1955–56 FC Basel season

FC Basel
1955–56 season
Chairman	Jules Düblin
Manager	Béla Sárosi
Ground	Landhof, Basel
Top goalscorer	League: Josef Hügi (14); All: Josef Hügi (18)
Highest home attendance	10,000 on 11 December 1955; vs La Chaux-de-Fonds; and on 13 May 1956 ; vs Grasshopper Club
Lowest home attendance	3,800 on 10 June 1956; vs Fribourg
Average home league attendance	6,630
	← 1954–55 1956–57 →

The 1955–56 season was Fussball Club Basel 1893's 62nd season in their existence. It was their tenth consecutive season in the top flight of Swiss football after their promotion from the Nationalliga B the season 1945–46. They played their home games in the Landhof, in the Wettstein Quarter in Kleinbasel. Jules Düblin was the club's chairman. It was his tenth successive season as chairman.

Overview

During the previous four or five years the number of players joining and leaving the club was increasing considerably. The other Swiss clubs politics of buying new players was increasing strongly and transfer fees rose rapidly in this period. Basel, under the leadership of Jules Düblin, were trying to stay clear of this transfer trading. But because at the beginning of the previous season they had lost important players, such as goalkeeper Gianfranco de Taddeo to Cantonal Neuchatel, midfielder Kurt Maurer to La Chaux-de-Fonds and striker Walter Bielser to Biel-Bienne, the Basel board of directors were changing their approach to the subject. Düblin explained the situation at the AGM and the club members gave him the rights to strengthen the team. Béla Sárosi was hired as new team manager. Various transfers were made, Werner Schley returned from Grasshopper Club, Gottlieb Stäuble returned from Lausanne-Sport, Walter Bielser returned from Biel-Bienne, Silvan Thüler was hired from Solothurn and Peter-Jürgen Sanmann was hired from Concordia Hamburg. The exact amount that this all cost is not recorded, but the club needed to take up credits, one of which came from the city of Basel over the amount of 30,000 Swiss Francs.^[1]

As mentioned Béla Sárosi was hired in as new team manager. The Hungarian ex-international footballer had been team manager by Lugano the previous two seasons. He replaced René Bader who continued as player. There were fourteen teams contesting in the 1955–56 Nationalliga A, these were the top 12 teams from the previous season and the two newly promoted teams Urania Genève Sport and FC Schaffhausen. Again this season, the bottom two teams in the table were to be relegated. Basel won 10 of their 26 games and drew six times and lost 10 times. They scored 47 goals and conceded 50. Basel ended the championship with 26 points in 7th position. They were 16 points behind new champions Grasshopper Club. Grenchen and Fribourg suffered relegation.

Josef Hügi was again Basel's top league goal scorer with 14 goals and he was joint seventh league top scorer behind Branislav Vukosavljević from Grasshopper Club who had scored 33 times. Gottlieb Stäuble was Basel's second best goal scorer with 13 goals and joint ninth league top scorer. Further, Peter-Jürgen Sanmann netted six times.^[2] Four goals in one match could be noted for Hügi on 10 June 1956 and also a hat-trick for Sanmann in the same game as Basel won 9–1 against Fribourg. This was seen by only 3,800 supporters, Basel's lowest home attendance that season.^[3]

Basel joined the Swiss Cup in the third principal round. They were drawn away against lower tier local team SC Binningen, but because they waived the home advantage the match was played at the Landhof and Basel won 5–0. Rolf Keller scored a hat-trick in this game. In the fourth round they were drawn at home to lower tier FC Emmenbrücke and Basel won 6–2. Josef Hügi scored a hat-trick in this game. In the fifth round Basel were drawn at home to Biel-Bienne. Gottlieb Stäuble scored a hat-trick and Basel won 7–3. In the quarter-finals basel were drawn away against Cantonal Neuchatel, but here they were knocked out of the competition.^[4]

Players

The following is the list of the Basel first team squad during the season 1955–56. The list includes players that were in the squad on the day that the Nationalliga A season started on 28 August 1955 but subsequently left the club after that date.

