Iván Knez

Iván Knez (born 21 July 1974) is a former footballer who played as a defender during the 1990s and 2000s.

Football career
Although he was born in Argentina, Knez was raised in Switzerland and started playing football in the youth movement of the local club SC Emmen. He began his professional career with FC Lucerne in 1994. After five years at the club, he moved to FC Basel in 1999.

Knez joined Basel's first team for their 1999–2000 season under new head coach Christian Gross. After playing one test match, his debut for his new club was in the home game in the Stadion Schützenmatte on 26 June 1999 as Basel beat Korotan 6–0 in return leg of the first round of the 1999 UI Cup and advanced to the next round. After playing in another UIC and another test game Knez played his domestic league debut for the club in the away game in the Cornaredo on 7 July 1999 as Basel played a 1–1 draw against Lugano. He scored his first goal for the club on 24 August in the away game in the stadion Espenmoos as Basel played a 1–1 draw against St. Gallen. Knez played as centre-back together with Oliver Kreuzer. FC Basel reached the final of the 2001 UEFA Intertoto Cup, but they lost to Aston Villa. Knez helped the club win the Double during the 2001/02 season.

Between the years 1999 and 2002 Knez played a total of 122 games for Basel scoring just the afore mentioned goal. 68 of these games were in the Nationalliga A, 5 in the Swiss Cup, 5 in the UEFA cup, 7 in the UI Cup and 37 were friendly games.

In August 2002, he signed for Austrian Bundesliga club SK Rapid Wien, but returned to the Swiss Nationalliga a year later with BSC Young Boys. He then headed off to Germany's second division with FC Augsburg, and he retired in the summer of 2007.

Honours

 * Lucerne
 * Swiss Cup Runner-Up: 1997


 * Basel
 * Swiss League: 2002
 * Swiss Cup: 2002


 * Augsburg
 * Schwaben Cup: 2005