Friendly games Basel started the season off with three warm-up matches. These were played against
BSC Young Boys from the Nationalliga A,
FC Thun and
Yverdon-Sports from the
Nationalliga B.
Domestic league The qualification round to the
2001–02 Nationalliga A was contested by twelve teams. The first eight teams of the regular season, or qualification round, then competed in the championship round. Three points were given for a victory and one for a draw. Each team took half of the points, rounded up to complete units, that were won in the qualification round into the second stage as bonus. The teams in the ninth to twelfth positions completed with the top four teams of the Nationalliga B in a Nationalliga A/B playoff round. The regular season started on 15 July and ended on 10 December. The championship play-offs began on 25 February 2001 and ended on 26 May. FCB’s aim for the teams was to end the qualification round in the tables top two or three and then in the championship round to win the title, or at least to reach third position which would qualify them for the
2001–02 UEFA Cup. ; qualifying round The season started in the worst possible way. In their first game away against
FC Sion, Basel suffered a humiliating defeat. The home team were two goals up within half an hour and then on 38 minutes
Hakan Yakin saw the red card for insulting the referee. In the second half Basel went completely under. First
Julien Poueys scored a hattrick within 7 minutes (55, 59, 62) and then
Samuel Ojong also scored a hattrick within 7 minutes (79, 81, 86). Basel were beaten 8–1. In the next game on 11 July 2001, a 3–1 home win in
St. Jakob-Park against
Servette,
Marco Streller played his League debut being substituted in during the 66th Minute. Unfortunately for him, in the last minute of the game he headed in an
own goal as he tried to clear a corner kick. It was to remain Streller's only game for Basel in this season, because he was loaned to feeder club
FC Concordia Basel for the rest of the season.
Christian 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 qualifying round as the league’s top scorer with 19 goals in 20 appearances. After five games Basel were straggling, they had achieved just one win and one draw, opposed to three defeats, with 7 to 15 goal tally. But hereafter, things turned for the better and they only suffered two further defeats up until the winter break. Despite the fact that these were against the reigning title holders
Grasshopper Club, Basel ended the qualification as league leaders, five points ahead of
Lugano and six ahead of the reigning champions. ;Championship round Basel started well into the second part of the season, winning their first four games, 5–2 away against second placed
Lugano and 1–0, 2–0 and 4–0 at home against
Zürich,
Young Boys and
Sion. In the fifth game they suffered another defeat against
GC, but six straight wins followed, including their revenge 3–0 away victory against
Sion and a revenge 4–1 victory against GC. During this period of the season FCB played their best football and pulled away at the top of the table and subsequently achieved the championship title prematurely. Despite the fact that they lost two of their last three games, they won their first title after 22 years of waiting. It was the ninth championship title in the club’s history.
Christian Giménez was the team’s top scorer with 26 goals over the entire season.
Hakan Yakin had scored 13,
George Koumantarakis scored 10 and
Scott Chipperfield scored 6 goals. ;Conclusion Basel won the championship with 55 points,
GC were vice-champions with 45 points and
Lugano finished in third position. The club's aim in the championship title had been fully, and perhaps surprisingly, achieved. Both Lugano and
Sion had reached the championship round, but both clubs did not obtain a 1st level license for the 2002/03 season and therefore both teams were relegated to the second tier. Curiosity to the begin of
Scott Chipperfield's career by FC Basel; Chipperfield signed his contract with the club and returned to Australia to pack his suitcases. As he boarded the plane to fly to his new employers, he knew that they would be playing their first game of the season during his time on the flight. When the plane landed in Switzerland the game was over and Basel had lost 1–8. The story goes that Chipperfield asked the driver who collected him, "who the heck have I signed for? The only reason I didn't fly straight back home, was because I knew you were waiting for me." At the end of the season Basel were number one and
Sion were relegated. And the driver said to Chipperfield, "I'm sure glad that you knew that it was me, who was waiting to collect you at the airport."
