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2023–24 FC Basel season

The 2023–24 season was FC Basel's 130th season in their existence and the club's 29th consecutive season in the top flight of Swiss football since their promotion in the 1993–94 season. The 2023–24 Swiss Super League season started in July 2023 and ended in May 2024. In addition to the Swiss Super League, Basel also participated in this season's edition of the Swiss Cup, starting in the third round. Basel also qualified for the 3rd edition of the UEFA Europa Conference League, beginning play in the second qualifying round where they were seeded.

Club

FC Basel Holding AG

The FC Basel Holding AG owns 75% of FC Basel 1893 AG and the other 25% is owned by the FC Basel 1893 club members. The club FC Basel 1893 functions as a base club independent of the holding company and the AG. FC Basel 1893 AG is responsible for the operational business of the club, e.g. the 1st team, a large part of the youth department and the back office are affiliated there. All decisions that affect the club FC Basel 1893 are made within the AG.

On 20 June 2022 the AGM of the FC Basel Holding AG and the FC Basel 1893 AG were held and the both boards were confirmed. The Holding AG with following members: David Degen (president), Dan Holzmann, Ursula Rey-Krayer and Andreas Rey (vice-president). FC Basel 1893 AG with following members: David Degen (president), Carol Etter (delegate of the club FC Basel), Dan Holzmann, Ursula Rey-Krayer and Andreas Rey (vice-president).

Club management

The club AGM tool place on 15 May 2023. With the exception of Benno Kaiser, who left the board of directors voluntarily, the entire board was re-elected with large majorities. Kaiser has held various positions on the FCB board since 2009.

The board of directors of the club are:

Updated to match played 15 May 2023
Source: FCB Official Site

Team management

On 28 November 2022 FCB had announced that they had taken Heiko Vogel under contract as their new sporting director, as per 1 January 2023. After the end of their previous season, in which Vogel had taken over in charge of the coaching of their first team following the dismissal of Alexander Frei in February, Vogel continued in his role as sports director for this season.

On 12 May 2023 the club announced that Timo Schultz had been signed a contract as head coach of the new FCB first team. On 22 May they announced that the entire trainer staff had been appointed. Loïc Favé would join Davide Callà as assistant coach and Johannes Wieber would become athletic coach, Gabriel Wüthrich remained goalkeeper coach. On 23 May the club announced that the new coach of the U-21 would be the ex-footballer Dennis Hediger, who had been the coach of the U-18 team the previous season. Appointed a his assistant coaches were Marco Aratore and Michaël Bauch.

On 29 September the club announced that they were parting with coach Schultz, together with his assistant Loïc Favé, and that he would be replaced by the current sport director Heiko Vogel. Vogel was dismissed a month later, on 31 October. The position as head coach was then replaced immediately, with Fabio Celestini taking over until the end of the season. On 17 November 2023, Martin Rueda was hired as an additional assistant coach. The position of the sports director was left vacant.

Soon afterwards on 4 December, a change in the coaching staff of the U-21 team was announced by the club. In the announcement it stated that with immediate effect the club and the current U-21 head coach Dennis Hediger were going their separate ways. The management of the youth department had come to this decision after analyzing the Promotion League first half of the season. The team would be led by the previous U-19 coach Mario Cantaluppi.

The position of the sports director had been left vacant, this until 15 May 2024 and then FCB announced that Daniel Stucki had been appointed as new sports director.

Overview

Off and pre-season

On 1 June 2023 the club announced the dates for the run into the new season, these were that on 20 June would be the press conference with the new head coach, then on 21 June would be the start for the first team's training and from 24 June until 1 July a summer trainings camp in Seefeld in Tirol in Austria. One of the most interesting statements that the club owners said, was in a radio interview before the new season, and it was that they wanted to keep 90% of the team together that had played so well in the 2022–23 UEFA Europa Conference League.

As the team planning started, the club announced that they would not exercise the purchase options for three players that had been in on loan the previous season. Darian Males, Andi Zeqiri and Kasim Nuhu, therefore, left the club. On 20 June, it was announced that Finn van Breemen had signed in from ADO Den Haag. Then, on 23 June, it was announced that Kaly Sène had left the club, because his contract had not been extended, and that he had signed a contract with Lausanne-Sport. On 30 June, it was announced that Andy Diouf had transferred out to French club Lens. Then, on 3 July, it was announced that Thierno Barry had signed in from Beveren and that Jonathan Dubasin had signed in from Albacete On 12 July, it was announced that Andy Pelmard had transferred out to Clermont Foot. One day later, on 13 July, it was also announced that the loan contract for Sayfallah Ltaief to FC Winterthur would be extended until 30 June 2024. On 17 July, it was published that young talent Liam Chipperfield, who had spent ten years in the FCB youth department would move to Sion. Two days later, on 19 July, it was announced that Zeki Amdouni had transferred to Burnley. The next day the club announced that Bradley Fink would be loaned out to Grasshoppers until 30 June 2024.

By this time ten players had left the club and only three new players had joined, therefore, the news and the publications kept the flow that had been developed in the meantime. On 20 July, FCB announced that they had signed their former youth footballer Dominik Schmid on a three-year contract from Grasshopper Club. On 21 July, it was then announced that three youngsters, Leon Avdullahu, Axel Kayombo and Arlet Junior Zé, who had been part of the FCB U-18 team that had just won the Swiss championship, had signed professional contracts and advanced to the first team. On 25 July, Basel signed in Georgia international Gabriel Sigua from Dinamo Tbilisi on a five-year contract. On 11 August Basel then signes German youth international Maurice Malone from Augsburg on a four-year contract. Then again on the outwards direction, on 14 August, it was announced that Swiss international Dan Ndoye had moved on to Bologna. Again on the inwards direction, during the following days a number of new signings were announced, Austrian international Yusuf Demir on a one-year loan from Galatasaray, Serbian international Đorđe Jovanović on a four-year contract from Maccabi Tel Aviv, Bosnian international Adrian Leon Barišić also on a four-year contract from Osijek, and then Tunisian international Mohamed Dräger on a three-year contract from Nottingham Forest.

Another player who chose to move out was Wouter Burger, he signed for Stoke City on 25 August. Then, on 28 August, Basel announced two new signings, first that of Juan Gauto from Club Atlético Huracán on a five-year deal, and then that of Renato Veiga, on a four-year contract, from Sporting CP. Further players to move out were Riccardo Calafiori definitely to Bologna on 31 August, Liam Millar on loan to Preston North End, Nasser Djiga on loan to Red Star Belgrade. and Emmanuel Essiam on loan to Stade Lausanne Ouchy. The final signing was Kevin Rüegg who came in on a one-year loan from Hellas Verona.

The summary all of which is, 17 players out and 16 players in.

Winter break

On 23 December, Basel announced that they were loaning Jonathan Dubasin out to Real Oviedo, in the second highest Spanish league, until the end of the season and the loan-contract had a purchase option. They also said that the loan move was primarily for personal reasons. During his time with FCB early in the season, Dubasin was out for a long time on with a ligament injury in his foot. By the winter break he had made eleven appearances in all competitions (ten league, one cup), in which he scored three goals and made one assist. On 26 December 2023, the club announced that they had signed Benjamin Kololli on a free transfer and that he had signed a two-and-a-half-year contract, which contained an option for another year. On 5 January, the club announced that they had signed Nicolas Vouilloz from Servette on a four-and-half-year contract, dated up until sommer 2028.

Players

First-team squad

The following is the list of the Basel first team squad. It also includes players that were in the squad the day the season started on 16 July 2023, but subsequently left the club after that date.