Alexander Frei (soccer player)

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Alex Frei
Alex Frei.jpg
Alex Frei, 2007
Personnel
birthday July 15, 1979
place of birth Basel ,  Switzerland
Size 180 cm
position striker
Juniors
Years station
1987-1988 FC Begnins
1988-1995 FC Aesch BL
1995-1997 FC Basel
Men's
Years station Games (goals) 1
1997-1998 FC Basel 11 0(1)
1998-1999 FC Thun 32 0(6)
1999-2000 FC Luzern 53 (17)
2001-2002 Servette Geneva 64 (36)
2003-2006 Rennes stadium 100 (47)
2003-2006 Rennes Stadium B 5 0(7)
2006-2009 Borussia Dortmund 74 (34)
2008-2009 Borussia Dortmund II 1 0(2)
2009-2013 FC Basel 103 (73)
National team
Years selection Games (goals)
1995-1996 Switzerland U18 5 0(1)
1996-1997 Switzerland U19 4 0(3)
1999-2002 Switzerland U21 19 0(9)
2001-2011 Switzerland 84 (42)
Stations as a trainer
Years station
2013-2014 FC Luzern (Sports Director)
2015 AS Timau Basel
2016-2017 FC Basel U-15
2017-2020 FC Basel U-18
2018 FC Basel (interim coach)
2020– FC Basel U-21
1 Only league games are given.

Alexander "Alex" Frei (born July 15, 1979 in Basel ) is a former Swiss football player and record goal scorer for the Swiss national team and today's football coach .

society

First clubs

Alex Frei began his career at FC Basel (1995 in the youth team and 1997 in the A-team), where he was unable to assert himself. In 1998 he moved to FC Thun in the second division, but a year later he followed his coach André Egli to FC Luzern . At the side of Kubilay Türkyılmaz he scored his first NLA goals. From 2001 to 2002 Frei played successfully for Servette Geneva .

Rennes stadium

During the winter break of the 2002/03 season, he signed with the French club Stade Rennes . He had rejected an offer from VfB Stuttgart . Frei was considered the dream player of Vahid Halilhodzic , who coached the team at the time. Should Stade Rennes be a springboard for a club change to a prominent club, his stay in Rennes was initially a disappointment. Sometimes he sat on the bench or was not in the squad at all. He also had to play repeatedly in the reserve team. While two players left Ligue 1 with Hakan Yakin and Ricardo Cabanas , Frei decided to stay at Stade Rennes. For the 2003/04 season a coach change took place in the team around Petr Čech and Kim Källström . László Bölöni also rarely used Frei at the beginning. In the course of the season, however, he returned to the regular formation. Frei returned the favor with 20 goals this season , which made him the second most successful goal scorer in the top French league. Apart from André Abegglen , Stéphane Chapuisat and himself, no other Swiss person abroad has been so accurate . A year later, in the 2004/05 season, he became Ligue 1's top scorer .

Borussia Dortmund

Alex Frei moved for the 2006/07 season for a transfer fee of around 4.1 million euros to the Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund , with whom he signed a four-year contract. In his first season, Frei had a large share in BVB's remaining class with 16 goals.

Due to a hip operation in May 2007 and two torn muscle fibers in late summer 2007, he was unable to play for BVB or the Swiss national team again until the beginning of the following year. Frei played his first competitive game after his operation at the start of the second half of the season against MSV Duisburg , in the international match against Germany on March 26, 2008, he returned to the Swiss team. Frei scored his first goal after a long break from injury on April 6, 2008 in the BVB game against Bayer 04 Leverkusen . There he managed to equalize to 1: 1 in the 87th minute of the game. With Borussia Dortmund Frei was in the DFB Cup final in Berlin on April 19, 2008 , which the team lost 2-1 after extra time against FC Bayern Munich .

Due to his injury during the 2008 European Championship , Frei missed the start of the season for Borussia in the 2008/09 Bundesliga season . After he had recovered from his injury, he was on September 13, 2008 in the Revierderby against FC Schalke 04 for the first time back in the BVB squad; on this debut he scored two goals. In total, he had twelve goals in 29 games by the end of the season.

FC Basel

In July 2009 Frei moved back to FC Basel , which he had left as a teenager in 1998, after playing more than 70 Bundesliga games . Borussia Dortmund received a transfer fee of around 4.25 million euros for this transfer. In his first competitive game, he scored the 2-1 winner in the 90th minute in the game against FC Sion . In the same season Frei won his first championship title and with the cup victory also the first double . In the following 2010/11 season he was again Swiss champion with FC Basel, where he himself contributed 27 goals and was the top scorer .

On September 21, 2011 Frei managed a hat trick in the 6-0 home win against FC Lausanne-Sport in St. Jakob-Park . The first of his three hits was synonymous with his 100th hit in the top Swiss league .

At the end of the 2012/13 season , Frei won the Swiss championship with FC Basel for the fourth time in a row and the team reached the final of the Swiss Cup , which they lost in a penalty shootout . In the 2012/13 UEFA Europa League, he advanced to the semi-finals with FC Basel against reigning UEFA Champions League winners FC Chelsea . Basel lost both the home and the away game and were eliminated with an overall result of 2: 5. In a long season of 76 games, Frei made 62 appearances and scored 16 goals.