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	Hansruedi Blatter
—	GK	SUI	Walter Müller
—	GK	SUI	Werner Schley (from Grasshopper Club)
—	DF	SUI	Werner Bopp
—	DF	SUI	Hans-Rudolf Fitze
—	DF	SUI	Hans Hügi (I)
—	DF	SUI	René Klauser (I)
—	DF	SUI	Bruno Michaud (I)
—	DF	HUN	György Mogoy
—	MF	SUI	Gustav Borer
—	MF	SUI	Raymond Gilliéron (from Brühl St. Gallen)
—	MF	FRA	Pierre Redolfi


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
—	MF	SUI	Rudolf Rickenbacher (from Nordstern Basel)
—	MF	SUI	Gottlieb Stäuble (from Lausanne-Sport)
—	MF	SUI	Silvan Thüler (from Solothurn)
—	FW	SUI	René Bader
—	FW	SUI	Walter Bannwart
—	FW	SUI	Walter Bielser (from Biel-Bienne)
—	FW	SUI	Pierre Geiser
—	FW	SUI	Josef Hügi (II)
—	FW	SUI	Rolf Keller
—	FW	GER	Otto Ludwig
—	FW	SUI	Hansueli Oberer
—	FW	GER	Peter-Jürgen Sanmann (from Concordia Hamburg)
—	FW	ITA	Romano Zolin

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
—	DF	SUI	Hans Weber (to Lausanne-Sport)
—	MF	SUI	Eugen Büchel
—	MF	SUI	Albert Haug (to Zürich)
—	MF	SUI	Luciano Merlini (to SC Burgdorf)
—	MF	ESP	Juan Monros (to Urania Genève Sport)


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
—	MF	SUI	Kurt Thalmann
—	FW	SUI	Ernst Klauser (II)
—	FW	SUI	Hans-Peter Schär
—		SUI	Alfred Hartmann
—		SUI	Hans Jordi

Results

Legend

Win Draw Loss Postponed

Friendly matches

Pre-season and mid-season

7 August 1955 Pre-season	Grenchen	1 – 1	Basel	Stadion Brügglifeld, Aarau
	Sidler (1:0)	Summary	(1:1) Hügi (II)	Attendance: 1,200 Referee: Weiersmüller Suhr

14 August 1955 Pre-season	Basel	2 – 2	Solothurn	Landhof, Basel
15:00	Bannwart (1:0) Oberer (2:1)	Summary	38' (1:1) Mollet 75' (2:2) Adam	Attendance: 2,400 Referee: M. Schreiber Reinach
Note: Transfer game for Silvan Thüler

20 August 1955 Pre-season	Hamburger SV	2 – 1	Basel	Hamburg
	Uwe Seeler 25' (1:0) Dieter Seeler 53' (2:0)	Summary	80' (2:1) Hügi (II)	Attendance: 5,000

20 November 1955 Mid-season	Basel	1 – 3	Torpedo Moscow	St. Jakob Stadium, Basel
14:45	Oberer 33' (1:1)	Summary	18' (0:1) Falin 65' (1:2) Arbutow 86' (1:3) Streltsov	Attendance: 18,000 Referee: Victor Werner Schicker Bern

5 February 1956 Winter break	Urania Genève Sport	2 – 0	Basel	Stade de Frontenex, Geneva
	Bernasconi 42' (1:0) Monros 87' (2:0)	Summary		Attendance: 900 Referee: M. Tasca Geneva

Winter break to end of season

5 February 1956 Winter break	Urania Genève Sport	2 – 0	Basel	Stade de Frontenex, Geneva
	Bernasconi 42' (1:0) Monros 87' (2:0)	Summary		Attendance: 900 Referee: M. Tasca Geneva

11 February 1956 Winter break	Basel	3 – 2	SC Concordia	Landhof, Basel
15:00	Stäuble (2x) Bielser (1x)	Summary	(1x) Schmitt (1x) Woiters	Attendance: 400 Referee: M. Schreiber Reinach

30 May 1956 Mid-season	Basel	2 – 1	Hibernian	Landhof, Basel
18:30	Stäuble 58' (1:1) Hügi (II) 85' (pen. 2:1)	Summary	44' (0:1) Frye	Attendance: 4,500 Referee: Othmar Huber Thun

1 July 1956 End of season	South Baden XI	1 – 5	Basel	Eichwald-Stadion, Müllheim
	Zeller 25' (1:2)	Summary	13' (0:1) Hügi (II) 15' (0:2) Hügi (II) 30' (1:3) Bannwart 68' (1:4) Hügi (II) 73' (1:5) Hügi (II)	Referee: Klöss

