Basel U20

16 Feb 2027
Tuesday
Process
29 Edition

The Basel Courier

15 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Miguel Trauco breaks a bone — 104 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 104 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

The dugout

Malamine Efekele keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Basel may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Squad

Tempers go at Basel

Xherdan Shaqiri was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at Basel

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Elba Rashani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

Xherdan Shaqiri gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Xherdan Shaqiri is on it.

Squad

Haris Zakaria stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Haris Zakaria and Basel agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Loan watch

The goals keep arriving from Albian Ajeti’s exile

6 goals in 12 games at Lugano — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Basel updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.

The dugout

No hiding place for Haris Zakaria

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Haris Zakaria, and the manager let it.

The dugout

Kaio Eduardo knocks on the manager's door

“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Basel, and both men came out saying it was fine.

In brief

Back issues
28 Edition

The Basel Courier

8 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

112 days out for Miguel Trauco after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Basel will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Transfer targets

The window shuts on the Georges-Kévin Nkoudou deal

Basel ran out of time with Al-Diriyah. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.

Squad

Words exchanged at Basel

Xherdan Shaqiri and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Squad

A row about effort at Basel

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mattia Zanotti was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Market

Loris Comert steps up from the Basel academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Loris Comert has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.

Market

Basel promote Christian Freuler from within

The academy exists for exactly this morning. Christian Freuler has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.

Squad

Too much change too quickly at Basel

5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Žan Celar

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

The dugout

Metinho has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Basel will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

In brief

27 Edition

The Basel Courier

1 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A fracture rules Miguel Trauco out for 120 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Basel will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Transfer targets

$3.8M settles it between the clubs for Georges-Kévin Nkoudou

Al-Diriyah have accepted the money. What Basel do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.

Market

Miguel Trauco puts it in writing

“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Basel, and it is not being withdrawn.

Boardroom

Window shuts: 4 in, 1 out at Basel

The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 4 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.

Market

Sampson Dweh wants more than Basel are offering

“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.

Squad

Tempers go at Basel

Sampson Dweh was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Squad

Words at Basel training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mattia Zanotti is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Market

Mirko Salvi moves on

Lugano pay $190.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.

Market

A long bet from Basel on Elias Pihlström

He is 20, and nobody at Basel signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.

In brief

26 Edition

The Basel Courier

25 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

127 days out for Miguel Trauco after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Basel will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Market

Metinho hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Basel can pretend not to have heard.

Match

The view from the top for Basel

32 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.

Market

Basel turn down St. Pauli for Ibrahim Salah

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

The dugout

Miguel Trauco keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Basel may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Transfer targets

Grasshopper tell Basel: Julian von Moos is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

Market

Simone Stroscio is a Basel player

The fee is $2.9M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Grasshopper drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.

Transfer targets

An offer of $2.6M for Elias Pihlström

Basel have gone to Lugano with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.

Boardroom

Mirko Salvi signs for Zurich while still at Basel

The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Mirko Salvi has agreed terms with Zurich for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.

In brief

25 Edition

The Basel Courier

18 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

103 days out for Jean Pierre Fuentes after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Basel will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Transfer targets

$2.9M settles it between the clubs for Simone Stroscio

Grasshopper have accepted the money. What Basel do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.

Transfer targets

Basel rebuffed over Luciano Gondou

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. CSKA Moscow have kept their man, and Basel go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Market

Only the photograph left for Mirko Salvi

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mirko Salvi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Basel the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Transfer targets

No deal for Thulani Ngcobo at that price

Basel offered $4.2M; Ajax Cape Town said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.

Squad

A falling-out at Basel

Bećir Omeragić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Mattia Zanotti falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

The dugout

When it matters, Xherdan Shaqiri plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

Market

The shop window has Metinho in it

Basel have let the market know Metinho can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.

In brief

24 Edition

The Basel Courier

11 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Basel break the bank for Sampson Dweh

$26.8M. No player has ever cost Basel more, and expectation arrives with him.

Squad

A fracture rules Jean Pierre Fuentes out for 111 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Basel will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Market

Jonas Harder has said yes to Grodig

The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Basel have lost him in all but the paperwork.

Transfer targets

An offer of $4.0M for Thulani Ngcobo

Basel have gone to Ajax Cape Town with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.

Squad

Words exchanged at Basel

Xherdan Shaqiri and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Squad

A row about effort at Basel

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mattia Zanotti was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The terraces

Basel spend $26.8M on the signing the town wanted

It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $26.8M for Sampson Dweh, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.

