Ronny Hodel


Ronny Hodel is a Swiss former professional footballer who played as a left-back. He started out with local club FC Luzern in 2000 before moving on to BSC Young Boys in 2005. He played there for two years until he was signed by FC Basel at the end of the 2006/07 season. He was considered one of the best left-backs in Switzerland despite never making his full international debut.

Football career

Born in Horw, Lucerne, Hodel spent seven years at FC Luzern where he rose to be arguably the team's best player. He felt he had to move to a bigger club if he wanted to improve as a footballer and he made this known.
BSC Young Boys signed him at the start of the 2005/06 season where he quickly broke into first team. He started to push for a place in the international set-up and was tipped to be included in the Swiss squad for the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany but left-backs Christoph Spycher and Ludovic Magnin were chosen instead. Hodel remains uncapped at full international stage but has 4 U-21 caps.
In June 2007 FC Basel signed him from Swiss Super League rivals Young Boys and he was given the No.3 shirt. He made his FC Basel debut against Celtic on 5 July 2007 in a Uhren Cup match at the Stadion Brühl in Grenchen. On 18 June 2009, he was released by Basel after newly appointed manager Thorsten Fink decided not to offer him a new contract.
He then signed for FK Ventspils of the Latvian Higher League. In February 2010 he left Ventspils, expected to sign for Servette FC from Switzerland but during the medical tests an anomalia in his knee was found and it was not known whether he would be able to continue his career or not.

Honours

FC Luzern
Basel