The 2004–05 season was Fussball Club Basel 1893's 112th in existence and the club's 11th consecutive season in the top flight of Swiss football. FC Basel started the season of with various warm-up matches. These included teams from the Swiss lower league as well as teams from Liechtenstein, France and Germany. The FC Basel aims for the 2004–05 season were to defend their league title, to win the cup and as well as to qualify for the UEFA Champions Leaguegroup stage.
Overview
As reigning champions Basel were favourites to retain their title and as Swiss champions, they entered the UEFA Champions League in third qualifying round. Basel's biggest signing in advance of the 2004–05 season was Kléber from Hannover 96. But in the other direction the Cameroonian international Timothée Atouba and Swiss international Mario Cantaluppi left the club. During the winter break they signed Patrick Müller from Mallorca.
The Campaign
Domestic League
Basel's priority aim for the season was to win the league championship for the second time in a row. The season started somewhat difficult, of first four home matches only two were won. Nevertheless, Basel moved to the top of the league table and one of the season's highlights was the 8–1 home win against Grasshoppers in which Giménez scored four goals. During September the team lost two away games in a row, but despite this they led the league table by seven points by the winter break. Basel completed the season's seventeen home ties undefeated, winning thirteen and drawing four. The highest home attendance being 31,383 in the 4–1 win against their title rivals Thun on 7 May 2005. Just four days later Basel secured the championship in their third last round of the season. At the end of the season they completed their championship aim, winning the title ten points clear of Thun, their nearest rivals.
Domestic Cup
Basel's clear aim for the Swiss Cup was to win it. In the first two rounds of the 2004–05 Swiss Cup Basel were drawn away games against lower league teams. In the third round they were drawn away against Thun but lost 5–4 after penalties. Thus Basel missed their aim.
Europe
Because Basel entered the Champions League in the third qualifying round their aim was to reach the group stage. However they were drawn against Internazionale and lost 5–2 on aggregate and were subsequently dropped into the UEFA Cup. In the First Round of the UEFA Cup Basel defeated the Russian side FC Terek Grozny 3–1 on aggregate. In the Group Stage they faced considerably tougher opponents, being drawn in Group E with Feyenoord Rotterdam, FC Schalke 04, Ferencvárosi TC and Heart of Midlothian. They drew 1–1 away to Schalke, but were defeated 2–1 at home by Hearts. In the away tie at the Stadium Puskás Ferenc they beat Ferencváros 2–1 and finally winning 1–0 at home against Feyenoord. They finished third in the group on seven points and qualified for the Round of 32 where they were defeated 2–0 on aggregate by Lille OSC. Despite this defeat, the aim for this campaign could be considered as achieved.
On 4 February 2005 the parent company of Servette FC was declared bankrupt. It had run debts of over 10 millionSwiss francs, having not paid the players since the previous November, and consequently the club suffered an exodus of players looking for paying clubs. As a consequence of the bankruptcy Servette FC had their license revoked, the club's second half matches were entirely cancelled. The second half of the season was therefore competed with only nine clubs. These each played another double round-robin schedule. Each of the nine clubs had played 34 matches at the end of the season.
