Admittedly, VfB fans don’t have too far to travel for their first away trip in the Europa League. Basel’s St. Jakob-Park is closer than over half of the stadiums of their Bundesliga rivals. And the journey to “Joggeli” should at least be familiar to those who were at Freiburg around two weeks ago. From there, it’s only about 70 kilometres further down the Rhine and just across the border to the city of Basel. With a population of 200,000, it’s best known for its lively art scene as well as being an important centre for the chemical and pharmaceutical industries.
On Thursday 2 October at 21:00 CEST, the meeting between hosts FC Basel and VfB will kick off in Switzerland’s biggest football stadium. St. Jakob-Park accommodates around 40,000 spectators and it’s safe to assume most of those seats will be taken.
First encounter with VfB since 1978/79
That’s not an everyday occurrence, since there’s normally only a full house in Basel when the national team are playing in European Championship or World Cup qualifying. Matches in the Swiss Super League, in contrast, are rarely sold out on the whole. Nevertheless, there have still been magical nights at “Joggeli”. Europe’s greats like Liverpool, Chelsea and Bayern have previously visited in the UEFA Champions League.
This will be only the second time the two clubs have locked horns in European competition; the first came in the UEFA Cup first round in the 1978/79 season. Stuttgart triumphed 7-3 on aggregate that time, and the current team of coach Sebastian Hoeneß – whose father Dieter scored in the first leg – would certainly have nothing against another three points to follow the 2-1 opening win over Celta Vigo last week.
Both formed in 1893
If that happens, VfB fans will have every right to dance through the streets of Basel like the locals do every year on the Monday after Ash Wednesday. That’s because Basel isn’t just known for football and the club, but also for Carnival and the famous “Morgenstraich”. For 72 hours, Guggen bands and crowds parade through the streets and pubs, celebrating, singing, dancing and enjoying Basel delicacies such as flour soup and onion tart. You won't find these in the stadium, but you will find the “Basler Klöpfer”, as the grilled sausage is called by VfB's upcoming opponents. Basel, incidentally, have a very striking similarity with the visitors from Swabia: both clubs were founded in the same year and thus represent a long tradition.