# 1928–29 FC Basel season

The FC Basel 1928–29 season was their thirty sixth season since the club's foundation on 15 November 1893. The club's new chairman was Hans Rupprecht who took over the presidency from Karl Ibach at the AGM on 7 July 1928. FC Basel played their home games in the Landhof in the district Wettstein in Kleinbasel.

## Overview

The former Hungarian international footballer Gyula Kertész was appointed as coach/manager at the beginning of the 1928–29 Serie A season. After Percy Humphreys (1913–14) and Max Breunig (1922–23), Kertész was just the third professional trainer that the club had engaged up until this point. The decision to employ a professional football trainer/manager was made because FC Basel had slipped well below the level of their local rivals Nordstern, who had qualified for the finals three times in the last five years.
Basel played a total of 29 matches in their 1928–29 season. 16 of these were in the domestic league, three were in the Swiss Cup and 10 were friendly matches. Of these 10 friendlies three were played at home in the Landhof and seven were away games. Apart from the away game against Mulhouse all other matches were in Switzerland. Basel scored 24 goals in these friendlies and conceded 32.
The 1928–29 Swiss Serie A was divided into three regional groups, each group with nine teams. The teams that won each group continue to the finals and the last placed team in each group had to play a barrage against relegation. Basel were allocated to the Central group together with the other three local clubs Concordia Basel, Nordstern Basel and Old Boys Basel. The other five teams allocated to this group were Young Boys Bern, FC Bern, Aarau, Grenchen and Solothurn. This season was a very competitive one. After a defeat against YB in the first match, it was obvious that a professional coach was at work, because the team won eight of the next ten matches. The team rose to the top of the table, thanks to the good goal scoring of their best forwards Alfred Schlecht, Karl Bielser and Alfred Enderlin. But then, an unawaited 1–4 home defeat against lower placed local rivals Concordia changed everything. In the last five matches Basel managed only three draws and were defeated twice. The top five teams ended the season within four points of each other and each team won eight of their 16 matches. With 20 points Basel ended the season in second position, just one point behind group winners Young Boys, who advanced to the finals and then won the championship.
Basel scored 48 league goals and conceded 32. Karl Bielser was the team's top league goalscorer with 15 goals, Alfred Schlecht was second top scorer with 14 goals and Alfred Enderlin scored nine. Further goal scorers were Walter Müller with four, Max Strasser with three, Paul Schaub with two and Otto Meier one.
In the Swiss Cup Basel were drawn against Baden in the preliminary round, against Bülach in the first round, but were eliminated by Concordia Basel in the second round. Concordia continued the competition and reached the semi-final, there losing to Urania Genève Sport, who won the final against Young Boys 1–0, which was played in the Stade de Frontenex in Geneva.

## Players
### Squad members

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| — | GK | SUI | Traugott Märki |
| — | GK | SUI | Ernst Zorzotti |
| — | DF | SUI | Armando Ardizzoia |
| — | DF | FRG | Hermann Enderlin (II) |
| — | DF | SUI | Peter Riesterer |
| — | DF | SUI | Ernst Weber |
| — | DF | SUI | Hugo Flubacher |
| — | MF | SUI | Max Galler (II) |
| — | MF | SUI | Georg Heimann |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| — | MF | SUI | Otto Meier |
| — | MF | SUI | Paul Schaub |
| — | FW | SUI | Karl Bielser |
| — | FW | FRG | Alfred Enderlin (I) |
| — | FW | SUI | Walter Müller |
| — | FW | SUI | Max Oswald |
| — | FW | SUI | Alfred Schlecht |
| — | FW | SUI | Max Strasser |
| — | FW | SUI | Karl Wüthrich |
| — | FW | SUI | Eugen Schmid |

### Players who left the squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| — | GK | SUI | Ernst Christ |
| — | GK | SUI | Arthur Fahr |
| — | DF | SUI | Jakob Bürgin |
| — | FW | SUI | Emil Arlt |
| — | DF | SUI | Fritz Gerster |
| — | FW | FRA | Max Lehmann |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| — | DF | SUI | Louis Matthey |
| — | FW | SUI | Hans Rau |
| — | FW | SUI | Hans Streng |
| — | DF | SUI | Gustav Vogt |
| — | FW | SUI | Franz Zeiser |
| — | FW | SUI | ? Weber |

## Results
### Legend

Win  Draw  Loss  Postponed

### Serie A
#### Central Group results
#### Central Group table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Young Boys | 16 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 34 | 22 | +12 | 21 | Group winners / Advance to finals |
| 2 | Basel | 16 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 48 | 32 | +16 | 20 | |
| 3 | Nordstern Basel | 16 | 8 | 2 | 6 | 46 | 32 | +14 | 18 | |
| 4 | FC Bern | 16 | 8 | 2 | 6 | 29 | 29 | 0 | 18 | |
| 5 | Concordia Basel | 16 | 8 | 1 | 7 | 33 | 30 | +3 | 17 | |
| 6 | Grenchen | 16 | 6 | 2 | 8 | 20 | 24 | −4 | 14 | |
| 7 | Old Boys | 16 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 29 | 32 | −3 | 13 | |
| 8 | Solothurn | 16 | 5 | 2 | 9 | 34 | 49 | −15 | 12 | |
| 9 | Aarau | 16 | 4 | 3 | 9 | 26 | 49 | −23 | 11 | Relegation play-off |