Nationalliga A

League matches

28 August 1955 Round 1	Chiasso	2 – 0	Basel	Stadio Via Comacini, Chiasso
	Oberer 51' (pen. 1:0) Ferrari 52' (2:0)	Summary		Attendance: 1,300 Referee: von Gunten Bern

4 September 1955 Round 2	Basel	3 – 2	Zürich	Landhof, Basel
17:00	Thüler 37' (1:2) Hügi (II) 56' (pen. 2:2) Bielser 69' (3:2)	Summary	17' (0:1) Marta 18' (0:2) Bruppacher	Attendance: 5,300 Referee: Zutter Bern

11 September 1955 Round 3	Schaffhausen	2 – 2	Basel	Stadion Breite, Schaffhausen
15:00	Akeret 57' (1:0) Akeret 72' (2:2)	Summary	60' (1:1) Sanmann 67' (1:2) Hügi (II)	Attendance: 6,000 Referee: Schönholzer Lausanne

25 September 1955 Round 4	Basel	3 – 0	Urania Genève Sport	Landhof, Basel
15:00	Hügi (II) 53' (1:0) Bannwart 56' (2:0) Stäuble 88' (3:0)	Summary		Attendance: 6,000 Referee: Victor Werner Schicker Bern
Note: Minute of commemoration for the late FCB co-founder Josy Ebinger.

2 October 1955 Round 5	Lausanne-Sport	0 – 1	Basel	Olympique de la Pontaise, Lausanne
15:00		Summary	3' (0:1) Hügi (II)	Attendance: 5,500 Referee: W. Werner St. Gallen

16 October 1955 Round 6	Basel	2 – 2	Young Boys	Landhof, Basel
15:00	Stäuble 31' (1:1) Thüler 73' (2:1)	Summary	9' (0:1) Bähler 87' (2:2) Bopp	Attendance: 7,500 Referee: E. Guidi Bellinzona

23 October 1955 Round 7	Bellinzona	2 – 0	Basel	Stadio Comunale, Bellinzona
	Villa 4' (1:0) Sartori (2:0)	Summary	42′ Hügi (II)	Attendance: 1,800 Referee: Josef Gulde St. Gallen

30 October 1955 Round 8	Basel	3 – 2	Lugano	Landhof, Basel
15:00	Stäuble 10' (1:0) Bielser 17' (2:1) Hügi (II) 75' (pen, 3:2)	Summary	13' (1:1) Pozzi 52' (2:2) Pozzi Bartesaghi	Attendance: 6,800 Referee: D. Mellet Lausanne

6 November 1955 Round 9	Grasshopper Club	4 – 2	Basel	Hardturm, Zürich
14:45	Vukosavljević 25' (1:0) Ballaman 31' (2:0) Hüssy 38' (3:0) Vukosavljević 80' (4:2)	Summary	47' (3:1) Bannwart 53' (3:2) Stäuble Mogoy	Attendance: 11,500 Referee: Victor Werner Schicker Bern

13 November 1955 Round 10	Basel	4 – 2	Grenchen	Landhof, Basel
14:30	Stäuble 46' (1:2) Stäuble 59' (2:2) Thüler 72' (3:2) Hügi (II) 81' (4:2)	Summary	41' (0:1) Sidler 43' (pen. 0:2) Morf	Attendance: 5,000 Referee: Gino Bergamini Viganello

27 November 1955 Round 11	Servette	3 – 0	Basel	Charmilles Stadium, Geneva
14:30	Anker 30' (1:0) Pasteur 75' (2:0) Anker 85' (3:0)	Summary		Attendance: 7,000 Referee: E. Guidi Bellinzona

4 December 1955 Round 12	Fribourg	1 – 0	Basel	Stade Universitaire Saint-Léonard
	Kaeslin 40' (1:0)	Summary		Attendance: 3,000 Referee: W. Rufli Bremgarten

11 December 1955 Round 13	Basel	2 – 0	La Chaux-de-Fonds	Landhof, Basel
14:30	Stäuble 41' (1:0) Bielser (2:0)	Summary		Attendance: 10,000 Referee: F. Buchmüller Zürich