Boardroom

Sandro Lauper will join Basel for nothing

The paperwork is done long before the player is. Sandro Lauper has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Basel have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.

Market

A long bet from Basel on Lucas Ferreira

He is 20, and nobody at Basel signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.

In brief

23 Edition

The Basel Courier

4 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Transfer targets

Basel bid $26.8M for Sampson Dweh

The offer went to Viktoria Plzen this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.

Squad

Jean Pierre Fuentes breaks a bone — 120 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 120 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

The dugout

Mattia Zanotti: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Basel have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Transfer targets

$1.9M settles it between the clubs for Liam Chipperfield

Sion have accepted the money. What Basel do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.

Market

Basel turn down Grasshopper for Mirko Salvi

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Squad

The season belongs to Xherdan Shaqiri

An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Basel have had the benefit of it.

Transfer targets

An offer of $660.0K for Lucas Ferreira

Basel have gone to Luzern with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.

Squad

Words exchanged at Basel

Metinho and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Market

Metinho is free to find somewhere else

“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Basel has been clear about where Metinho stands, which is more than many ever get.

In brief

22 Edition

The Basel Courier

28 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A fracture rules Jean Pierre Fuentes out for 128 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Basel will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Match

Basel are top

32 points and nobody above them. The word is not being said around the ground yet, and it is being thought in every seat.

Squad

Xherdan Shaqiri in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Basel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

A row about effort at Basel

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mattia Zanotti was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

Mattia Zanotti gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Mattia Zanotti is on it.

The dugout

Moussa Cissé asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

In brief

21 Edition

The Basel Courier

21 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Basel say no — this time

The offer from Atletico Bucaramanga for Ibrahim Salah was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.

The dugout

Moussa Cissé keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Basel may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Squad

Words at Basel training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mattia Zanotti is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

The dugout

Xherdan Shaqiri has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Basel will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

The dugout

No hiding place for Giacomo Koloto

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Giacomo Koloto, and the manager let it.

Loan watch

6 goals on loan for Albian Ajeti

12 appearances at Lugano and the goals keep coming. Basel are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.

In brief

20 Edition

The Basel Courier

14 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Basel announce themselves in Europe

5‑1 against Haladas, on a night that will be replayed at this club for a generation. Continental reputations are made in single evenings and this was the evening.

Player ratings

Ibrahim Salah scores twice — 9.81

Two goals and a mark of 9.81 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Player ratings

Both of them Xherdan Shaqiri's — 8.96

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.96, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Match

Ibrahim Salah among the goals in a wild afternoon

6 goals in one match, Ibrahim Salah on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Basel and Haladas.

Squad

Mattia Zanotti falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

The terraces

The crowd has taken to Metinho

At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.

Market

One of our own: Loris Fernandes joins the Basel first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Loris Fernandes is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

Player ratings

Metinho in the eights

A performance of 8.38 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

Squad

Appearance number 200 for Mirko Salvi

200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.

In brief

19 Edition

The Basel Courier

7 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Metinho wants to know where this is going

“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Basel hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.

Squad

Words at Basel training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mattia Zanotti is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Squad

Miguel Trauco wants to go home

“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Basel can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.

Squad

Tempers go at Basel

Kazeem Olaigbe was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Squad

Mikhail Philippov signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Mikhail Philippov commits to Basel for another 1 years.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Miguel Trauco

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

The dugout

When it matters, Metinho plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

Market

The Ibrahim Salah talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Basel know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

Market

Still no signature from Mirko Salvi

7 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Basel could get for him.

In brief

18 Edition

The Basel Courier

30 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

A European night to remember for Basel

2‑2 against Pogon, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.

Match

The view from the top for Basel

32 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.

Player ratings

A brace, and Ibrahim Salah takes the afternoon — 9.10

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ibrahim Salah provided it, and the 9.10 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

The dugout

Giacomo Koloto says Basel went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Squad

Words exchanged at Basel

Bećir Omeragić and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Player ratings

Julien Duranville beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Squad

Words at Basel training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mattia Zanotti is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Squad

Ibrahim Salah is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.26 with 11 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

The dugout

Keigo Tsunemoto left out for the big one

A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Keigo Tsunemoto will call it something else in private.

In brief

17 Edition

The Basel Courier

23 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

The small margins put Basel out

Out, 1‑2 to Grasshopper, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.

Market

Metinho puts it in writing

“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Basel, and it is not being withdrawn.

