Football Season Guide

Basel have endured a thoroughly disappointing 2018/19 season, with their poor form in the early stages of the campaign resulting in their elimination from Europe and also seeing their European campaign end early on. The Red-Blues have steadily improved under Marcel Koller and played in excellent form during the second half of the campaign, but this revival came too late for them to challenge Young Boys, who won their second consecutive title. Rulers supreme of the Swiss football before being overtaken by the Berners, the Red-Blues are always hoping to win domestic titles, but their playing squad has not improved much over the course of the summer. Former skipper Marek Suchy has left, with Omar Alderete signing as a like-for-like replacement, while the promising Kemal Ademi joins from Xamax to boost the attacking ranks. While the squad seems to be on a similar level as in the previous season, the Red-Blues will be hoping to keep improving under Koller and enter the new campaign with the belief that the fine form from the second half of the previous season was not their actual peak. Interestingly enough, Fabian Frei has been stripped of captaincy during the summer, with Valentin Stocker the new skipper. The reason is that Frei reportedly tried to communicate his ideas to the club's hierarchy behind Koller's back. The experienced midfielder is now third in line for captaincy and, although the situation seems to have been resolved, it remains to be seen if what was widely seen as a demonstration of authority by Koller will have a negative effect on the situation in the squad.