Schönenberger played his youth football with local club FC Wangen bei Olten. He joined Basel's first team under team manager Helmut Benthaus in their 1974–75 season. After two games in the Cup of the Alps and one in the Swiss League Cup, he played his domestic league debut his new club in the home game at the St. Jakob Stadium on 17 August 1974 as Basel played a 2–2 draw against Xamax in the first game of the season. He scored his first goal for the club on 19 October that year in the home game against Vevey-Sports as Basel won by three goals to nil. In his first season, Basel ended the domestic league in forth position, he played 19 league games scoring six goals. He played two Swiss Cup games, Basel won the Cup but Schönenberger did not figure in the final line up. Basel finished the 1975–76 Nationalliga A in third position with 34 points, 10 points behind FC Zürich. Of the 26 games, 13 were won, 8 drawn, 5 lost, with 59 goals and 38 conceded. Schönenberger played in 24 matches, scoring 10 goals and was the teams top goal scorer. In the 1975–76 European Cup Winners' Cup he played both games as Basel were knocked out of the competition by Atlético Madrid. In the first leg he scored the opening goal in the third minute, but the team were defeated 1–2. For Schönenberger the 1976–77 Nationalliga A was a very successful season. The league format was changed. Instead of 14 teams playing a single round robin, it now was reduced to 12 teams with a Qualifying phase and a championship round with the top six teams. This meant no longer 26 games, but now 22 plus 10. Schönenberger did not play much in first part of the season, but returned to playing as the winter ended. In the Qualifying phase Basel obtained 33 points and were just two points behind Servette. They managed to close the gap in the championship round and because both teams were level on points the championship was decided in a play-off match. This match was held on 26 June 1977. Basels goals were scored by Mundschin and von Wartburg as they won 2–1 and became Swiss champions. In the league Schönenberger only played 11 matches scoring three goals. During the season Basel's 1977–78 season Schönenberger played 30 league games and netted 16 times. Schönenberger was the teams top goal scorer and the team finished the championship in third position. In both the national cup competitions they reached the semi-finals but lost both. In the Swiss League Cup Schönenberger played all four games and scored four goals. In the Swiss Cup he played three games and also scored four goals. In the cup match on 12 October 1977 in the Letzigrund against Zürich Schönenberger scored a hat-trick as Basel won 3–1. In their 1978–79 season Basel finished the qualification round in fourth position and after the final round they slipped to sixth position. Schönenberger played 26 league games and scored six times. In the qualification round match on 16 September 1978 against Xamax Schönenberger scored four goals as Basel won 5–2. However Detlev Lauscher became the teams top scorer with 14 goals. In the round of 32 in the Swiss Cup Basel were drawn away at lower tier FC Glattbrugg. Schönenberger scored a hat-trick within 23 minutes in the second half of the game as Basel won by seven goals to nil. In the Swiss League Cup Basel advanced to the final which was played on St. Jakob Stadium on 1 May 1979. Although their opponents Servette took an early two goal lead, Schönenberger scored two goals and the game went into extra time. After 120 minutes the score remained 2–2 and it required a penalty shoot out. Schönenberger missed with his attempt and Servette won the Cup. Between the years 1974 and 1979 Schönenberger played a total of 195 games for Basel scoring a total of 80 goals. 110 of these games were in the Nationalliga A, 15 in the League Cup, nine in the Swiss Cup, two in the European Cup, one in the UEFA Cup, two in the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, 14 in the Cup of the Alps and 42 were friendly games. He scored 41 goal in the domestic league, 11 in the League Cup, 8 in the Swiss Cup, 4 in the European competitions and the other 16 were scored during the test games. After five seasons with Basel, Schönenberger moved on and signed with Young Boys. He stayed by them until he retired from active football in 1986. In his last season with the Young Boys they won the 1985–86 Nationalliga A and were Swiss Champions.
International career
Roland Schönenberger was called up for Switzerlandfor the first time in 1977 by National team manager Roger Vonlanthen. Schönenberger played his debut for his country on 21 September 1977 in the test game against Spain at the Wankdorf Stadium in Bern. He was substituted in to play for the second half of the game. He played his next game for his country in the starting eleven on 30 October 1977. It was a 1978 World Cup qualification match in Group 6. Switzerland won the game 1–0 against Norway but could not qualify for the World Cup. Schönenberger was called up for his country again in 1980 by National team manager Léon Walker. Schönenberger played two further matches in the 1982 World Cup qualification match in Group 4.
