1970–71 FC Basel season

For the sixth consecutive season Helmut Benthaus was player-manager. There were only very few changes in the squad. Bruno Michaud retired from active football after winning his third championship title. He had played 16 seasons in the Nationalliga A, 14 of these were with Basel and two with Lausanne-Sport. During his time with Basel Michaud played a total of 355 competitive games and scored 22 goals. Dieter Rüefli moved on to play for St. Gallen and Janos Konrad moved on to Vevey-Sports. In the other direction Edoardo Manzoni joined the squad on loan from Xamax. Benthaus did not want any other transfers and relied on young players who came up from the reserve team to help, when needed in the first team. Basel played a total of 55 matches during this season. 27 of these games were in the domestic league including the play-off for the championship. Three of these games were in the Swiss Cup, four were in the European Cup, five were in the Cup of the Alps and 16 were friendly matches. Of these 16 test games 13 were won and three were drawn. Five test matches were played at home and 11 played away.[1]

14 teams contested in the 1970–71 Nationalliga A. These were the top 12 teams from the previous 1969–70 season and the two newly promoted teams Sion and Luzern. The championship was played in a double round robin. The champions would qualify for the 1971–72 European Cup and the last two teams in the league table at the end of the season were to be relegated. Basel won 18 of their 26 league games, drawing six, losing just twice, they scored 67 goals conceding 26. They finished the regular season level on points with Grasshopper Club Zürich and so these two teams had to contest a play-off game on 8 June 1971 to decide the title winners. Grasshopper won the play-off 4–3 after extra time.[2] Walter Balmer was Basel's top goal scorer with 13 league goals and Karl Odermatt second top scorer with 12 league goals. Peter Wenger scored 10, Helmut Hauser managed 9 and Jürgen Sundermann scored 8 league goals. Bellinzona finished last and the table and were relegated. Sion and Fribourg, level on points, were both second last and thus they had to have a play-off against relegation. Sion won 1–0, so Fribourg were relegated.[3]

On 1 November 1969 Basel started in the Swiss Cup in the round of 32 with a 5–1 home win against CS Chênois. In the round of 16 played on 29 November Basel had a home match against Bellinzona which was won 2–0. In the quarter-final, played on 28 February 1971, Basel had an away tie against Mendrisiostar (after club merger later renamed FC Mendrisio-Stabio). However, this was lost 0–2 after extra time. Servette won the cup competition at the end of the season, winning the final at the Wankdorf Stadium 2–0 against Lugano.[4]

In the European Cup Basel were drawn against Spartak Moscow. The first leg, which was played on 16 September 1970 away from home, was lost 2–3 with Odermatt and Benthaus scoring for the guests during the last 12 minutes, after they had gone three down with just a quarter of an hour left to play. In the second leg played in the St. Jakob Stadium Basel won 2–1, the goals being scored by Siegenthaler und Walter Balmer. Thus the tie ended 4–4 on aggregate. Basel won on away goals and advanced to the second round. Here they were drawn against Ajax, first away from home, but they suffered a 0–3 defeat. The second leg at home also ended with a defeat, 1–2, despite the fact that Odermatt put Basel one up with a penalty after 36 minutes.[5]

In the 1970 Cup of the Alps Basel were in the Swiss Group together with Lugano, Young Boys and Zürich. They played against each of the four Italian teams Fiorentina, Lazio, Sampdoria and Bari. Basel won the Swiss group and in the final they faced and beat Fiorentina 3–2.[6]

First round

Spartak Moscow v Basel

16 September 1970 First leg	Spartak Moscow	3 – 2	Basel	Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow
	Osyanin 17' (1:0) Osyanin 66' (2:0) Papayev 76' (3:0)	UEFA Summary FCB Summary	Odermatt 78' (3:1) Benthaus 83' (3:2)	Attendance: 80,000 Referee: Jim Finney

Basel v Spartak Moscow

30 September 1970 Second leg	Basel	2 – 1 (4 – 4 agg.)	Spartak Moscow	St. Jakob Stadium, Basel
	Siegenthaler 48' Balmer 55' Fischli  58'	UEFA Summary FCB Summary	Khusainov 84'	Attendance: 44,000 Referee: Ferdinand Marschall

Spartak Moscow 4–4 Basel on aggregate. Basel won on away goals.

Second round

Ajax v Basel

21 October 1970 First leg	Ajax	3 – 0	Basel	Olympic Stadium (Amsterdam)
	Keizer 17' van Dijk 23' Hulshoff 63'	UEFA Summary FCB Summary		Attendance: 42,000 Referee: Petar Nikolov

Basel v Ajax

4 November 1970 Second leg	Basel	1 – 2	Ajax	St. Jakob Stadium, Basel
20:00	Odermatt 36' (pen.)	UEFA Summary FCB Summary	Rijnders 69' Neeskens 72'	Attendance: 31,000 Referee: Derry Barrett

Ajax won 5–1 on aggregate.