26 February 1956 Round 14	Basel	P – P	Chiasso	Landhof, Basel
		[ Summary]

4 March 1956 Round 15	Zürich	1 – 1	Basel	Letzigrund, Zürich
15:00	Leimgruber 54' (1:0)	Summary	70' (1:1) Oberer	Attendance: 5,000 Referee: Gino Bergamini Viganello

15 March 1955 Round 16	Basel	1 – 0	Schaffhausen	Landhof, Basel
15:00	Stäuble 27' (1:0)	Summary		Attendance: 6,500 Referee: Josef Gulde St. Gallen

25 March 1956 Round 17	Urania Genève Sport	2 – 0	Basel	Stade de Frontenex, Geneva
	Chodat 60' (1:0) Mezzena 87' (pen. 2:0)	Summary		Attendance: 4,200 Referee: F. Schorer Interlaken

8 April 1956 Round 18	Basel	2 – 1	Lausanne-Sport	Landhof, Basel
15:00	Hügi (II) 4' (1:0) Hügi (II) 19' (2:1)	Summary	13' (1:1) Poma	Attendance: 8,000 Referee: Othmar Huber Thun

15 April 1956 Round 19	Young Boys	4 – 1	Basel	Wankdorf Stadium, Bern
15:00	Grütter 7' (1:0) Scheller 8' (2:0) Hamel 12' (3:0) Scheller 68' (4:1)	Summary	14' (3:1) Stäuble	Attendance: 11,000 Referee: Gino Bergamini Viganello

22 April 1956 Round 14	Basel	2 – 1	Chiasso	Landhof, Basel
15:00	Sanmann 23' (1:0) Hügi (II) 60' (2:0)	Summary	68' (2:1) Chiesa	Attendance: 7,500 Referee: Schönholzer Lausanne

28 April 1956 Round 20	Basel	2 – 2	Bellinzona	Landhof, Basel
15:00	Thüler 27′ Stäuble 45' (1:0) Stäuble 84' (2:2)	Summary	48' (1:1) Capoferri 77' (1:2) Capoferri	Attendance: 5,000 Referee: Zutter Bern

6 May 1956 Round 21	Lugano	P – P	Basel	Cornaredo, Lugano
		[ Summary]

13 May 1956 Round 22	Basel	2 – 5	Grasshopper Club	Landhof, Basel
15:00	Bielser 47' (1:3) Stäuble 75' (2:3)	Summary	3' (pen. 0:1) Vukosavljević 39' (0:2) Ballaman 41' (0:3) Hagen 85' (2:4) Vukosavljević 88' (2:5) Hagen	Attendance: 10,000 Referee: Fr. Karlen Bern

20 May 1956 Round 21	Lugano	0 – 0	Basel	Cornaredo, Lugano
		Summary		Attendance: 2,500 Referee: Josef Gulde St. Gallen

27 May 1956 Round 23	Grenchen	4 – 2	Basel	Stadion Brühl, Grenchen
15:30	Moser 11' (1:0) Raboud (I) 12' (2:0) Sidler 44' (3:0) Sidler 84' (4:2)	Summary	65' (o.g. 3:1) Campoleoni 78' (3:2) Bannwart	Attendance: 3,000 Referee: D. Mellet Lausanne

3 June 1956 Round 24	Basel	1 – 1	Servette	Landhof, Basel
15:00	Hügi (II) 73' (1:1)	Summary	35' (0:1) Anker	Attendance: 4,800 Referee: F. Buchmüller Zürich

10 June 1956 Round 25	Basel	9 – 1	Fribourg	Landhof, Basel
15:00	Hügi (II) 28' (1:0) Sanmann 38' (2:0) Hügi (II) 42' (3:0) Monti 47' (o.g. 4:0) Stäuble 58' (5:0) Hügi (II) 59' (6:0) Sanmann 63' (7:0) Hügi (II) 80' (8:0) Sanmann 81' (9:0) Geiser 90′	Summary	90' (9:1) Schmutz	Attendance: 3,800 Referee: Victor Werner Schicker Bern

