What On Earth Is Going On At FC Basel?

FC Basel won 14 out of a possible 17 Swiss Super League titles between 2004 and 2017, and ten on the bounce from 2010 onwards, in addition to enjoying famous victories against the likes of Chelsea, Bayern Munich, and Manchester United in the UEFA Champions League.
In six short years though, Basel have gone from being too good for domestic football in Switzerland, to bottom of their domestic top flight, and at risk of relegation.
In this documentary, HITC Sevens takes a look at the rise and fall of FC Basel, the club's current plight, and why their downfall has been so remarkable.
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[@tr3ncf]

As someone who follows FC Basel closely for more than 30 years I can only applaud this video. This was incredibly well researched.

[@oberynMelonLord]

also applaud his pronunciation of Ciriaco Sforza :D

[@frankmeyer1473]

​@@oberynMelonLord I was looking forward to Alfie having to deal with Swiss German names. "Cirizia Savorza" hit me by surprise.

[@Vallemaggia]

@@frankmeyer1473 he was decent with the swiss german ones, but completely messed up with the italian names Massimo Ceccaroni and Ciriaco Sforza ❤🤍💚🤣

[@alois1183]

Im a Basel fan myself The fact HITC sevens made a video on us really rubbed salt in the wounds to how bad we are 😂

[@karlfroberg520]

Alfie Masterclass!

[@btf_flotsam478]

I blame it on Federer's retirement.

[@MikeOxtinks]

I blame it on Teemu Pukki's move to the MLS

[@whiteninjastudios8839]

I blame it on Neymar Jr moving to Al Hilal

[@gandalf_thegrey]

​@@MikeOxtinksI agree. Pukki carried them and he didnt even need to step on their pitch

[@megaplexXxHD]

I blame it on humanitys existence

[@doncarloancelotti2256]

I blame on Rolex and Nesquik

[@oliverleonard7730]

Seeing FC Basel, Olympique Lyonnais and AFC Ajax all bottom of their domestic top flight at the same time is something.

[@HairyOgres888]

I think it’s a combination of poor management and complacency, which has taken its toll on the club and caused a nosedive this season.

[@sebastianoddsson862]

Yes. David the Degen is the kind of brainless business minded idiot with no social or team skills that thinks everything is about, money, making money and that this means success, irrespective of everything. Always reminds me of Piqué. Also a club legend with a similar ego and mindset and no ethics and or brains where it matters.

[@sebastianoddsson862]

Another thing. He's so entitled and full of himself, the business model relies on Basel being on the top and players gaining value to sell them off again. Basel loses. House of cards comes crashing down. No foundation, nothing.

[@falagarius]

Don't forget the change in the financial situation. No more champions league money meant they had to change drastically and fast. That is just never easy.

[@nenyez5488]

Damn, I always hoped that my club wouldn't end up in one of those videos

[@robertcrisp6297]

Recently moved to Basel. Thanks for the explanation, I was so confused what had happened to this team.

[@alessandrosteidl9094]

welcome❤️💙

[@robertcrisp6297]

@@alessandrosteidl9094 thank you. What a city!

[@markosteinbach2777]

welcome the best city in the world

[@Dionysos_____Alters]

@@markosteinbach2777 It used to be😢

[@rstein926]

The fact Basel, Lyon and Ajax could get relegated is phenomenal

[@ianmacfarlane1241]

Hilarious if Ajax go down.

[@gejamugamlatsoomanam7716]

Of only bayern munich would get relegated, would save the bundesliga

[@XLRAshon]

What a time to be alive!

[@colonelfares3857]

Schalke 04 and Bordeaux are also in a very precarious position and could be relegated to the 3rd tier. No fan but it's sad to see the demise of historic clubs, most of it due to poor management or greed.

[@ianmacfarlane1241]

@@colonelfares3857 This is the Champions League working exactly as planned. Kill off as man "less important " clubs, leaving 20 supposed Super Clubs.

[@venturer9400]

As someone said on the video about Bundesliga 2, the fact that teams can fall that low within a short amount of time is indicative of a relatively healthy domestic league system. At home here in Croatia, Dinamo Zagreb are going through one of the worst spells of results in the past few years, but the corruption that both benefits them and weakens other teams keeps them afloat - it is absolutely unthinkable for Dinamo to sink to the bottom. Even their current, 3rd place after almost four months seems like a miracle.

[@Bioterorist]

Keep crying Hadjuk fan...

[@venturer9400]

@@Bioterorist You don't need to be a fan of any other club to know about the corruption. This channel even has a video about it from early 2021 if I remember correctly.

