FC Basel

The city of Basel is located in the north-west of Switzerland. It functions as a major industrial centre for the chemical and pharmaceutical industry. Also, it has a reputation in Switzerland as a successful sporting place.

The soccer club FC Basel is the team representative of the city. It was established in 1893 but became most successful in the 1960s and 1970s winning the Swiss championship seven times and the national Cup three times, before been relegated to the Nationalliga B (the second highest League in Switzerland).
In 1994 they went back into the highest league, but it was in 2001 when they inaugurated their new stadium, the St. Jakob -Park, when the success returned. In 2002 the FC Basel won the Double (Swiss Championship and Swiss Cup). The season 2003 they became the second Swiss team to ever play in the Champions League.

The home of the FC Basel is St. Jakob- Park it has a capacity for 33,000 fans and was founded in 1998. St Jakob -Park has 32 stores on three different floors, likewise two restaurants and a parking space for 680 cars on two different floors. It has been awarded four stars by UEFA, which is the highest amount of stars that can be awarded to a stadium of that size.

In addition, the FC Basel is recognized for having a big and loyal local following, becoming by far the highest average attendance in Switzerland. The squad for the 2006 season is formed by Franco Costanzo, Louis Crayton, Yann Sommer, Patrick Baumman, Bruno Berner, Damir Dzombic, Daniel Majstorovic, Boris Smiljanic, Retto Zanni, Papa Malick Ba, Delron Buckey, Franz Burgmeier, Scott Chipperfield, Ivan Ergic, Simone Grippo, Zdravco Kuzmanovic, Koji Nakata, Ivan Rakitic, Mile Sterjovski, Cesar Andres Carignano, Cristiano, Eduardo Adelino Da Silva, Mikheil Kavelashvili and Mladen Petric.