Basel Born in
Lucerne, Stocker began his youth career with
SC Kriens, playing there between 1996 and December 2005. As of January 2006 he transferred to the youth department of
Basel. He played in their U-18 team for the second half of the 2005–06 season, under coach
Patrick Rahmen and his assistant
Marco Walker and with them won both the Swiss U-18 championship and the U-19/18 national cup that season. He also played for their Under-21 team in the
Swiss 1. Liga, which at that time the third highest tier of the
Swiss football league system. A year later, in the 2006–07 season they won their division and the team became Swiss champions at U-21 level. The team defended their title in the
2007–08 season, as division (group2) winners, again becoming champions at U-21 level. During
Basel's 2007–08 season, head coach
Christian Gross called Stocker into the first team. Stocker signed his first professional contract on his 18th birthday and just a few months later received an extension. Having played in 12 test matches he made his team debut in
that season's Swiss Cup semi-final, a home game in the
St. Jakob-Park on 27 February 2008, as Basel won 1–0 against
Thun. One week later, in the away match against the same opponent, Stocker played his league debut, as Basel won 3–1 thanks to a hat-trick from
Eren Derdiyok. Stocker scored his first league goal on 16 March against
FC Sion, but this could not hinder the 4–2 away defeat. On 6 April Basel won the
cup final and on 10 May, in the last league game of the season, Stocker scored the first and gave the assist to
Marco Streller's second, as Basel won 2–0 over
Young Boys. This secured the championship, and therefore, the national
double. In the league Stocker had played eleven games and had scored three goals. In the 2008–09 season Stocker became team regular. To the beginning of the season, he was member of the Basel team that won the
Uhrencup. They beat
Legia Warsaw 6–1 and played a 2–2 draw with
Borussia Dortmund to end the table on top slot above Dortmund and
Luzern. Basel joined the
2008–09 UEFA Champions League in the second qualifying round and with an aggregate score of 5–3 they eliminated
IFK Göteborg. In the next round they played against
Vitória de Guimarães. The first leg ended in a goalless draw, but with a 2–1 win in the second leg they eliminated Vitória, with Stocker scoring his first European goal. Basel advanced to the group stage and were matched with
Barcelona,
Sporting CP and
Shakhtar Donetsk, but ended the group in last position, winning just one point after a 1–1 draw in
Camp Nou. Stocker played in nine of these ten games. Basel finished just third in the
league table, seven points behind new champions
Zürich. Stocker played 32 of the 36 games, scoring five goals. Basel joined the
2009–10 UEFA Europa League in the second qualifying round. Basel advanced to the group stage, in which despite winning three of the six games the ended in third position and were eliminated. They finished four points behind group winners
Roma and one behind
Fulham, against whom they lost 3–2 in the last game of the stage. Stocker played in nine of these twelve games. Stocker became a leading player within the team. In the
Cup Final he scored a brace, the feams first and fifth goals as Basel won 6–0 against
FC Lausanne-Sport. On 16 May 2010, the day of the last match of the
league season, Basel and
Young Boys were level on points. The two teams played each other in
Stadion Wankdorf. Stocker scored the first and gave the assist to
Scott Chipperfield's second, as Basel won 2–0. This secured the championship, and therefore, the national
double. Stocker played 31 league games, scoring 12 goals. In the
2010–11 season Stocker played 26 League games, marking seven goals, and he won his third championship medal with the club. But Stocker injured himself on 23 April 2011 in the game against
BSC Young Boys. This was his 100th Super League match. The injury was a cruciate ligament rupture and was operated two days later. His recovery times was estimated at six to seven months. In the
2011–12 season he returned into the team on 3 December 2011 during the 1–0 home victory against
FC Luzern and on the same day it was announced that his contract had been extended until the end of June 2016. He was substituted in during the
group stage of the 2011–12 UEFA Champions League 2–1 home win against
Manchester United, as Basel qualified for the Knockout phase, sending United out of the competition. During the first leg match in the
Round of 16 on 22 February 2012 against
Bayern Munich he was substituted in and scored the winning goal. At the end of the
2011–12 Swiss Super League season Stocker won his fourth League Championship title with Basel, the third in a row. this was also his third
Double because Basel also won the
Swiss Cup During the
2012–13 season Stocker had another highlight in his football career. Due to an injury
Marco Streller and due an illness
Alexander Frei were both unable to play the
Europa League knockout phase match against
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk on 21 February 2013. Therefore, Stocker was nominated as team captain for the very first time and he led the Basel team to a 1–1 away draw and they qualified for the round of 16. At the end of the
Swiss Super League season 2012–13 Stocker won his fifth Championship title (fourth in a row) and won the
Swiss Cup runner-up silver medal. In the
2012–13 UEFA Europa League Basel advanced as far as the
semi-finals, there being matched against the reigning
UEFA Champions League holders
Chelsea, but were knocked out being beaten 2–5 on aggregate. Basel's
2013–14 Super League season was very successful. Stocker won his sixth league championship title with Basel. They also reached the final of the
2013–14 Swiss Cup, but were beaten 2–0 by
Zürich after extra time. During the
2013–14 Champions League season Basel reached the
group stage and finished the group in third position. Thus they qualified for
Europa League knockout phase and here they advanced as far as the quarter-finals. In their
season 2013–14 Basel played a total of 68 matches (36 Swiss League fixtures, 6 Swiss Cup, 6 Champions League and 10 Europa League and 10 test matches). Stocker totaled 55 appearances, 30 League, 4 Cup, 10 Champions League and 5 Europa League as well 6 in the test games. He scored a total of 19 goals and gave 14 assists in these matches.
Hertha BSC On 18 May 2014,
Hertha BSC officially announced the signing of Stocker. Stocker reportedly received a four-year contract after Hertha and FC Basel agreed on a transfer fee of around €5 million.
Return to Basel On 10 January 2018, FC Basel announced that Stocker would return to the club, signing a three-and-a-half-year contract dated up until June 2021. Under trainer
Marcel Koller Basel won the
Swiss Cup in the 2018–19 season. In the first round Basel beat FC Montlingen 3–0, in the second round
Echallens Région 7–2 and in the round of 16
Winterthur 1–0. In the quarter-finals
Sion were defeated 4–2 after extra time and in the semi-finals
Zürich were defeated 3–1. All these games were played away from home. The final was held on the 19 May 2019 in the
Stade de Suisse Wankdorf Bern against
Thun. Striker
Albian Ajeti scored the first goal,
Fabian Frei the second for Basel, then
Dejan Sorgić netted a goal for Thun, but the end result was 2–1 for Basel. Stocker played in five cup games and scored the two goals, these both being during the extra time in the match against Sion. On 17 May 2022, Basel announced that Stocker would retire from playing at the end of the 2021–22 season and will remain at the club as an assistant to the sporting director. Five days later, on 22 May, Stocker was substituted in to play the final 14 Minutes of his last professional game. During his time with the club Stocker won the Swiss championship six times and the
Swiss Cup four times. Between the years 2007 and 2014 and again from 2018 to 2022 he played a total of 515 games for Basel scoring a total of 116 goals. 286 of these games were in the
Swiss Super League, 33 in the
Swiss Cup, 57 in the UEFA competitions (
Champions League,
Europa League and
Conference League and 99 were friendly games. He scored 74 goal in the domestic league, 9 in the Cup and 18 in the European competitions, the other 15 were scored during the test games. In terms of the number of competitive games, which is 416, he is one of the top five in the club's history, and in terms of goals scored - although not a striker - he is 12th position in the historic FCB rankings. == International career ==