[@Pät-g9o]

It is terrible to be see all this once again. Only a few years ago we were able to annoy the big players and teams in Europe, now we are fighting against relegation in such a weak league...😢 Hold on, FC Basel for ever❤💙

[@MS-vr3it]

calling the league weak when you're in last is a peak display of the arrogance that has been running in this club for decades, no one's safe in switzerland, remember 2016

[@KILROY94]

@@MS-vr3it bro es isch e schwachi liga. seht me jo jetz wider wie sich lugano, servette und yb international schlön. adieu europaplätz

[@Vallemaggia]

I remember a WK in Oensingen when we all stopped playing war and went to see the FCB in the champions league! PS I agree that the league is weak, because there's no FC Sion in it 😁😂

[@michaelschmid2311]

What are you on ? The Swiss League is simply weak . Saying that isn’t arrogant but accepting reality. The league hasn’t suddenly improved basel dropped off and that massively. The Average CSSL team struggle’s against teams from 2nd Bundesliga. I remember visiting my friends a 1-2 years ago and witnessed a trashing of my homeclub by Hamburger SV .

[@nicolassalathe6905]

Very nice video and thanks for presenting on what’s going on with my club😣 would have been nice to hear a bit more about this summer though as was is extremely weird. After the huge run in UECL, we had the most transfers in the world. We nearly had 40 squad mutation. In this process we sold players for around 52m € and lost 3 of the most influential players who were only here on loan. On the buy side we also brought in many new players for a staggering sum of around 34m €. But only around 25m € was actually invested in the new season as our two top sales were here on loan and officially bought at the first day of the new season but later sold for huge sums. Even after substracting these sales we still had the highest buy in sum of any swiss club in one transfer window. At the beginning we bought mostly young talents from second flight leagues of countries like the netherlands, belgium or spain. This was until the out in the UECL after which we bought another 8 players with most of them having played in a minor top league like the Israeli, croatian, argentine, austrian and even the swiss league. One was on loan in the bundesliga but didn't make any impact and then there is Yusuf demir on loan from galatasaray. Even though most of these new players were quite good at their former club they could not yet make a real impact here. And in those many transfers there are only a few basel boys or older players left. Most notably Taulant Xhaka, Fabian frei and returnee dominik schmid. Though even those can't make an impact or drag the new players anymore. Hope this helps to give a bit context to the last summer as well...

[@De70222]

It very sad seeing a big team diminishing which exactly what is happening to my club Chelsea fc 😢 due to mismanagement

[@nicolassalathe6905]

@@De70222 At least you're still mid table and not rock bottom😖

[@LilKansloos]

As you clearly follow FC Basel, what do you think of Finn van Breemen thus far? He came from my homeclub and is the first "major" sale from our youth we've done in about 20 years.

[@gundulaaar-iq5ym]

​@@LilKansloosPoor boy. Seems to be a nice guy, but i have to say fans of every other swiss team likes him more than basel fans. Even when the other centerbacks are out of form and injured he doesnt play anymore. Going to basel is like entering a sinking ship where the crew drills holes in the walls and fill the ship with huge buckets of water while theyre selling the rescue boats and hitting the same iceberg over and over..

[@nicolassalathe6905]

​@@LilKansloos So hard to really judge anyone in this team at the moment as there is no confidence at all. He did play most games in the beginning but has lost his place in the last games since he's to inconsistant and has done some mistakes... It definitely doesn't help that he doesn't really have a real boss beside him but most of the time another 22 year old who either came in this summer as well or a 23 year old who has been here a year but was injured most of last season. One can definitely see potential but it's just hard to show in this team atm😅

[@TheThemillions]

Kind of alarming the amount of 'Whats going on at *insert team name here*' being done right now. What's going on in football is the question!!

[@ajoax88]

Lyon and Ajax being last in the table is something I never throught i'd see. What a time to be alive.

[@vegito2000]

*what a (bad) time to ve alive

[@lorisacklin]

Thank you for bringing attention to our situation! Extremely well researched video, well done! I would maybe add that this season we sold a lot of players and only brought in new ones very late in the window. While I think these players are very talented, they are not a team yet and because of the bad results, everyones confidence has dropped massively. It's going to be a tough job for celestini to build up confidence and to make this squad a real team.

[@raideryka]

I remember when I was younger, instead of Basel, it was Grasshoppers who were the top dog in Switserland. And the same happened with them what Basel is experiencing atm. The became very bad, even relegated (this year the can relegate again) and is a shell of what they used to be in the 90's. I guess BSC Young Boys are the new sheriff in town for a very long period as the dominate in Swiss the last years

[@yasin_GD]

The season of the fallen gigants

[@SdH76zhEU]

Wow, you actually made a Clip about the swiss league, im honored. ;-) I have to say, Basel having only 170'000 is a bit misleading. The city is deffinatly more vibrant and urban then any town with same inhabitant amount in Britain or Germany. Thats because theres are so many suburbs that dont count as city, or even not to the Canton or the Nation, yes there are actually french and german suburbs of Basel, completely growen together with the City... Fc Basel allways had the biggest fanbase in Switzerland, specially in the 90ies when they were finally promoted from league B, they would reach 40'000+, when other teams stil only had a few 1000...