Frei ended his career in mid-April 2013. On April 11, 2013 Frei made the last European Cup game of his career when he came on in the quarter-final second leg in the Europa League against Tottenham Hotspur in the 111th minute for Mohamed Salah . Basel won 4-1 on penalties and made it to the semi-finals.

National team

before Euro '08

Frei made his debut on March 24, 2001 against Serbia and Montenegro (1-1) in the Swiss national team . With two goals in the last friendly before Euro 2008 against Liechtenstein , he overtook the previous national record shooter Kubilay Türkyılmaz (34 goals). In 2005 and 2007 he was voted Player of the Year . After Frei had repeatedly been whistled at international matches by part of his own audience, he announced on November 4, 2010 that he would retire from the national team at the end of the 2010/11 season. After a 14-month dry spell, he scored both goals for Switzerland in a friendly against Ukraine on November 17, 2010 . On April 5, 2011 Frei resigned from the national team together with his strike partner Marco Streller .

Tournaments

Frei took part in four major international tournaments for Switzerland: At the 2004 European Championship , he was eliminated with the Swiss national team after the preliminary round without a win. In addition, he spat at his opponent Steven Gerrard in the game against England and was then suspended for the rest of the tournament.

At the 2006 World Cup , the team was more successful; Thanks to two goals from Frei, Switzerland reached the round of 16, in which they were eliminated on penalties against Ukraine.

During the two-year preparation for the 2008 European Championship in his own country, Frei was named the new captain of the Swiss national team by coach Köbi Kuhn after his predecessor Johann Vogel had been retired from the national team. In the opening game of the tournament against the Czech Republic, he was substituted after the first half after he suffered an injury to the inner ligament in his left knee in a duel with his opponent Zdeněk Grygera . Because of this injury, he dropped out for the rest of the tournament, which again ended with the preliminary round for Switzerland.

At the 2010 World Cup in South Africa , which ended for the Swiss national team after the group stage, Frei played the two games against Chile and Honduras . On the other hand, he missed the opening game, which Switzerland surprisingly won against future world champions Spain , due to a foot injury that he sustained in the last training session before leaving for South Africa.

Career after active time

After completing his career as a professional footballer on April 15, 2013, he became sports director at FC Luzern . Up until the end of 2014, he was responsible for the professional department as well as the junior division. Frei has been a member of the board of directors at FC Basel since 2016.

After the dismissal of coach Raphael Wicky at FC Basel on 26 July 2018 Free took transitional whose job, after working for this club since the summer of 2016 as a coach at youth level (U15 and U18 teams).

titles and achievements

Servette Geneva

Rennes stadium

FC Basel

Private life

Alex Frei has been married since 2011 and has a daughter since 2012.

literature

Web links

Commons : Alexander Frei  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c d Andreas Werz: Switzerland relies on the free card. kicker online, March 22, 2004, accessed on September 17, 2013 .
  2. ↑ Season 2008/09 on weltfussball.de
  3. ^ Matthias Arnhold: Alexander Frei - Matches and Goals in Bundesliga . RSSSF.com . December 5, 2019. Retrieved December 6, 2019.
  4. ↑ kicker: Perfect: Frei moves to Basel
  5. ↑ Basel rolls over rising stars Lausanne . Neue Zürcher Zeitung AG. 2011. Retrieved September 21, 2011.
  6. ↑ Michael Schifferle: Season Review: Switzerland . Eufa. 2013. Retrieved June 10, 2013.
  7. ^ SFV: Telegram Swiss Cup Final . Swiss Football Association. 2013. Retrieved May 20, 2013.
  8. ↑ Michael Schifferle: The miracle for Basel is missing . Eufa. 2013. Retrieved May 3, 2013.
  9. ^ Roberto Mamrud: Alexander Frei - Goals in International Matches . RSSSF.com . December 5, 2019. Retrieved December 6, 2019.
  10. ↑ Alex Frei declares his resignation - at the end of the season , Tages-Anzeiger from November 4, 2010.
  11. ↑ Frei and Streller let Hitzfeld down. In: Tages-Anzeiger . April 5, 2011. Retrieved April 6, 2011.
  12. ↑ Grenchner Tagblatt : This is how Alex Frei sees his future at FC Luzern from April 16, 2013.
  13. ↑ Inside 11 : Interview with BVB legend Alexander Frei from September 25, 2014.
  14. ↑ Note in: Borussia - your member magazine, issue 152 from January 26, 2019, p. 105
  15. ↑ Note in: Borussia - your member magazine, issue 152 from January 26, 2019, p. 105
  16. ↑ FC Basel 1893: FCB parted ways with head coach Raphael Wicky with immediate effect , accessed on July 27, 2018.
personal data
SURNAME Free, Alexander
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Free, Alex
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss football player
DATE OF BIRTH July 15, 1979
PLACE OF BIRTH Basel , Switzerland