16 June 1956 Round 26	La Chaux-de-Fonds	6 – 2	Basel	Stade Charrière, La Chaux-de-Fonds
17:30	Mauron 24' (1:1) Antenen 33' (2:1) Kauer 49' (3:2) Mauron 73' (4:2) Antenen 87' (pen. 5:2) Mauron 88' (6:2)	Summary	20' (0:1) Geiser 49' (2:2) Sanmann	Attendance: 3,000 Referee: E. Guidi Bellinzona

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Grasshopper Club	26	19	4	3	94	36	+58	42	Champions and Swiss Cup winners
2	La Chaux-de-Fonds	26	14	6	6	65	46	+19	34
3	Young Boys	26	12	8	6	60	41	+19	32
4	Servette	26	12	6	8	53	51	+2	30
5	Bellinzona	26	11	6	9	39	45	−6	28
6	Chiasso	26	12	3	11	48	47	+1	27
7	Basel	26	10	6	10	47	50	−3	26
8	Lausanne-Sport	26	10	5	11	40	50	−10	25
9	Lugano	26	7	9	10	38	46	−8	23
10	Schaffhausen	26	7	8	11	30	44	−14	22
11	Urania Genève Sport	26	8	6	12	34	51	−17	22
12	Zürich	26	8	5	13	55	53	+2	21
13	Grenchen	26	7	4	15	39	55	−16	18	Relegated
14	Fribourg	26	5	4	17	32	59	−27	14	Relegated

Source: rsssf.com

Swiss Cup

19 November 1955 Round 3	SC Binningen	0 – 5	Basel	Landhof, Basel
		Summary	23' (0:1) Keller 27' (pen. 0:2) Thüler 58' (0:3) Sanmann 72' (0:4) Keller 82' (pen. 0:5)	Attendance: 1,000 Referee: F. Schorer Interlaken
Note: SC Binningen waived the home advantage

18 December 1955 Round 4	Basel	6 – 2	FC Emmenbrücke	Landhof, Basel
14:30	Oberer (1:2) Hügi (II) 31' (2:2) Hügi (II) 63' (3:2) Stäuble 64' (4:2) Bielser 83' (5:2) Hügi (II) 80' (6:2)	Summary	(0:1) Kehl 23' (0:2) Steffen	Attendance: 2,300 Referee: Weiersmüller Suhr

19 February 1956 Round 5	Basel	7 – 3	Biel-Bienne	Landhof, Basel
14:30	Stäuble 2' (1:0) Stäuble 38' (2:3) Thüler (pen. 3:3) Sanmann 48' (4:3) Hügi (II) 70' (5:3) Sanmann 74' (6:3) Stäuble 80' (7:3)	Summary	18' (1:1) Kohler 23' (1:2) Riederer 33' (1:3) Allemann	Attendance: 1,500 Referee: Surdez Delémont

2 April 1956 Quarter-final	Cantonal Neuchatel	1 – 0	Basel	Stade de la Maladière (1924), Neuchâtel
15:00	Lanz 85' (1:0)	Summary		Attendance: 6,000 Referee: F. Buchmüller Zürich

References

^ Zindel, Josef (2018), "1956 - Umdenken", Page 53, Friedrich Reinhardt Verlag, Basel
^ Erik Garin. "Nationalliga A 1955/56". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 2019-11-16.
^ Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv”. "FC Basel - FC Fribourg 9:1 (3:0)". Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv”. Retrieved 2019-11-16.
^ Erik Garin. "Switzerland 1955/56". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 2019-11-16.

Sources

Die ersten 125 Jahre. Publisher: Josef Zindel im Friedrich Reinhardt Verlag, Basel. ISBN 978-3-7245-2305-5
The FCB team 1955–56 at fcb-archiv.ch
Switzerland 1955–56 by Erik Garin at Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation

External links

FC Basel official site

[Die_ersten_125_Jahre_-_1956_-_Umdenken-1] Zindel, Josef (2018), "1956 - Umdenken", Page 53, Friedrich Reinhardt Verlag, Basel

[rsssf-Nationalliga_A_1955/56-2] Erik Garin. "Nationalliga A 1955/56". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 2019-11-16.

[fcb-achiv-fcb-fribourg_1955/56-3] Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv”. "FC Basel - FC Fribourg 9:1 (3:0)". Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv”. Retrieved 2019-11-16.

[rsssf-Switzerland_1955/56-4] Erik Garin. "Switzerland 1955/56". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 2019-11-16.

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