[@tr3ncf]

You‘re the one who‘s misleading people here. 40‘000+? That was one game under very special circumstances. The average that season was around 15‘000. Yes, that was still more than most top flight clubs but you‘re making it sound like we regularly drew crowds of 40‘000 while in the second tier. In fact, I can remember more than a few matches where I was one of around 3000 people in attendance during that time.

[@SdH76zhEU]

@@tr3ncf Yeah ok, im sorry. it was in the auf-/abstiegsrunde against Grasshop. with 33k in 93 and a year later against FC Zurich with 44k. Otherwhise they still had far more then the rest of football-switzerland during that time and age, as you stated. It was around 92, when lots of swiss started to watch bundesliga (ran, Sat1) and FCB had its 100year celebr. that Basel-folks suddenly appeared in huge numbers supporting their club in the secobd tier, as well Basel had no A-Hockeyteam, wich was far more popular then in Switzlnd.. those are the figures I remember...

[@tr3ncf]

@@SdH76zhEU Well, if you seriously believe that hockey was „far more popular“ than football pre 1992 and that the fact that average attendances today are higher than in the 1980s are mainly due to ran, then I can‘t really help you I guess. How does the fact that the matches with the highest attendance in Swiss football history were played in 1959 and 1972 fit into your narrative?

[@SdH76zhEU]

@@tr3ncf well ok, i hope we can come to an understanding here :-). I know football was popular till the early 80ies, just think about the classic Basel-zurich in the 70ies! But i guess then attendence went really low during 80ies. I remember Letzigrund (FCZ) having around 3000, officially, probably less in reality, with about 10/20 ultras, and that was mid 90ies! were as ZSC toping the 10k mark every damn game, same in Bern, with SCB and YB. Lugano or Lausanne still remained like that actually... Ofcourse it wasnt only "ran", contributing to the increase of popularity of football in Switzlnd again, also that Chapuisat played very successfully at Dortmund, and the swiss nationalteam having a really good squad, and other factors i guess...

[@neilarjoo1011]

Having just come back from a visit on Basel (including the home game v Luzern), I can assure you that Basel is a more vibrant city than most cities in the UK. I come from a city called Derby which officially has a population of >100k greater than Basel, but I can assure you that in terms of things to see and do, Basel and Derby are like a filet mignon and Burger King respectively 😅

[@millinutz]

As an expat living in Switzerland for about 40 years, I was just about to write more or less the same as "tr3ncf" has already done. He beat me to it. I have watched several of HITC Sevens videos and found them all very interesting and good. Now, knowing about Basel FC in detail, I can see and admire the incredible amount of research, correct research, he has put into this video. I feel now much more confident in listening to future videos and knowing I can believe all he says. Incredible research, thank you for your work.

[@dex1lsp]

Thank you for covering our club. Very well-done! This epic decline has been excruciating. 😫 You mentioned how we were about to play third-tier Kriens at the time of recording and the fact that defeat would be unimaginable even in our current state. Well, we did win, but just barely by a score of 1-0. That shows just how bad things have gotten. We really are performing at a third-tier level of quality. Now we are about to play newly promoted Yverdon in our upcoming league match, and I can't even say I have much confidence in beating them. In fact, we've already lost to them this season! 😩

[@MrOneFaces]

Well those are still cup matches, and everyone knows those have different rules (Saarbrücken - Fc Bayern that same evening). Even the first placed Zürich won only by a 1 goal margin scoring in the 92nd minute. With Celestini the club now has a coach who speaks openly about the problems, is a little bit harder on the players and at that moment wants to get points, not play spectacular football, which was really shown in the 2-1 against Yverdon where you have really seen the fight in them players. Will we become champions ? Fuck no. But will we get out of that relegation battle ? I am more then certain.

[@christopherflux6254]

This would be like Glasgow Celtic being bottom of the SPL.

[@Micfri300]

Arguably it's worse. Basel were continously in the champions league with the group stage prize money. Celtic from 2008 to about 2018 only reached knockout stages a few times.

