User:Huligan0/Marcel Kunz

Marcel Kunz (born 24. May 1943 in Gerlafingen) is a Swiss former footballer who played as a goalkeeper.

Club career
Kunz started his football with the youth teams of the local football club FC Gerlafingen before moving on to Basel in 1963. He came to Basel as successor to Kurt Stettler, who had been their goalkeeper since 1957. Kunz was their number one goalkeeper for twelve years, despite having strong competition from Jean-Paul Laufenburger for the place between the posts in the Nationalliga A.

Kunz won the Swiss championship title for the first time in Basel's 1966–67 season. Basel finished the championship one point clear of FC Zürich who finished in second position. Basel won 16 of the 26 games, drawing eight, losing twice, and they scored 60 goals conceding just 20.

In that season Kunz won the double with Basel. In the Cup final on 15 May 1967 Basel's opponents were Lausanne-Sports. In the former Wankdorf Stadium, Helmut Hauser scored the decisive goal via penalty. The game went down in football history due to the sit-down strike that followed this goal. After 88 minutes of play, with the score at 1–1, referee Karl Göppel awarded Basel a controversial penalty. André Grobéty had pushed Hauser gently in the back and Hauser let himself drop theatrically. Subsequently after the 2–1 lead for Basel the Lausanne players refused to resume the game and they sat down demonstratively on the pitch. The referee had to abandon the match. Basel were awarded the cup with a 3–0 forfait.

Kunz won his second title in Basel's 1968–69 season. Basel finished the championship just one point clear of second placed Lausanne Sports. Basel won 13 of the 26 games, drawing ten, losing three times, they scored 48 goals conceding 28. Kunz won the championship with Basel fot the third time season 1969–70. The team finisched again one point clear of Lausanne Sports who ended in second position. Basel won 15 of the 26 games, drawing seven, losing four times, they scored 59 goals conceding 23. In 1971–72 Kunz won the championship for the fourth time. Basel ended the season four points ahead of Zürich. Of the 26 league games Basel won 18, drawing seven, losing just once, scoring 66 goals conceding 28.

Kunz won the Swiss championship title for the fifth time in the 1972–73 Nationalliga A season. Basel won the championship four points ahead of Grasshopper Club. Basel won 17 of their 26 league games, drew five and lost four. They scored a total of 57 goals conceding 30.

After his career in Basel Kunz played another year by Nordstern Basel in the Nationalliga B.

International career
Kunz was called up by trainer Alfredo Foni and Erwin Ballabio to the national team as successor to Karl Elsener. He played his debut for Switerland on 24 May 1967 in the Hardturm, in Zürich in front of 21,337 spectators, in the legendary 7–1 win against Romania. He was capped 14 times for Switzerland.

He played his last game for his country on 13 October 1971 in St. Jakob Stadium, in front of 47,877 spectators, under coach Louis Maurer. The Euro 1972 qualifying game ended with a 2–3 defeat against England.

Honours

 * Basel
 * Swiss League champions: 1966–67, 1968–69, 1969–70, 1971–72, 1972–73
 * Swiss Cup winner: 1966–67
 * Swiss Cup runner-up: 1969–70, 1971–72, 1972–73
 * Swiss League Cup winner: 1972
 * Coppa delle Alpi winner: 1969, 1970
 * Uhren Cup winner: 1969, 1970

Personal Information
Even to his playing times Kunz was employee of Ankerbrauerei a brewery in Frenkendorf. He spent part of his life living in Riehen bei Basel.

Sources and references

 * Rotblau: Jahrbuch Saison 2015/2016. Publisher: FC Basel Marketing AG. ISBN 978-3-7245-2050-4
 * A list of Swiss Cup Finals at RSSSF