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. They had last won the trophy in 1975. Basel entered the competition in the round of 32 and were drawn away against local rivals
Concordia Basel, who at that time played in the Nationalliga B. ;Concordia Basel (10 November 2001) The game was played in the
St. Jakob-Park with an attendance of 5,431 spectators. Concordia, the home team, started well into the game and had their first chance at goal on 5 minutes and their second chance another 5 minutes later. FCB started prudent and did not want to enter into risky situations. After they had won control of play, they started to dominate and had a couple of near misses. Then on 21 minutes
Sébastien Barberis put the away team a goal up following a corner-kick. Concordia reacted immediately, with fighting spirit and came forward with tempo. Their first attack could only be stopped by a well-timed foul from FCB defender
Alexandre Quennoz, who saw the yellow card. If he had waited a few seconds longer it might have been a penalty. FCB were always in danger of catching the equaliser, but despite doubling the lead on 41 minutes through a goal from
George Koumantarakis, Concordia were dominating play. After the interval Concordia were still fighting, believing in their chance. On 59 minutes
Christian Giménez added Basel’s third after a counter attack. From this moment on the game changed. Concordia had less and less stamina and their strengths were lost. Basel took control and dominated completely and on 75 minutes
Hervé Tum added a fourth and on 90 minutes the last. FCB won 5–0 and advanced to the next round. ;Colombier ( 17 February 2002) In the round of 16 Basel were drawn with an away game against lower league team
Colombier, who had that time played in
1. Liga Promotion, the third tier in the
Swiss football pyramid. Colombier were playing good football and were top of their division at that time. At the end of the season, they were group champions, but missed promotion in the play-offs. The match was played in the New Year before the leagues had restarted after the winter break. This proved to be an advantage for Basel after their seven winter break friendlies. The team were well played in and won the game that they entirely dominated 1–0 through a goal from Giménez in the 56th minute. ;Zürich (21 March 2002) In the quarter-finals Basel were drawn away against
Zürich. The match was played in the
Letzigrund with an attendance of 6,800 spectators and came midst in the period as Basel were dominating in the league. Both teams started into the match with care, but FCB found quicker into their stride and soon had more possession. Therefore, it was no surprise that they took the lead through a goal from George Koumantarakis on 17 minutes. The home team reacted well, they sought after the equaliser and didn’t have to wait long, because
Kanga Akalé netted on 24 minutes. The game was now level on possession until one minute before the break, as
Ivan Ergic put the visitors back into the lead. After the interval play was again level, but the visitors did have an optical advantage. This became obvious as Akalé saw the yellow card for his second bookable foul and was dismissed. From this moment the game changed, the Zürich layers strength and stamina failed and Basel took control and dominated. On 85 minutes substitute
Carlos Varela advanced down the right and put his team another goal up. Just two minutes later Basel’s other substitute
Hervé Tum had a shot that hit the post and
Scott Chipperfield converted the rebound to give Basel a comfortable 4–1 win. ;Young Boys (11 April 2002) In the semi-final Basel were drawn at home in the
St. Jakob-Park against an out of form
Young Boys, who had only picked up only one point in their last three league matches. Basel started better into the match, with good moves they created a number of chances.
Alain Rochat stopped one of these with a foul inside the penalty area and was shown the yellow card by referee
Massimo Busacca, but the spot kick from
Murat Yakin rebounded from the post on 17 minutes. Basel came forwards, again created chances and
Christian Giménez converted one of these after 23 minutes to put the hosts one up. At the other end
Gürkan Sermeter missed the equaliser as Basel keeper
Pascal Zuberbühler saved his penalty kick. Basel remained in control of the game up until the interval. Although
Carlos Varela had a shot on 49 minutes that hit the cross bar, the visitors started the second period with more determination and were rewarded on 51 minutes as Joel Descloux equalised for his team. The game became more aggressive and was an open slugfest. Amidst a number of bookings for over hard fouls, on 69 minutes Basel defender
Philippe Cravero was shown the red card for a foul as last man and at the other end on 73 minutes YB keeper
Paolo Collaviti was also dismissed for committing a foul as last man. The score remained 1–1 even after extra time, so a penalty shoot-out was required for the decision. In this Basel keeper Zuberbühler became major protagonist. Zuberbühler missed his own spot-kick as YB reserve keeper Adrian Lingenhag saved, but in return he himself saved three YB penalty attempts. Basel advanced to the final ;Grasshoppers (12 May 2002) The final was played in the
St. Jakob-Park with an attendance of 30,000 spectators and according to the draw the
Grasshoppers were the home team. Basel started well into the game. GC were stopped in their forwards movement and Basel played a long ball in the opponent’s half towards
Hervé Tum, who ran on and beat the advancing keeper
Fabrice Borer from 12 metres. The match was played on level terms with chances on both sides. On 38 minutes
Richard Núñez advanced on the right, turning on himself he played a long cross towards the far post, here
Mladen Petrić ran clear and nodded in the equaliser. Two minutes before the break a goal from Basel’s captain
Murat Yakin was disallowed because he had used his hand to control the ball. In the second period play remained level, again both teams created chances. However, neither keeper let a ball pass and so it came to extra time. In the 113th minute Scott Chipperfield played a high ball from the left, over GC goalie Borer, which Boris Smiljanic punched over the cross bar with his last effort, this because he assumed that Hervé Tum, who was positioned behind him, would nod the ball effortlessly into the goal. This opened the big stage for the Basel captain, Murat Yakin took a run-up and safely converted the penalty kick to win the final 2–1 and thus the Trophy. ;Conclusion From a FCB point of view, the club's cup aim to reach the final and win the trophy was achieved. Because the league championship title had mathematically and prematurely been decided, with this trophy Basel had achieved the domestic double. The second leg was in Iceland, played in the
Grindavíkurvöllur with an attendance of 700 spectators. Two goals from
André Muff the first on 14 minutes and the second on 80 minutes gave Basel a 2–0 victory, thus 5–0 on aggregate. ;Third round, Heerenveen The next round saw Basel matched against
SC Heerenveen, a Dutch club from the
Eredivisie. Again, the first leg was played in the
St. Jakob-Park, the attendance was 8,059 fans. Basel controlled the game from the beginning and took an early two goal lead through
George Koumantarakis on 12 minutes and
Hakan Yakin on 20 minutes. In the second period the visitors got into the game and on 56 minutes
Mika Nurmela pulled a goal back. Basel overstood a hectic period and played down the time to win 2–1. The second leg in
Abe Lenstra Stadion had an attendance of 13,300 fans.