[@joemarshall4415]

Londonderry Celtic

[@GlasgowCelticChampionsagain]

​@@Micfri300don't talk shit

[@mariadanielalavia8877]

@@Micfri300 I must say yeah this is like Celtic being relegated

[@joshualiley]

Basel might only have a population of 170k, but the nearest top flight football club to Basel is SC Freiburg in Germany, and taking top 2 flights into consideration, only Aarau in Switzerland itself is closer to Basel. The nearby Basel-Landschaft canton probably all consider Basel the local football team within the top 3 divisions, and that has a population of 290,000. Including the outskirts of Basel, there are about 500,000 people who would consider Basel their local club (a few in the very east of this region might consider Aarau the local club, but this area might be balanced out by a similarly populated region in the north of Solothurn canton). The German district of Lörrach, with a population of about 230,000, and the French districts of Mulhouse, Altkirch, and Thann-Guebwiller, with populations of 350,000, 70,000 and 130,000 respectively, all have no nearer clubs in the top 3 flights of any country than Basel. That's a further 780,000 people who might want to hop across the border for a good quality game of football. Of course, most of these people probably would travel a bit further for a game within their own country instead, eg to Sochaux, Strasbourg or Freiburg, but the 350,000 population region of Mulhouse is probably closest to Basel in comparison to the other clubs mentioned. Assuming Basel only attracts this region, along with the afformentioned Basel city proper and surrounding region, that's an area spanning 850,000 people. A 38,000 seater stadium serving a region of 850,000 people instead of 170,000 sounds a lot more reasonable.

[@MS-vr3it]

the problem is that you get beaten up in their ultras stand if you don't specifically speak the city's dialect, and the ultras are the only ones who would actually support the team through thick and thin, the rest boo their players after home draws

[@boreksniffer3538]

@@MS-vr3it thats just not true but ok.

[@MS-vr3it]

@@boreksniffer3538 was meinsch? die vo 187 schlönd lüüt i de mk wenns kei baseldütsch reded

[@Zanosius1902]

Suiting fun fact. Aarau with only a population of 20,000 people. Was the team who stayed the longest in the swiss super league, before going down to the second division a few years ago

[@T.E.S.S.]

a video about BSC Young Boys, purely so you can say "Wankdorf" multiple times

[@kingjojojo1]

dorf means village btw 😂

[@seanfitz70]

Hello Alfie, this was an excellent, informative video. Have a lovely day and I look forward to the next one :).

[@mudzero5884]

🇧🇬 🇧🇬 🇧🇬 Day 7 - Alfie, please do a video on the pitiful situation the Bulgarian national football team is currently in. Here are a couple of points to give you an idea about what I'm talking about: - Currently, the team is in a streak of 8 winless games, at the bottom of its qualification group for the 2024 Euro, with no chances of qualifying, after losing to opponents such as Montenegro and Lithuania. - The team's last win was almost a year ago - on 16.11.2022 in a friendly against Cyprus. Our last win in an official match was more than a year ago - on 26.09.2022 against North Macedonia. - The national football team of Bulgaria has been constantly performing bad for at least the last 20 years. The last big tournament we played was the 2004 Euro in Portugal, where we were humiliated in the group stage. - Many supporters blame the current bosses of the Bulgarian Football Union for this downfall. The most notable of them are Borislav Mihaylov, Emil Kostadinov and Yordan Lechkov - 3 players who were part of the great 1994 WC team which reached the semi-finals of the tournament. Sadly, those people's success as players has been overshadowed by their lack of capability or willingness to resolve many of the problems in our football - the out-of-date training systems, the poor football infrastructure etc. What's worse is that they refuse to resign a failure after another and they have changed the rules of the union in a way that makes them irremovable for more than 18 years. - Recently a couple of players from the next generation - Dimitar Berbatov, Stiliyan Petrov and Martin Petrov started a campaign, trying to overthrow the aforementioned but as I said the rules are in the bosses' favour. - Meanwhile fans are getting really angry with the situation and are starting to take measures. Last weekend, during many matches of the First and Second Football Leagues the fans were chanting against Mihaylov and company and displayed banners against them. Of course, the BFU fined the clubs for "obscene chants and banners". - There is a campaign on social media calling fans of all local clubs to put their differences aside and come to the Euro qualifier with Hungary on 16.11 and show their disapproval of the current BFU leaders. That's the main points, I'm sure that if you dig a little you'll find much more. Please consider doing such a video, the anti-BFU sentiments are getting stronger and we need to disturb those self-serving ex-legends in every way possible. Thank you and keep up the good work!

[@od9694]

Was there something about a number of murders of football club presidents in recent years also

[@XerxesGammon200]

Are you even Bulgarian?

[@Theon435]

a couple of points

[@christhewolf4246]

The same thing is happening in Romania,Serbia even with that talent and Poland

[@АлександърПехливанов-э4ъ]

​@@od9694A few, in the 90's and 00's linked to Lokomotiv Plovdiv

[@asimplenoob6798]

Basel, Lyon, Ajax, Schalke 🤝 nightmare seasons

[@rafaelklotz2057]

Grew up in Basel and been supporting them ever since i can think….this really hurts

[@Doom1491]

Insane how fast you can put out these well investigated videos, ty :)

[@franze4]

as a barca fan, i’ve always had a soft spot for basel (well admittedly after their 7-1 defeat to YB i became angered with them) and thought eventually they’d go back to being a competitive team in europe, but it’s sad to see that trash owners has brought the club down. for now, at least basel fans can still reminisce on their amazing UCL campaigns from back in the day, something young boys won’t ever be able to accomplish, ever. Basel were like Porto/Ajax, young boys are like club brugge/crvena zvezda

[@erikthehalfabee6234]

Could it be because of the similar shirts?