Player ratings

Malamine Efekele was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 23. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

Squad

Tempers go at Basel

Xherdan Shaqiri was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Match

Grasshopper end the Basel run at 8

Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 8 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.

Squad

Words at Basel training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mattia Zanotti is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Player ratings

Kazeem Olaigbe was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.43. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.

The dugout

No hiding place for Mirko Salvi

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mirko Salvi, and the manager let it.

Boardroom

Nobody left the Basel dressing room in a hurry

The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.

In brief

16 Edition

The Basel Courier

16 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

Mattia Zanotti runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 38. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Match

8 unbeaten for Basel

Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 8 matches without defeat is a foundation Basel did not have in the autumn.

Squad

Words exchanged at Basel

Xherdan Shaqiri and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Match

The run at home goes on for Basel

10 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.

Squad

Mattia Zanotti falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Squad

Moussa Cissé signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Moussa Cissé and Basel agree another 4 years.

The dugout

Basel keep their word to Elba Rashani

Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.

The dugout

Bećir Omeragić has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Basel will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

The dugout

The view from the dugout

“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Steven Rieder chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.

In brief

15 Edition

The Basel Courier

9 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

Xherdan Shaqiri lights up a European night for Basel

4‑3 against Dila, and a performance that will be described to people who were not there for the rest of the season. Xherdan Shaqiri was at the centre of the description.

Match

Xherdan Shaqiri drives the Basel comeback

2 behind and going nowhere, until Xherdan Shaqiri decided otherwise. Dila had done the hard part and then watched it come apart, and the noise at the final whistle was the sort a ground keeps.

Squad

Xherdan Shaqiri takes the match ball home

3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.

Player ratings

Vintage Xherdan Shaqiri — 9.86

At 35 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 9.86, and nobody on the pitch better.

Squad

Mirko Salvi stands alone

7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

The terraces

The town believes in Basel

Position 1, 31 points, and a ticket office that has not been this busy in years. Nobody says the word; everybody is thinking it.

Match

Basel cannot stop winning

3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.

Player ratings

Philip Otele was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 23. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

Squad

A falling-out at Basel

Xherdan Shaqiri and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

In brief

14 Edition

The Basel Courier

2 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

Julien Duranville runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 34. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Match

Basel are top

28 points and nobody above them. The word is not being said around the ground yet, and it is being thought in every seat.

The dugout

Kaio Eduardo: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Basel have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad

A row about effort at Basel

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mattia Zanotti was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

Nobody wins at Basel

9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.

Squad

Ibrahim Salah is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.29 with 11 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

Match

Žan Celar sends Basel past St. Gallen

It finished 2‑0, and it was Žan Celar’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Basel.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Ibrahim Salah at his very best

Marked 8.58. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Basel.

Player ratings

Žan Celar in the eights

A performance of 8.35 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

In brief

  • The dugout A promise honoured at Basel
  • Squad A place in the month's best eleven for Ibrahim Salah
  • The dugout The manager makes an example of Moussa Cissé
13 Edition

The Basel Courier

26 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Basel take Dila apart in Europe

5‑2. Nights like this are why clubs spend decades trying to qualify for this competition, and they arrive perhaps twice in that time. Everybody who was in the ground will describe it badly for years.

Market

Metinho asks to leave Basel

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Squad

Ibrahim Salah takes the match ball home

3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.

Player ratings

Philip Otele beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 27. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Player ratings

Xherdan Shaqiri, 35, rolls back the years — 8.19

There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.19 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.

Match

7 goals as Basel and Dila go for it

Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Basel and Dila, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Ibrahim Salah at his very best

Marked 9.88. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Basel.

Squad

Mattia Zanotti falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Player ratings

Žan Celar was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.86. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.

In brief

12 Edition

The Basel Courier

19 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

Basel run riot against Vaduz

7‑4, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.

Squad

3 goals for Ibrahim Salah

The match ball belongs to Ibrahim Salah, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.

Player ratings

A brace, and Xherdan Shaqiri takes the afternoon — 8.30

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Xherdan Shaqiri provided it, and the 8.30 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Squad

Tempers go at Basel

Mattia Zanotti was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Ibrahim Salah at his very best

Marked 10.00. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Basel.

Match

Nobody could stop scoring

11 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Basel and Vaduz in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.

Player ratings

Žan Celar in the eights

A performance of 9.15 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

The terraces

One of their own: Metinho

He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.

Squad

Words at Basel training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Elba Rashani is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

In brief

11 Edition

The Basel Courier

12 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Player ratings

Xherdan Shaqiri, 35, rolls back the years — 7.97

There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.97 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.

