1919–20 FC Basel season
# 1919–20 FC Basel season

The FC Basel 1919–20 season was their twentyseventh season since the club's foundation on 15 November 1893. The club's chairman was Bernard Klingelfuss. FC Basel played their home games in the Landhof in the district Wettstein in Kleinbasel.

## Overview

Otto Kuhn was team captain and acted, so to say, as coach. Basel played a total of 44 matches in their 1919–20 season. 14 of these were in the domestic league and 30 were friendly matches.

From these 30 friendlies, 15 were against foreign opponents. Five were played against German teams. Basel travelled to Germany and played against Karlsruher FV, 1. FFC Germania 1894 and 1. FC Pforzheim. During the winter break the team travelled to Italy and on Christmas day played against Genoa C.F.C., on boxing day against SG Andrea Doria and the next day against US Biellese. They also played at home against Rapid Wien. At the end of the season Basel were hosts to Victoria Hamburg, Royal Charleroi SC, Royale Union Saint-Gilloise, Budapesti EAC, Ferencvárosi TC, MTK Budapest and Wiener Amateur Sportverein. Altogether 14 friendlies were home games, played in the Landhof and 16 were away games. Of these 18 ended in a victory, one match was drawn and 11 ended in a defeat. In these test games Basel scored a total of 68 goals and conceded 44.

The former Hungarian international footballer Alfréd Schaffer joined Basel in April 1920 and played in 19 test matches and one league games, during which he scored a total of 27 goals.

The domestic league, Swiss Serie A 1919–20, was divided into three regional groups, East, Central and West, each group with eight teams. FC Basel and the two other teams from Basel Nordstern and Old Boys were allocated to the Central group. The other teams playing in this group were Aarau, Luzern and Biel-Bienne and the two teams from the capital, Young Boys and FC Bern. FC Basel played a good season, winning seven matches, drawing four and suffering just three defeats. They ended the season in second position with 18 points. In their 14 games Basel scored 32 goals and conceded 20. Karl Wüthrich was the team's top goal scorer with 9 goals. BSC Young Boys won the group and continued to the finals.

There was no relegation this year because the reserve team Nordstern were Serie B champions and could not be promoted because the first team already plays at top level. With a victory against Servette and a goalless draw against Grasshopper Club the Young Boys won the Swiss championship.

The Serie A away match played on 7 March 1920 against Biel-Bienne in Gurzelen Stadion was the last game that Wilhelm Dietz played as he died 4 weeks later aged just 19 years old.

## Players

### Squad members

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

| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| - | - | - | - |
| — | GK | SUI | Walter Birbaum |
| — | GK | SUI | Arthur Fahr |
| — | GK | SUI | Ernst Zorzotti (III) |
| — | DF | | Fritz Grüssi |
| — | DF | | Karl Kroepfli |
| — | DF | AUT | Gustav Putzendopler (I) |
| — | DF | SUI | Peter Riesterer |
| — | MF | SUI | Walter Rupprecht |
| — | MF | | Ganter (I) |
| — | MF | SUI | Ernst Kaltenbach |
| — | MF | SUI | Jakob Känzig |
| — | MF | SUI | Otto Kuhn |
| — | MF | AUT | Karl Putzendopler (II) |
| — | MF | SUI | Fritz |
| — | FW | SUI | Christian Albicker (I) |
| — | FW | SUI | Karl Bielser |
| — | FW | | Gustav Buser |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| — | FW | SUI | Walter Dietrich |
| — | FW | SUI | Wilhelm Dietz (I) |
| — | FW | SUI | Paul Dietz (II) |
| — | FW | SUI | Jules Düblin |
| — | FW | SUI | Karl Ibach |
| — | FW | SUI | Karl Lott (I) |
| — | FW | HUN | Sándor Nemes |
| — | DF | SUI | Louis Riesterer |
| — | FW | SUI | Karl Rudin |
| — | FW | HUN | Alfréd Schaffer |
| — | FW | | Carl Schloz |
| — | FW | SUI | Karl Wüthrich |
| — | | | Ernst Hasler |
| — | | | Friedrich Lott (II) |
| — | | | Fritz Müller |
| — | | | Hans Schneider |
| — | | | Siegrist |

## Results

### Legend

Win  Draw  Loss  Postponed

### Serie A

**Central Group results**

FC Biel-Bienne declared Forfait. As a replacement, a friendly match against Winterthur took place on the same date.

**Central Group league table**

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Young Boys Bern | 14 | 12 | 2 | 0 | 41 | 13 | +28 | 26 | Advance to finals |
| 2 | Basel | 14 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 32 | 20 | +12 | 18 | |
| 3 | Aarau | 14 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 24 | 14 | +10 | 16 | |
| 4 | Nordstern Basel | 14 | 7 | 2 | 5 | 21 | 18 | +3 | 16 | |
| 5 | Old Boys | 14 | 5 | 2 | 7 | 19 | 30 | −11 | 12 | |
| 6 | Luzern | 14 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 18 | 28 | −10 | 11 | |
| 7 | FC Bern | 14 | 4 | 1 | 9 | 19 | 30 | −11 | 9 | |
| 8 | Biel-Bienne | 14 | 1 | 2 | 11 | 15 | 36 | −21 | 4 | No relegation this year |