[@mariadanielalavia8877]

Cverna Zvezda are a champions league winner club, same for Porto and Ajax... Basel can only think of their domestic leagues that even if now they feel like good old times back in the day people wanted to actually contend for great achievements.

[@markosteinbach2777]

The founder of FC Barcelona is from Basel ;)

[@SportsFan838]

​@@erikthehalfabee6234 The name also sounds quite similar

[@dave828]

You from Basel also thought a few years ago that YB would never beat Basel 7:1 but then it happened. I guess BSC Young Boys are the new sheriff in town for a very long period as the dominate in Swiss the last years

[@AN-kh2yo]

Hi Alfie, could you make a video about the fall of FC Groningen? Up until recently they were a stable mid-table side winning the cup not even 10 years ago. But last season it all went wrong as they had their worst season ever, getting relegated for the first time since 1998 and getting knocked out of the cup at home to an amateur side. Now they are struggling in the second tier. Just think it could be a very interesting video topic.

[@DavidLimofLimReport]

What a time we are living in - - Bury and Southend all going out of business - Oldham stuck in non-league 20 years after being in the Premier League - Former titans, Lyon, Leeds, Hamburg, Ajax, Bordeaux, Saint-Etienne, Sheffield Wednesday, Bradford City, Basel, Valencia all in financial crisis and have/will be relegated to the second tier or lower.

[@ezraezra2928]

Also, in the national team: 1.Italy came from being 4-times World Cup winners to not play in the last 2 World Cups. 2.Germany suffered a humiliating World Cup group stage exits in the last 2 World Cups.

[@bens4602]

Basel, Lyon and Ajax feels very mirroring of what’s happening in a lot of world economy at the moment. The complacent old guard not adapting and improving their business methods and others doing so and leaving them behind.

[@paddye8854]

Watching this as a Basel fan since 4 years of age is so painful....

[@yawfraser]

Been waiting for this. Poor Basel

[@KILROY94]

seeing rooney, ferdinand, nani and sir alex ferguson walk off our pitch in defeat and kicked out of the cl is a picture i will always hold dear to my heart❤️💙

[@thomashopper8616]

Thanks for the Swiss Super League content. Young Boys have been popping up in news feeds for some time so I watched their match against Manchester City last week. I’ve done a little reading about the Super League and this video helps give context to what is going on there.

[@StAtIc__5]

Excellent video Alfie. I appreciate the facts and information provided for FC Basel. I really like the club and it’s extremely sad to see the club has now gone completely downhill. I can only hope the football club can turn things around quickly. I hope.

[@AdityaKumar-eg5tn]

Ajax, Basel, and Lyon are learning from manchester united, how to bottle.

[@ameEeeee3]

They are challenge man utd om whos the worst owners and worst run club and team with worst squad depth

[@MikoyanGurevichMiG21]

Nah, these teams more realistically should be compared to Schalke and Hamburg in terms of how far they're falling and their historic prestige in each of their countries.

[@AdityaKumar-eg5tn]

@@ameEeeee3 they are headless chickens who don't know how to run.

[@AdityaKumar-eg5tn]

@@MikoyanGurevichMiG21 united has more history than these clubs.

[@MikoyanGurevichMiG21]

@@AdityaKumar-eg5tn yeah, but you need to time travel back into the 1970s to the last time they were in the relegation zone.

[@seandelap8587]

The pool is just getting narrower and narrower in football and leaning towards the same few clubs in the elite leagues which is most likely why clubs like Basel are in the predicament they're in the gap between the smaller leagues and the bigger leagues is growing all the time which is why you seldom see teams like Basel in the knockout stages of the CL anymore

[@IhsanRuzaini]

not suprised if chelsea or manchester united end up in one these videos if they keep on their current state season after season

[@ezraezra2928]

United had recently got spanked in Carabao Cup and the draw result put Newcastle United as Chelsea's opponents.

[@Tdr-jv2nc]

I was at the Brighton v Ajax game and I have to say Ajax are by far the worst team I have seen us play this season

[@richehb6318]

Fight me

[@ezraezra2928]

This season was so weird. Such a big clubs will face their relegation to the 2nd tier football like Ajax, Lyon, Basel, and Schalke 04. Also, I heard that Chelsea could face a huge point deduction, which worsened the situation for the club itself, and Manchester United suffering a low notes after crashing out in the Carabao Cup more recently. Even South America had the similar stories. Santos from Brazil were in the bottom of the Brasileirao, despite having produced so many great talents like Pele, Robinho, and Neymar.

