Daniel Hug


Daniel Hug was a Swiss international footballer who played for FC Basel and Genoa C.F.C.. He played mainly in the position as defender, but also as midfielder.

Basel

Between the years 1899 and 1908 Hug played a total of 92 games for Basel scoring a total of 11 goals. Hug was named as team captain in the season 1903–04. He remained captain for many years. With Basel in 1906–07 Swiss Serie A he won the central group of the Swiss championship, qualifying for the final group that played for the championship. Hug and his club ranked in the third and last place of the championship final group, behind Servette Genf and Young Fellows Zürich.

Genoa

In 1908 he moved to Italy, Genoa. In the Italian Football Championship 1908 the FIGC agreed to Federal Gymnastics protests forbidding the use of foreign players. Since Genoa's birth they had always had a strong English contingent. They disagreed, as did several other prominent clubs such as Milan, Torino and Firenze; and thus they withdrew from official FIGC competitions that year. The following season the federation reversed the decision and Genoa was rebuilt with players such as Luigi Ferraris and others from Switzerland such as Hug.

International

Together with goalkeeper Paul Hofer, the players Alphonse Schorpp, Eugène Strauss, Siegfried Pfeiffer, Ernst-Alfred Thalmann und Emil Hasler, Hug was one of many early Swiss national team players who came from the Basel team. Hug wore the Swiss national team shirt twice. His first call up was the friendly match between Switzerland and France on 8 March 1908 in Geneva, which the Swiss lost 1–2. The second call was against Germany, the game played on 5 April 1908. Hugs Basel team mate Pfeiffer scored two goals in the legendary 5–3 victory over Germany at the Landhof in Basel.