Wonderkid Factories: FC Basel 1893
Earlier on in our wonderkid factories series we looked at Dinamo Zagreb and how virtually on their own they had produced the Croatian team that would make the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup. Well today we have another story like that and to find it we need to go to the Northwest of Switzerland and the city of Basel.
It’s the third biggest city in Switzerland in terms of population (behind Zurich and Geneva) but it’s home to one of the country’s biggest clubs, FC Basel.
Not only are they one of the biggest sides they’re also one of the most successful winning the Swiss Super League 20 times, the Swiss Cup 13 times and clinching one Swiss League Cup, ranking only behind Grasshopper Zurich for most domestic titles.
However, they can count themselves as probably the most successful Swiss team in European competitions. They have qualified for one every season since the 1999-2000 season and have made the group stage of the Champions League more times than any other Swiss team with 7 appearances. They’ve never made it past the round of 16 but have made the semi-finals of the Europa League in 2013 and this year in the Conference League, they produced the best ever group stage by a Swiss club in a continental competition grabbing 14 points and going unbeaten.
The club has a state of the art stadium that holds 37,500 fans but more importantly it’s the clubs youth academy that is the real jewel in the crown. It’s well renowned across Switzerland for its ability to produce top players but more importantly what it has done to help the Swiss national team.
Switzerland pulled off a huge shock in the summer when they knocked the world champions France out of the European Championships following a miraculous comeback, but the vast majority of the team’s spine have come from one place. Yep you guessed it, Basel.
The Swiss are now ranked 13th in the world by Fifa, just one place behind their neighbours the Germans and they have the RotBlau to thank. The list of top quality Swiss nationals to come from Basel include Granit Xhaka, Breel Embolo, Noah Okafor, Xherdan Shaqiri, Yann Sommer, Eren Derdiyok, Alexander Frei, Gokhan Inler and Hakan Yakin. Manuel Akanji also spent time with club as well as two other world class players who Basel have sold on, Mohamed Salah and Ivan Rakitic.
Well whilst this generation of Swiss players may still have at least one or two major tournaments to play together, they will eventually need to begin to rejuvenate the squad again and what better place to look then the RotBlau.
So as usual, here are our three picks for the next stars to come out of Basel.
Adrian Durrer (Defensive Midfield)
Durrer is only 20 but has been vital to the U21 side this season making 9 appearances for them in the third tier of Swiss football. He’s also featured twice in the Swiss Cup and made a brief cameo in one of the club’s Conference League games this season.
Carmine Chiappetta (Left Winger)
Chiappetta has also been vital to the U21’s playing 11 games. He’s only 18 and although he has dual nationality and can feature for Italy, he’s played for Switzerland up to U19’s level so far, where he has featured 7 times and found the net twice.
Tician Tushi (Centre Forward)
Tushi is also 20 but is probably the most experienced player of the three. He’s made 15 appearances in the last few years for the first team and has been effective for the U21’s this season. He’s scored a total of 16 goals for that side and despite being injured at the moment, has a bright future for the club.