1992–93 FC Basel season
# 1992–93 FC Basel season

The Fussball Club Basel 1893 1992–93 season was their 100th anniversary season since the club's foundation. Peter Epting took over as the club's chairman that season from Charles Röthlisberger at the Annual General Meeting in March 1993. FC Basel played their home games in the St. Jakob Stadium. Following their relegation in the 1987–88 season this was their fifth season in the second tier of Swiss football.

## Overview

### Pre-season

Friedel Rausch was appointed as new trainer, following Karl Odermatt and Bruno Rahmen. The duo had taken over ad interim after Ernst-August Künnecke had been sacked toward the end of the previous season. After missing promotion during the last four seasons, the club's repeated priority aim was to return to the top flight of Swiss football.

A number of players left the squad. Robert Kok, who had only been with the club the previous season, retired from active football. Three players moved on to Germany; Mourad Bounoua transferred to TuS Celle, Maximilian Heidenreich and Thomas Schweizer both moved on to SC Freiburg. Other players transferred within the Swiss League, Walter Bernhard transferred to Fribourg, Gilbert Epars transferred to Urania Genève Sport and Boris Mancastroppa to Schaffhausen. A few other players stepped shorter, ending their professional careers and continuing as amateurs with local clubs; Miodrag Đurđević went to SG Lörrach-Stetten, Martin Thalmann to FC Riehen and Vittorio Gottardi to SC Dornach. Both Roger Glanzmann and Rocco Verrelli left the club because their contracts were not prolonged, but both also continued as amateurs.

In the other direction Christian Reinwald joined from Chur as the new second goalkeeper. Then there were two transfers from Germany, Dirk Lellek transferred in from VfL Osnabrück and Ørjan Berg transferred in from 1860 Munich. Within the Swiss League, Mario Uccella joined from Winterthur, Marco Walker from Lugano and Pierre-André Schürmann from Lausanne-Sport. Two players joined from Xamax, Admir Smajić transferred in and Frédéric Chassot on loan. Patrick Rahmen returned to his club of origin from Young Boys and youngster Gaetano Giallanza signed his first professional contract, coming from Old Boys. Two other youngsters advanced from Basel's youth team, Pasquale D'Ambrosio and Cedric Jakob.

### Domestic league

The 24 teams in the Nationalliga B were divided into two groups, an East and a West group. Both groups would first play a qualification round. Then in the second stage the tops six teams of each group and the last four teams of the Nationalliga A would play a promotion/relegation round, also divided into two separate groups. The top two teams in each of these groups would play in the top flight the next season. Basel were assigned to the West group, together with local rivals Old Boys. In the two local duals, Basel won both games and both with 3–0. Basel ended the Qualifying Phase in second position in the league table. In the 22 matches Basel totaled 36 points with 16 victories, four draws and two defeats. The team scored 54 goals and conceded only 10.

Basel thus qualified for the promotion stage and were assigned to group A. Further teams assigned to this group from the Nationalliga B were Delémont, Chênois, Luzern, Locarno and Wil. Assigned to this group and fighting against relegation from the Nationalliga A were Bulle and Grasshopper Club. Basel ended the promotion stage in a very disappointing fourth position in the league table. The 14 matches resulted in seven victories, four draws and three defeats with 18 points, scoring 25, conceding 17 goals. Therefore, Basel missed promotion again.

### Swiss Cup

Basel entered the Swiss Cup in the second round. Here they were drawn away from home against lower-tier local team FC Baudepartement Basel. André Sitek scored a hat-trick between the 12th and the 31st minute as Basel won 6–0. In the third round they were drawn at home to local rivals Old Boys and this was won 4–0. Basel were drawn away against lower-tier SC Young Fellows Juventus in the third round and this was won 3–0. In the round of 16 they were again drawn at home, also against a lower-tier team, FC Savièse. All four games were won without the team conceding a single goal. However, in the quarterfinals Basel played at home against higher-tier Xamax. Because this match ended with a 2–3 defeat they were eliminated from the competition. Xamax were defeated in the semi-final by Lugano, who went on to win the final 4–1 against Grasshopper Club.