Squad

Tempers go at Basel

Bećir Omeragić was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Squad

Miguel Trauco arrives at the club he grew up with

Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Miguel Trauco has, at Basel, and the first month will show what that does to a man.

Match

At last: Basel win one

6 matches without a win, and then this, against Lugano. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.

Squad

Words at Basel training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mattia Zanotti is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Player ratings

Mattia Zanotti was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 20. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

Match

Ibrahim Salah the difference as Basel beat Lugano

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ibrahim Salah. 2‑1 against Lugano, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Mattia Zanotti

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

Market

One of our own: Michel Embolo joins the Basel first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Michel Embolo is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

In brief

10 Edition

The Basel Courier

5 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

A chastening European night for Basel

1‑4 against Haladas. The honest reading is not that the players were poor; it is that the distance between this club and that one is currently measured in things money takes years to buy.

Match

Basel taken apart

1‑4 to Sion, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.

Match

The view from the top for Basel

18 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.

Player ratings

Julien Duranville, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.21

A mark of 8.21 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.

Match

The wait goes on for Basel

6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.

Squad

Xherdan Shaqiri in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Basel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

A row about effort at Basel

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mattia Zanotti was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

No hiding place for Bećir Omeragić

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Bećir Omeragić, and the manager let it.

The terraces

The crowd has taken to Julien Duranville

At 20 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.

In brief

  • Squad Jonas Harder signs on for more
  • Boardroom Nobody left the Basel dressing room in a hurry
  • The dugout The manager’s verdict
9 Edition

The Basel Courier

28 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Metinho hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Basel can pretend not to have heard.

Player ratings

Julien Duranville was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 25. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

Match

No end in sight to Basel's wait for a win

4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Basel has to find a result from somewhere.

Squad

Tempers go at Basel

Xherdan Shaqiri was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at Basel

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Elba Rashani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

3 matches without a goal for Basel

The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.

Match

The half-term report on Basel

Position 1, 18 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Malamine Efekele

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

The dugout

Xherdan Shaqiri gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Xherdan Shaqiri is on it.

In brief

8 Edition

The Basel Courier

21 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

A European night to remember for Basel

0‑0 against Pogon, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.

Squad

Words exchanged at Basel

Xherdan Shaqiri and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Match

The run is over for Basel

8 matches without defeat, and then Thun. Nobody at the ground pretended it would go on forever; nobody expected it to stop here either.

Match

Basel come up short against Thun

Thun left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

Squad

Mattia Zanotti falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Looking ahead

Derby week at Basel

Zurich next, which means a week that starts on Monday. Everything else on this page will be forgotten by Saturday; this fixture will not be forgotten for a year.

Boardroom

Nobody left the Basel dressing room in a hurry

The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.

The dugout

Steven Rieder answers for it

“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.

Player ratings

Bećir Omeragić was immovable

16 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.

In brief

7 Edition

The Basel Courier

14 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

Mattia Zanotti was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 36. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

Transfer targets

Tim Meyer stays at Grasshopper as time runs out

A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Basel will try again when the window opens; Grasshopper may not be selling by then.

Match

Still nobody has beaten Basel

The unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.

Squad

A row about effort at Basel

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Elba Rashani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Market

Silvan Fassnacht steps up from the Basel academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Silvan Fassnacht has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.

Market

Loris Freuler steps up from the Basel academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Loris Freuler has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.

Match

The run is over for Basel

5 matches without defeat, and then Young Boys. Nobody at the ground pretended it would go on forever; nobody expected it to stop here either.

Looking ahead

Basel and Thun meet at the summit

The fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.

Squad

Too much change too quickly at Basel

11 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.

In brief

6 Edition

The Basel Courier

7 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

Xherdan Shaqiri leads the rout of Luzern

3‑0, and Xherdan Shaqiri took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Basel tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.

Match

The view from the top for Basel

16 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.

Player ratings

A brace, and Xherdan Shaqiri takes the afternoon — 8.33

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Xherdan Shaqiri provided it, and the 8.33 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Transfer targets

The paperwork begins on Tim Meyer

A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Basel have done the hard part with Grasshopper, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.

Match

Basel make it 5 in a row

Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Basel have 5 straight wins of it.

Market

Basel say no — this time

The offer from Grodig for Jonas Harder was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.

