User:Huligan0/2001–02 FC Basel season

The 2001–02 season was the Fussball Club Basel 1893's 109th season in their existence and their 8th consecutive season in the Nationalliga A, the top flight of Swiss football.

Overview
The Clubs main aim for the 2001–02 season was to win the Swiss Nationalliga A championship title. The second aim was to win the cup title. Their third aim was to stay in the 2001 UEFA Intertoto Cup as long as possible, if possible win the final and thus to advance to the UEFA Cup.

New with profession contracts for the new season, and brought up from their reserve team, were Philipp Degen and Marco Streller. Further, Pascal Zuberbühler returned from a one year loan with Bayer Leverkusen. Basel's biggest signing for the new season were Scott Chipperfield, who came from Wollongong Wolves, and Christian Eduardo Giménez, who was signed from Lugano. Basel started the season of with various warm-up matches. These included teams from the Nationalliga A and the Nationalliga B.

Domestic League
The Qualification Round to the League season 2002–03 was contested by twelve teams and started on 4 July 2001. The season started in the worst possible way, Basel were beaten 8–1 in the away game against FC Sion. The afore mentioned Marco Streller was to play his League debut in St. Jakob-Park being substituted in during the 66th Minute on 11 July 2001 in the 3–1 home win against Servette. Unluckily in the last minute of the game he scored an own goal. It was to remain his only game for Basel in this season because he was loaned to feeder club FC Concordia Basel for the rest of the season. Christian Eduardo Giménez was to play his debut on 18 July in the 3–3 draw with St. Gallen and his first goal for the club was to follow during the 3–1 home win against the Young Boys on the 11 August. Giménez was to end the season as the top scorer in the Swiss league.

After five games Basel were straggling after achieving just one win and one draw, opposed to three defeats. Hereafter things turned for the better and despite two further defeats, and despite that these were in the two matches against the reigning title holders Grasshopper-Club Zürich, Basel ended the qualification leading the league table.

The first eight teams of the qualification then competed in the Championship Playoff Round, which started in the new year. Each team took half of the points (rounded up to complete units) gained during the Qualification as Bonus with them. With ten wins and just one defeat in the first eleven games, Basel pulled away at the top of the table to win the championship three games before the end of the season. Basel thus achieved their main aim for the season. This was their first title after 22 years of waiting.

Domestic Cup
Basel's clear aim for the Swiss Cup was to win the title, especially because the final was to be played in St. Jakob-Park. In the round of 32 and the round of 16 Basel were draw with an away game against lower league teams Concordia and Colombier, both games were won without conceding a goal. In the quarterfinal Zürich were beaten 4–1 away from home. The semifinal against Young Boys ended in a draw after extra time, but Basel won after penalties. The Final was won in extra time against the Grasshoppers thanks to a penalty scored by Murat Yakin after Boris Smiljanić cleared a ball on the line with his hand. Basel thus also achieved their second aim.

Europe
In the 2001 UEFA Intertoto Cup, which started for Basel on the first of July, Basel were drawn against Iceland's Grindavík. With two victories Basel won 5–0 on aggregate. The next round saw them matched against SC Heerenveen, a Dutch club from the Eredivisie. Again two straight wins saw Basel advance with a 5–3 aggregate. The semifinal was an all Swiss affair with local rivals Lausanne being beaten 5–2 on aggregate. The Finals were played against Aston Villa, which the Premier League team won 5–2 on aggregate. Basel achieved their minimum aim for this competition.

Nationalliga A 2001–02
For more information, see 2001–02 Nationalliga A

Qualification Round
The Qualification Round to the League season 2002–03 was contested by twelve teams. The first eight teams of the regular season (or Qualification) were then to compete in the Championship Playoff Round. The teams in ninth to twelfth position completed with the top four teams of the Nationalliga B in a Nationalliga A/B Playoff round.

Championship Playoff Round
The first eight teams of the regular season (or Qualification) competed in the Championship Playoff Round. They took half of the points (rounded up to complete units) gained in the Qualification as Bonus with them.

Swiss Cup 2001–02
For more information, see Swiss Cup 2001–02

Second round
Basel won 5–0 on aggregate.

Third round
Basel won 5–3 on aggregate.

Semifinal
Basel won 5–2 on aggregate.

Final
Aston Villa won 5–2 on aggregate.