Marcus Allbäck on 4 minutes gave
SC Heerenveen an early lead.
George Koumantarakis on 8 minutes and
Hakan Yakin on 23 minutes turned the tables. In the second period
Hervé Tum in the 69th minute put the visitors another goal up. The home team reduced the score line as
Anthony Lurling netted in the 75th minute, but the home team could not catch up. The score remained 3–2 for Basel and they advanced with a 5–3 aggregate. ;Semi-finals, Lausanne The semi-final was an all-Swiss affair with their Nationalliga A rivals
Lausanne-Sport. These had qualified to this stage beating
UE Sant Julià from Andora twice with 9–1 aggregate in the first round and
Sturm Graz, with an away win and a home draw, 4–3 on aggregate in the second round. The first leg in the
St. Jakob-Park attracted an attendance of 14,872 spectators.
Christian Giménez with a quick brace in the 19th and 21st minute put Basel two up. Just before the half time whistle
Hakan Yakin added a third goal and in the second period they let the time tick-out to win comfortably 3–0. The second leg in the
Stade Olympique de la Pontaise only attracted 2,050 fans but they saw an interesting match in which
Lausanne’s
Pape Thiaw was the main character. First, he put the home team a goal up after 8 minutes. However, this was equalised ten minutes later by
Hervé Tum. In the 30th minute Pape Thiaw committed a nasty foul and was booked for the offence by Ukrainian referee
Vasyl Melnychuk. Then, following a set piece, just before the break Pape Thiaw put his team back into the lead. On 51 minutes he showed his nasty side again and for his second bookable offence he was dismissed. With one man more on the field FCB dominated play, but apart from the equaliser on 61 minutes through
Carlos Varela they could not take advantage of this fact. The game was drawn 2–2, but Basel won the tie 5–2 on aggregate. ;Finals, Aston Villa In the final Basel played against
Aston Villa from the
Premier League. Villa had finished in 8th position in the
2000–01 FA Premier League. They had qualified to the Final by beating
NK Slaven Belupo 3–2 on aggregate in the third round and winning on away goals against
Rennes in the semi-finals. Basel fancied their chances because their domestic had already played six rounds and the
Premier League season had not started yet. The first leg of this final was played on 7 August 2001 in the
St. Jakob-Park with an attendance of 25,879 fans. Villa's reserve keeper
Peter Enckelman played the match because
Peter Schmeichel was injured and Enckelman was needed early as Basel made a bright start. Murat Yakin, who constantly troubled Villa full-back
Mark Delaney, set up his younger brother Hakan with a very good chip over the defence. The striker advanced quickly to the area and left footed, shot powerfully, but the keeper dropped down well to save. About ten minutes later, Argentinian striker Gimenez beat Enckelman with a low, curling shot that glanced passed the right-hand post. Villa then found their way into the game and should have taken the lead on 25 minutes, but
Mustapha Hadji missed the very good opportunity. There were few chances during the rest of the half, although Basle finished strongly, with the impressive Murat Yakin twice going close. The beginning of the second period was as evenly contested as the first, but on 59 minutes Villa’s captain
Paul Merson scored their vital away goal, side-footing in from close range, after keeper
Pascal Zuberbühler could only parry a hard shot
Hassan Kachloul. The hosts could have equalised with their next chance Jean-Michel Tchouga was unmarked inside the area, but his wild effort glanced over the crossbar. Basel did then restore parity on 74 minutes as substitute
Carlos Varela ran forcefully into the area and following a powerful shot Enckelman could only parry and Gimenez side-footed the rebound home from close range. The game ended with this 1–1 draw. The return leg was played on 21 August in
Villa Park in
Birmingham, which had an attendance of 39,513 spectators. Villa started well into the game and tried to create chances. Basel were happy to sit back and wait and stifle the Villa chances before they became dangerous. After quarter of an hour FCB switched up a gear and on the half an hour were rewarded for the attempt.
Scott Chipperfield put the visitors a goal up, finishing off a good move from the right. Villa reacted and came forwards with tempo, they attempted to breach the visitors massive defence. This finally was successful in the 45th minute,
Darius Vassell was the scorer. In the second half Basel seemed to lose control and
Juan Pablo Ángel added Villa's second on 55 minutes. Basel fought back into the game and created dangerous chances, but it was the hosts who got the better as in the 78th minute Ángel added another. From here Basel were chanceless and
David Ginola netted the fourth six minutes from the end. Villa won the match deservedly 4–1 and the tie 5–2 on aggregate. ;Conclusion Aston Villa's attendance of 39,513 versus Basel at Villa Park, represented the highest attendance for any Intertoto fixture that season. Basel achieved their absolute minimum aim for this competition, but their main aim had been missed, there would be no further European football for them this season. ==Club==