[@ocbee6175]

schalke are 16th in the 2nd tier rn, not the 1st tier

[@ezraezra2928]

@@ocbee6175 But it would be hillarious to see this club playing in 3.Liga.

[@ThisBusch]

Would be cool if you did such a video about DSC Arminia Bielefeld. They are currently on an upswing in the 3rd tier of German football, but they went from Bundesliga to 2nd and now 3rd tier within 2 years.

[@RyanCH92]

Hi Alfie, what would your thoughts be on a video about why Bristol, one of the largest cities In the UK has never had a premier league team, both in the last week or so sacking their managers, a city with two teams passionately supported, Bristol city in particular (the team I follow) regularly pulling in over 20,000 thousands plus attendances at Ashton gate, state of the art training facilities & a billionaire owner from Bristol itself. Much appreciated if you think it’s worth a consideration

[@kalmenbarkin5708]

Isn’t that just an inherent trade off for having a pro/rel league pyramid? Some cities just get unlucky and have poorly run clubs. And some smaller towns get lucky and have really well run clubs.

[@RedTonka]

Yeah would love to see a vid on this, mate of mine got so fed up he became a Bath City fan 🙈

[@darrenchin_]

it's because City are chokers. #UTG

[@RyanCH92]

@kalembarkin5708 you’re not wrong and that’s the euphoria & agony of following a team, but in the championship there are only five teams who haven’t made it into the premier league, Bristol city, Millwall, Plymouth, Preston & Rotherham (alphabetical order) apart from Millwall being in London and having a lot of competition from the abundance of London clubs, Bristol is the largest area to not have had a team in the top flight.

[@RyanCH92]

@@RedTonkaahh mate, pour out a pint of cider for the lost comrade, maybe one day we can made the promise land 😂

[@samuelschonenberger]

Growing up in the East of Switzerland all of us kids were either fans of the local Eastern Swiss club FC St.Gallen or glorychasers supporting Basel So naturally, I hated Basel for dominating the league, so I'm not going to lie, I do have quite a bit of Schadenfreude right now

[@vegeta3803]

thats why you are a cheib

[@stefanvanderlinden9746]

Omg Ricky van wolfswinkel in the thumbnail 🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐

[@geib666]

Please a video about Young Boys! Great viedo btw😊

[@huslenenhjin2423]

Can you look at Istanbul Basaksehir? It is 10 games and they're in relegation zone. I'm not their fan, but I thought it was interesting.

[@ezraezra2928]

It's just like what happened to Galatasaray in 2021-22, when they narrowly avoided a big downfall by finishing 13th in the table.

[@andreanari3341]

Alfie, love your videos. Why don't you upload on podcast apps (Spotify, Apple music...)?

[@nicocorbo4153]

hey alfie, may i request a video on girona. i have a gut feeling that their rise is not quite the cinderalla story most want to believe

[@VictorMurp]

Another great video Alfie Botswana

[@depekthegreat359]

Basel is one of my favourite respective Swiss teams ever just like the other respective Swiss men's teams and I do get updated through Google through their respective matches,good friends!!!They are one of the respective teams to be producing many respective young players,namely Mohammed Salah boss and Breel Embelo but to see them being in a shocking predicament in last position in the first division is totally unacceptable,good friends!!!I am convinced to see them bouncing back and with the next year's January transfer window looming,I do hope the owner needs to sort out the team's recruitment well and try to finish at least in the top six by the end of the season and steady the ship then,good friends!!!LONG LIVE BASEL!!!🏋️‍♂️🏋️‍♂️🏋️‍♂️🏋️‍♂️🏋️‍♂️🏋️‍♂️🏋️‍♂️🏋️‍♂️🏋️‍♂️🏋️‍♂️🏋️‍♂️🏋️‍♂️🏋️‍♂️🏋️‍♂️🏋️‍♂️

[@1893..]

Thanks Mate 🙏🏼

[@depekthegreat359]

@@1893.. You are welcome,good friend!!!🏋‍♂️

[@CodyDerFinisher]

25:46 hey that's me

[@delargeinho9170]

I am a fan of Young boys, one of the rivals of FC Basel. I have to tell well researched.

[@ipodzrock1]

Can you bring this series to MLS? What on Earth is going on at Portland Timbers FC?

[@darion84]

I have to sayi i really enjoy your content. Keep up the good work :)

[@Toomanian]

Do the players with the most disappointing careers. Anthony Martial comes to mind. This is from a real article "Manchester United have already got their own Kylian Mbappe in Anthony Martial, according to former defender Mikael Silvestre." Someone actually thought that.

[@NudgerThe]

Love you to do one on Reading. They once shocked Liverpool. Now getting beaten by Fleetwood. Tried Russian, Thai and now Chinese investors, appears only to get worse. When Mike Ashley looks like an answer, you have to ask how desperate the question is.

