Barça and Basel's many connections
This Sunday 16 August, FC Barcelona will travel to Switzerland to take on FC Basel (4.30pm CEST). The Swiss club has many historical ties with Barça, with the two sharing the same initials (FCB), the same colours (blue and claret) and a number of other symbolic connections.
Hans Gamper played for Basel
One connection between the two clubs is that Hans Gamper, the founder of Barça, played at least one game for FC Basel in 1896, where he wore a blue and claret shirt for the first time. It has even been speculated that the Barça colours were based on those of Basel, although that is just one of many theories and Gamper's regular club in Switzerland was actually FC Zurich.
Similar origins
Gamper arrived in Barcelona in 1898 and, on 22 October 1899, published an advert in Los Deportes magazine calling for players to form a football team. He managed to bring together a group of players at the Gimnàs Soler on 29 November, and FC Barcelona was born.
The Swiss side was founded in a very similar way. On 12 November 1893, businessman Roland Geldner published an advert in the Basler newspaper. In it, he asked anyone interested in forming a football team to meet at the Schuhmachern-Zunft restaurant on 15 November. Eleven players turned up, and FC Basel was founded.
Thalmann and the 'Pájaro Loco'
Gamper was not the only footballer to play for both teams in their early years. Ernest-Albert Thalmann, one of the pioneers of Swiss football and president of Basel five times between 1900 and 1915, played for Barça in 1909. Hungarian forward Zoltán Czibor, known as the Pájaro Loco ('Crazy Bird'), followed in his footsteps, playing for Barça from 1958 to 1961 and FC Basel in 1962.
More recently, Ivan Rakitic and Yusuf Demir have played for both clubs. The Swiss-born Croatian midfielder came through Basel's youth system and played for the first team between 2005 and 2007. He signed for Barça in the summer of 2014, where he remained until 2020. Demir, meanwhile, was a Barça player in the 2021/22 season and played for the Swiss club in 2023/24.
FC Barcelona are therefore set to renew acquaintances with a club with which they share a long-standing bond and affinity. More than 125 years on, the two sides will once again demonstrate a connection that began with one of the most important figures in Barça history, Hans Gamper.