel. FC Barcelona was founded by former FC Basel captain Joan Gamper.
FC Basel's current logo is a shield, the left half red and the right half blue. The shield is outlined with gold and in the centre in gold letters it says FCB which stands for "Fussballclub Basel" or "Football Club Basel". The logo is worn in the centre of the shirt opposed to on the traditional left-hand side. Like the colours of FC Basel, the logo has a striking resemblance to that of FC Barcelona in Spain. There are theories that suggest that the founder of FC Barcelona, being at one time the captain of FC Basel, reincorporated the logo of FC Basel on to that of FC Barcelona. The resemblances seem clear, both logos seem to incorporate the shield design, as do most other clubs. But most notably is the FCB acronyms on both logos and the Red-Blue colours, outlined in gold. Also the football that lies on the left side of the FC Basel logo seems to be the exact shape, type and colour as that of the FC Barcelona Logo in the bottom centre. Because of this, many people tend to say that FC Basel was the inspiration in the process of founding FC Barcelona in Spain.
Sponsorship
Companies that FC Basel currently has sponsorship deals with include:
- Novartis - Main Sponsor
- Nike - Kit Manufacturer
- Volkswagen - Official Sponsor
- Pirelli - Official Sponsor
- UBS - Official Sponsor
- Herren Globus - Official Sponsor
- Alcatel Lucent - Official Sponsor
- Basler Versicherungen - Official Sponsor
- Europa Park - Official Sponsor
Records and Famous Matches
Records
- Highest stage reached in Champions League: Quarter-Finals (1973/74)
- Highest stage reached in UEFA Cup: Quarter-Finals (2005/06)
- Biggest European home win: FC Basel 7-0 S.S. Folgore (24.08.2000, UEFA Cup qualifying round second leg)
- Biggest European away win: Fram Reykjavík 0-5 FC Basel ( 18.09.1973, European Champion Clubs' Cup first round first leg)
- Biggest European home defeat: FC Basel 1-5 Celtic FC (17.09.1963, European Cup Winners' Cup preliminary round)
- Biggest European away defeat: Celtic FC 5-0 FC Basel (09.10.1963, European Cup Winners' Cup preliminary round)
- Most league appearances: Massimo Ceccaroni (398)
- Most league goals: Christian Giménez (99)
- Record number of home games unbeaten: 59
- Highest home game attendence: 38,015
Great matches in Europe
Honours
- Swiss Masters
- Winners (12): 1953, 1967, 1969, 1970, 1972, 1973, 1977, 1980, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2008
- Swiss Cup
- Winners (9): 1933, 1947, 1963, 1967, 1975, 2002, 2003, 2007, 2008
- Swiss League Cup
- Winners (1): 1973
- Coppa delle Alpi
- Winners (3): 1969, 1970, 1981
- UEFA Champions League
- 2nd Group Stage: 2002
Current Squad
First Team
As of 29 May 2008, accounting for official transfers[2]: Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Multiple Nationality
- 1
Franco Costanzo - 9
Marko Perović - 11
Scott Chipperfield - 18
Louis Crayton - 22 Ivan Ergić
- 24
Cabral - 28 Beg Ferati
- 31
Eren Derdiyok - Samet Gündüz
Players out on loan
| 15 | MF |  LIE
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Franz Burgmeier (on loan to FC Thun) |
| 17 | DF | SUI
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Patrik Baumann (on loan to FC Concordia Basel) |
| 25 | GK | SUI
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Yann Sommer (on loan to FC Vaduz) |
| 29 | MF |  ITA
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Simone Grippo (on loan to FC Concordia Basel) |
Second Team
The following players are listed by Basel's website as reserve players. Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Summer 2008 transfers
In:
- Samet Gündüz from Basel U-21
- Pascal Schürpf from Basel U-21
Out:
- Vratislav Lokvenc loan return to Red Bull Salzburg
- Daniel Majstorovic to AEK Athens
- Koji Nakata to Kashima Antlers
- Oliver Stöckli released
Famous players
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Switzerland
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Argentina Australia Brazil Cameroon Croatia Denmark Ecuador Germany Ghana Japan
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Liberia Liechtenstein Norway Peru Portugal Russia Scotland Senegal Serbia South Africa Sweden Singapore
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Managers
NOTE: Early history is largely unknown.
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References
<www.football.ch>