[@lorddarlo6194]

For all his flaws Ashley will at least probably get you up to the Championship then the Prem before you do a Newcastle under him. He does have an idea how to run a Club but just didn't do it with the right people at St James's ie who would give Alan Pardew an 8 year Contract or appoint Steve Bruce oh yeah wait West Brom my club after appointed both of them clowns to

[@nullset4417]

He did one on Reading kzbin.info/www/bejne/a3ObqauArcqsaLcsi=B2aIQolbDjlGzmUG

[@benjaminneale5528]

Basels first mistake was wanting more when they already had everything. Their second was continually thinking changing everything all over again would make it better and not worse. If theyd kept Raphael Wicky for a second or third season I'm convinced he could have turned it around..plus they were excellent in the champions league first season under him. If you want really crazy though, fc Sion is the ultimate swiss club in being absolutely shambolic!

[@Solrac-lk8bj]

Next video idea: "What On Earth Is Going On At Benfica?"; From portuguese champions with one of the most promising squads to being dead last in their cl group, being the first ever european top club to score 0 goals in the first 3 games, Also struggling in the portuguese leage.

[@ryanjohnson6272]

I admittedly don't watch the Portuguese league, but are Benfica really struggling when they're only 3 points from the top?

[@ezraezra2928]

Would be hillarious to see "What on Earth is Going On at Milan?" From having 7 Champions League titles and even had recent success with 2022 Scudetto and 2023 Champions League semifinal to being dead last in the Champions League group stage this season with 0 goals in the first 3 games. They were also struggling in the Serie A.

[@yatman6305]

Thank you Alfie for following my request! (Though is guess you didn't see it non the less).

[@WalkedJungle777]

From UECL Semis to relegation in a year 🤯🤯

[@natsudama4604]

Don't forget Benfica was also humiliated by basel

[@ezraezra2928]

That season, Benfica were also crashed out in the Champions League with 0 point and 6 defeats; one of which was a 5-0 drubbing that you mentioned here against Basel. Now, as if the madness wasn't enough, they were in the similar story as 2017-18, having scored nothing and accumulated nothing after 3 Champions League group games!

[@poppyharlow4448]

This has been one crazy ass season: Basel, Lyon and Ajax on the verge of relegating, Santos getting relegated, Leverkusen leading the Bundesliga, Stuttgart in the top 5, Aston Villa in the top 4, Girona tied with Madrid at the top of the La Liga table, Kobenhavn somehow making it out of a UCL group while United finished last in the same group, so much shit just randomly happened.

[@Uzair_Of_Babylon465]

Great video keep it up you're doing amazing things 😁👍

[@naugiavrilio]

I'm afraid that another big team one (maybe from across the channel) will join the likes of Ajax, Lyon, and Basel

[@mrlalalaelmo7454]

Chelsea isnt a big team no more

[@colonelfares3857]

Bordeaux and Schalke 04 could be relegated to... the 3rd tier at the end of the season

[@ajoax88]

​@@colonelfares3857that's insane. Schalke used to be a german giant.

[@Eibarwoman]

What is going on at SD Huesca? SD Huesca went down out of La Liga in 2020-21 are mired in 21st in La Liga 2 despite having outperformed (18th) SD Eibar (20th) in 20-21 who are currently in 2nd in La Liga 2. Edit: In fact, Huesca hasn't even finished above 13th in La Liga 2 since being relegated which is the more baffling part while Real Valladolid having yo-yo'd back into La Liga for 22-23 and Eibar being a perennial promotion contender. So what happened to make them drop so far, so fast from 18th in La Liga to mid-table in the Segunda Division to 2nd to last?

[@kostajovanovic3711]

Idk

[@TheKazzerscout]

was just wondering when this video would arrive!

[@Natasha6090]

Love hearing about other football teams, very informative

[@LevinNemera]

Do a Video on FC St.Gallen, because it’s the oldest club on mainland europe

[@Hyde_Hill]

Super weird season this. Like Schalke and HSV you kind of saw coming for a longer time. But all three of these this drastically is crazy. Maybe do a what is going well at Nice to balance things out? The story of their manager is very insteresting.

[@Cold_Logic]

Nantes vs. Young Boys @ The Wankdorf... what a fixture that would be 😅

[@Pikachu0071000CS]

Alfie, could we get a video on Hong Kong's recent rise in football? It's quite interesting to me how teams like Kitchee and Lee Man have gotten better in Asia while the HK national team has been thriving, all amidst one of the most dire political situations Hong Kong has faced

[@superhuegi]

I will never understand why Basel let Fischer go. He was also an amazing coach before at FC Thun, reaching the UEFA Cup on a tiny budget.

[@Thomas-jl8xr]

van wolfswinkel on the thumbnail? plays for twente now

[@victorterheege5462]

the thumbnail of Van Wolfswinkel, lol that's a tad bit overdue.