Boardroom

Basel close the window on a squad of their own making

23 in and 2 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Elba Rashani

Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Transfer targets

Lucas Ferreira stays at Luzern as time runs out

A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Basel will try again when the window opens; Luzern may not be selling by then.

In brief

5 Edition

The Basel Courier

31 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

No mercy from Basel

St. Gallen will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Basel were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.

Market

Basel turn down Köln for Ibrahim Salah

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Player ratings

No sign of nerves from Julien Duranville at 20 — 8.36

The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Julien Duranville did not need any: 8.36, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.

Match

Basel make it 4 in a row

Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Basel have 4 straight wins of it.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Oscar Kabwit

Basel asked and Luzern said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

Market

Eyes on Jonas Harder again

The phone has started ringing about Jonas Harder again, and this time the name on the line is Grodig. Basel are listening politely and promising nothing.

Squad

Words exchanged at Basel

Mattia Zanotti and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

The terraces

The crowd has taken to Julien Duranville

At 20 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.

Match

Basel keep winning on the road

3 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.

In brief

4 Edition

The Basel Courier

24 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

No mercy from Basel

Grasshopper will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Basel were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.

Player ratings

Both of them Giacomo Koloto's — 9.11

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.11, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Market

Basel spend $7.6M to raise the standard

This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $7.6M has been paid because Mattia Zanotti is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.

Market

Mirko Salvi asks to leave Basel

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Market

Basel turn down Sion for Moussa Cissé

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Transfer targets

Basel bid $2.0M for Corsin Konietzke

The offer went to St. Gallen this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.

Market

Ibrahim Salah attracts admirers

The name of Ibrahim Salah has come up in conversations Basel were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.

Match

Basel make it 3 in a row

Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Basel have 3 straight wins of it.

Squad

Bećir Omeragić in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Basel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

In brief

  • The terraces The town asked, and Basel paid $7.6M
  • Player ratings Philip Otele runs at them all day
  • Player ratings Ninety minutes of Ibrahim Salah at his very best
3 Edition

The Basel Courier

17 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Basel tear Vaduz apart

Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Vaduz, and it could have been more.

Transfer targets

Mattia Zanotti is a medical away from Basel

The deal with Lugano is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.

Player ratings

Both of them Ibrahim Salah's — 9.08

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.08, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Player ratings

Age has not caught Xherdan Shaqiri yet — 8.04

At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.04 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.

Market

Basel turn down Thun for Mirko Salvi

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Market

Basel sign Malamine Efekele for $920.0K

The paperwork is done: Malamine Efekele joins from St. Gallen in a deal worth $920.0K. Now comes the harder part.

Transfer targets

An offer of $390.0K for Kevin Behrens

Basel have gone to Lugano with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.

Squad

Giacomo Koloto signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Giacomo Koloto and Basel agree another 5 years.

Squad

A falling-out at Basel

Xherdan Shaqiri and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

In brief

2 Edition

The Basel Courier

10 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Grasshopper come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Basel did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Squad

Mirko Salvi stands alone

7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

Player ratings

Giacomo Koloto, 18, plays like he has been here for years — 8.42

A mark of 8.42 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 18-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.

Transfer targets

Fee done, terms next for Malamine Efekele

Basel and St. Gallen have settled on $920.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.

Transfer targets

Basel rebuffed over Mattia Zanotti

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Lugano have kept their man, and Basel go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Squad

Metinho signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Metinho and Basel agree another 5 years.

Squad

Metinho in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Basel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Player ratings

Philip Otele beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 22. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Market

Thun join the queue for Mirko Salvi

Add another name to the list: Thun have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Mirko Salvi. The answer from Basel has not changed — yet.

In brief

1 Edition

The Basel Courier

3 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Player ratings

Both of them Kaio Eduardo's — 8.56

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.56, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Transfer targets

SC Freiburg tell Basel: Maximilian Eggestein is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

Market

Basel may not be able to give Metinho what he wants

It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Metinho wants continental football; whether Basel can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.

Squad

Xherdan Shaqiri signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Xherdan Shaqiri and Basel agree another 2 years.

Squad

Tempers go at Basel

Metinho was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

The terraces

The crowd has taken to Kaio Eduardo

At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.

Match

Two points walk out of the ground

Level with 92 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Basel had all but put away. Sion will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.

Squad

A row about effort at Basel

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Elba Rashani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

Basel share the spoils with Sion

A 2‑2 draw with Sion leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.

In brief

  • Player ratings An own goal to forget for Keigo Tsunemoto
  • Squad Basel are still strangers to each other
  • The dugout Metinho knocks on the manager's door