## Players

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 | Thomas Grüter |
| — | GK | SUI | Christian Reinwald (from Chur) |
| — | DF | SUI | Olivier Bauer |
| — | DF | SUI | Reto Baumgartner |
| — | DF | SUI | Massimo Ceccaroni |
| — | DF | SUI | Thomas Karrer |
| — | DF | GER | Dirk Lellek (from VfL Osnabrück) |
| — | DF | SUI | Micha Rahmen |
| — | DF | ITA | Mario Uccella (from Winterthur) |
| — | DF | SUI | Marco Walker (from Lugano) |
| — | MF | NOR | Ørjan Berg (from 1860 Munich) |
| — | MF | SUI | Martin Jeitziner |
| — | MF | SUI | Adrian Jenzer |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| — | MF | SUI | Christian Marcolli |
| — | MF | SUI | Pierre-André Schürmann (from Lausanne-Sport) |
| — | MF | BIH | Admir Smajić (from Xamax) |
| — | MF | SUI | Andreas Steiner |
| — | MF | GER | Manfred Wagner |
| — | FW | SUI | Frédéric Chassot (on loan from Neuchâtel Xamax) |
| — | FW | ITA | Gaetano Giallanza (from Old Boys) |
| — | FW | SUI | Patrick Rahmen (from Young Boys) |
| — | FW | NED | André Sitek |
| — | FW | GER | Frank Wittmann |
| — | FW | SUI | Ruedi Zbinden |
| — | | SUI | Pasquale D'Ambrosio |
| — | | SUI | Cedric Jakob |
| — | | SUI | Mathias Walther |

### Players who left the squad

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 | Roger Glanzmann |
| — | DF | SUI | Walter Bernhard (to Fribourg) |
| — | DF | YUG | Miodrag Đurđević (to SG Lörrach-Stetten) |
| — | DF | SUI | Martin Thalmann (to FC Riehen) |
| — | MF | FRA | Mourad Bounoua (to TuS Celle) |
| — | MF | SUI | Gilbert Epars (to Urania Genève Sport) |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| — | MF | ITA | Vittorio Gottardi (to SC Dornach) |
| — | MF | GER | Maximilian Heidenreich (to SC Freiburg) |
| — | MF | ITA | Boris Mancastroppa (to Schaffhausen) |
| — | FW | NED | Robert Kok (retired) |
| — | MF | GER | Thomas Schweizer (to SC Freiburg) |
| — | | SUI | Rocco Verrelli |

## Results

### Legend

Win  Draw  Loss  Postponed

### Nationalliga B

**League table**

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Yverdon-Sport | 22 | 17 | 3 | 2 | 60 | 24 | +36 | 37 | Promotion round |
| 2 | Basel | 22 | 16 | 4 | 2 | 54 | 10 | +44 | 36 | Promotion round |
| 3 | Etoile Carouge | 22 | 14 | 0 | 8 | 48 | 32 | +16 | 28 | Promotion round |
| 4 | CS Chênois | 22 | 12 | 2 | 8 | 37 | 39 | −2 | 26 | Promotion round |
| 5 | Grenchen | 22 | 11 | 3 | 8 | 40 | 25 | +15 | 25 | Promotion round |
| 6 | Delémont | 22 | 8 | 5 | 9 | 31 | 33 | −2 | 21 | Promotion round |
| 7 | Urania Genève Sport | 22 | 7 | 4 | 11 | 33 | 43 | −10 | 18 | Promotion round |
| 8 | Old Boys | 22 | 5 | 7 | 10 | 27 | 39 | −12 | 17 | Promotion round |
| 9 | Fribourg | 22 | 7 | 3 | 12 | 29 | 42 | −13 | 17 | Relegation group |
| 10 | SC Bümpliz 78 | 22 | 5 | 5 | 12 | 26 | 52 | −26 | 15 | Relegation group |
| 11 | Châtel-Saint-Denis | 22 | 2 | 8 | 12 | 25 | 47 | −22 | 12 | Relegation group |
| 12 | La Chaux-de-Fonds | 22 | 4 | 4 | 14 | 25 | 49 | −24 | 12 | Relegation group |

**League table**

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Grasshopper Club | 14 | 10 | 2 | 2 | 42 | 8 | +34 | 22 | Remain in Nationalliga A 1993–94 |
| 2 | Luzern | 14 | 10 | 2 | 2 | 30 | 6 | +24 | 22 | Promoted to Nationalliga A 1993–94 |
| 3 | Bulle | 14 | 8 | 3 | 3 | 28 | 20 | +8 | 19 | Relegated to Nationalliga B 1993–94 |
| 4 | Basel | 14 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 25 | 17 | +8 | 18 | Remain in Nationalliga B 1993–94 |
| 5 | SR Delémont | 14 | 4 | 2 | 8 | 14 | 28 | −14 | 10 | Remain in Nationalliga B 1993–94 |
| 6 | CS Chênois | 14 | 4 | 1 | 9 | 9 | 29 | −20 | 9 | Remain in Nationalliga B 1993–94 |
| 7 | Locarno | 14 | 3 | 1 | 10 | 16 | 31 | −15 | 7 | Remain in Nationalliga B 1993–94 |
| 8 | Wil | 14 | 1 | 3 | 10 | 7 | 32 | −25 | 5 | Remain in Nationalliga B 1993–94 |