[@panchyuu]

17:47 sorry mate but you really butchered the pronounciation here

[@rfvtgbzhn]

Yes, and later he says "Wogel" for "Vogel". It's not that hard to remember, that V in German is usually pronounced as F.

[@-goalsport2544]

European football is changing its skin just how it did with clubs like Deportivo La Coruña, Stuttgart, Hamburger SV, Leeds United, Parma and much more…

[@samuelmeier1617]

Thank you for fullfilling my wish :)

[@andrius11]

Please do a video of Boavista FC history and winning Primeira Liga in 2000-2001 season.

[@petesmart1983]

Alfie you should look into the whole of swiss football over the past 20 years, nearly every top team has at some point being bankrupt, and a few actually closed, and even today no club actually makes a profit in any of the league tiers. Just massive loses and with the lack of talent coming through youth systems there isn't the ability to sell players as cuts to scouting and academys in most clubs

[@RyuzakiTaiyou]

Best German players in the premier league of all time. (Day 565) I will not give up until the video is made or Alfie himself tells me to stop. Everyone else telling me that will be ignored. If you don't believe my number, just go back to the previous videos. I'm at the bottom most of the time, but I'm there.

[@Matisse_BattyMOT]

Keep the faith chap. Out of curiosity, why that video? For yourself, or for others to learn more about some forgotten legends? Either way, I respect the consistency!!

[@RyuzakiTaiyou]

@@Matisse_BattyMOT because I am German and I want to see German representation.

[@ketankuttikar2223]

Finally the basel video, just as im doing a Fm save

[@edenbeeden9876]

some of the pronunciations in this are crazy

[@RobbertsTravelGuides]

Prime example of Missmanagement and issues

[@GroundsandStadiums2024]

The decline of Basel of course is also linked to the rise of Young Boys Bern, who have won 6 championships in the last 10 years. I do think that Basel has the foundation in place and also the loyal fan base to return to success in the coming years. The city and region remains a pre-eminent football hotspot in Switzerland.

[@CV19_YT]

As a Basel fan it's just sad I just want to see good football again in Basel I don't care about winning the league or silver were I just want some nice football 😭😭😭😭

[@SuperMyslayer]

Good video as always but please fix your German pronounciation

[@he_football]

Alfie picking the "What on earth is going on" clubs off one by one

[@dominicflubacher9924]

great research!👍🏼 sad story 😢 but red blue forever!♥️💙

[@lucarasic8001]

Update: Grasshoppers Zurich, who won the most super league titles of all time, and Young Boys, who won the most super league titles in the past 5 years, are now worse than expected, however, Basel is doing better then last season

[@1893..]

In Europa kennt uns Jede ❤️💙👊

[@cyrilldurr6671]

denn Basel isch bekannt ❤💙

[@1893..]

@@cyrilldurr6671 laufed mir durch fremdi Strosse🔴🔵

[@NinjaOfTheSands]

Ja aber jetzt au uus weniger ersehnenswerte grüend...

[@RGARDL]

No , what actually happened is , guy by the name Sulejmani came to Young Boys , tought them ajax style of football , and basically did same thing for them that Dusan Tadic did for Ajax last 5 years

[@borismuller86]

What’s always confused me is how many English commentators insist on pronouncing their name “Bahl”, despite it being a German-speaking city.

[@colmsexton0386]

Can you please do a video on Celtic current situation

[@zurichuk]

Excellent informative video, thanks. I think they will survive, FCZ were rock bottom same time last year, there's time

[@Maj1794]

Didn't know basel were struggling this much 😮

[@vegeta3803]

@Ez3tTheGCZistbesser als gc😂😂

[@losnoches7436]

Man city winning the champions league has broken football

[@loicfazz7168]

this season catastrophy can also be due to the sale of good players that helped us so much last season… selling the likes of amdouni and ndoye for example was a big mistake, and bringing expensive loans like demir who’s not that great. Kind of disappointed that they kept doing the same mistakes at every transfert window

[@christophercopley6474]

I think it's about time we had a big what the hell is going on at manchester united long video they are in crisis from top to bottom

[@STST]

Why on earth have you not done a video about Ipswich Town?

[@Vallemaggia]

probably because he's waiting 'til the end of the season and then starts a series "what on heaven is going on...." 😎

[@muhammadryanelyeddari8631]

While Basel, Ajax and Lyon do have a lot of problems, They aren't doing as bad as it seems on paper. Ajax are 5th in their league in terms of xG, Lyon are 13th and Basel are 8th. I know that 5th for Ajax, 13th for Lyon and 8th for Basel is still bad but it's better than being at the bottom of the league. They are all better teams than it looks at first when you see them at the bottom of the league but have been unlucky when it comes to putting away chances.