FC Basel 1893 v RC Strasbourg PRESS KIT St. Jakob-Park, Basle Thursday, 20 October 2005 - 19:30 local time Group E - Matchday 1 Only 140 kilometres separate them, but for the first time in UEFA club competitions, RC Strasbourg will travel from France to face Swiss side FC Basel 1893 on the opening matchday of the 2004/05 UEFA Cup group stage. For Strasbourg, the match will be their first against Swiss opposition in UEFA club competitions while Basel will look for a more positive outcome in what will be their second match against a French team after LOSC Lille Métropole ended their participation in lastseason's competition in the last 32. Basel key facts •Prior to Matchday 1 of the 2005/06 UEFA Cup group stage, Basel had played 96 matches in UEFA club competitions. •They will therefore make their 100th appearance in UEFA club competitions away to AS Roma on 14 December 2005. On the following day, fellow Swiss club Grasshopper- Club will make their 150th appearance in UEFA club competitions, away at AZ Alkmaar, as the group stage concludes. •Basel are making their seventh consecutive appearance in UEFA club competitions. •This season marks their 21st participation in UEFA club competitions since making their debut in the 1963/64 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup. •They are one of ten clubs featuring in the UEFA Cup group stage for the second consecutive season. The full list is: FC Steaua Bucuresti, Middlesbrough FC, FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk, AZ Alkmaar, Basel, SC Heerenveen, VfB Stuttgart, FC Zenit St. Petersburg, Besiktas JK and Sevilla FC. •Swiss champions in 2004/05, Basel actually entered the UEFA Champions League at the start of this campaign at the third qualifying round stage, but lost 4-2 on aggregate to Werder Bremen. •The Swiss side won their home leg against Bremen 2-1 with goals from David Degen (28) and Julio Hernán Rossi (52). But Miroslav Klose (73) reduced the deficit before the end of the game to give Bremen hope for the return match, which the German side eventually won thanks to goals from Ivan Klasnić (65, 73) and a penalty from Tim Borowski (68). • Basel's attentions then reverted to the UEFA Cup, in which NK Široki Brijeg were their first­round opponents. Basel won 5­0 at home thanks to a hat­trick from Matías Delgado (10, 78, 88) as well as other goals from Ivan Ergić (70) and Eduardo (85). The Swiss side also won in Bosnia­Herzegovina with Mladen Petrić (8) scoring the only goal of the game. uefa.com 1/14 FC Basel 1893 v RC Strasbourg PRESS KIT Strasbourg key facts • Prior to Matchday 1 of the 2005/06 UEFA Cup group stage, Strasbourg had played 42 matches in UEFA club competitions. • Strasbourg are making their first appearance in UEFA club competitions since exiting the UEFA Cup at the first round stage in 2001/02. • This season is Strasbourg's eighth foray into UEFA club competitions since the French club made their first appearance in the 1966/67 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup. • Strasbourg qualified for the UEFA Cup by virtue of their victory in last season's French League Cup against SM Caen. • Paired against Grazer AK in the first round of this season's competition, Strasbourg marked their return to UEFA club competitions with a bang, running out 7­0 winners. Mickaël Pagis got Strasbourg off to a flyer with a goal in the opening minute in the first leg match in Austria with Guillaume Lacour adding a second on the stroke of half­time. The French side preserved their two­goal lead for the return match at the Stade de la Meinau and added five more through Karim Haggui (5), Alexander Farnerud (40), Pontus Farnerud (50), Ulrich Le Pen (59) and Hosni Ebrahim (68). Other facts • Basel have followed the same path this season as last, entering the UEFA Champions League and following elimination at the third qualifying round stage, moving across to the UEFA Cup. FC Internazionale Milano accounted for the Swiss side 5­2 on aggregate in the UEFA Champions League qualifiers before Basel overcame FC Terek Grozny 3­1 on aggregate in the first round of the UEFA Cup. • In the subsequent group stage, Basel drew 1­1 away to FC Schalke 04 and lost 2­1 at home to Heart of Midlothian FC before winning their final two games 2­1 at Ferencvárosi TC and 1­0 at home to Feyenoord. Their results were sufficient to win a place in the Round of 32 where the Swiss side lost 2­0 on aggregate to LOSC Lille Métropole. • Basel competed in the 2002/03 UEFA Champions League after defeating MŠK Žilina and Celtic FC in the qualifying rounds. Drawn with Valencia CF, Liverpool FC and FC Spartak Moskva in the first group stage, Basel finished second in the group standings behind the Spanish club, thus qualifying for the second group stage. Competing against Manchester United FC, Juventus FC and RC Deportivo La Coruña, Basel only missed out on the knockout stages on their head­to­head record against the Italian giants. • During the 1973/74 season, Basel competed in the quarter­finals of the European Champion Clubs' Cup, where they were on the receiving end of a 6­5 aggregate defeat against Celtic. Basel had earlier accounted for Fram Reykjavík and Club Brugge KV in the opening two rounds of the competition. • Basel's only previous foray across the French border in UEFA club competitions came last season when they faced Lille in the last 32. Following a scoreless draw at St. Jakob­Park, Lille took control of the tie at home with goals from Matt Moussilou and uefa.com 2/14 FC Basel 1893 v RC Strasbourg PRESS KIT Milkenko Aćimović, thus advancing to the next stage. • Strasbourg's last appearance in UEFA competition came in the 2001/02 UEFA Cup where they exited at the first round stage following a 4­2 aggregate defeat at the hands of R. Standard de Liège. The Belgian side won ­0 at home, and though Strasbourg restored parity by the interval of the return match in France thanks to two goals from Danijel Ljuboja (6, 38), two further goals in the second period from Michael Goossens and Gonzague Van Dooren put Standard through. • Strasbourg's best performance in UEFA competition came in the 1979/80 European Cup when they reached to the quarter­finals only to lose 4­0 on aggregate to AFC Ajax. The French side had defeated IK Start and the­then named ASVS Dukla Praha, now FK Marila Príbram, earlier in the competition. • Strasbourg's meeting with Basel will be their first with Swiss opposition in UEFA club competitions. uefa.com 3/14 FC Basel 1893 v RC Strasbourg PRESS KIT All-time statistics Head-to-head record No matches have been played between the two clubs Home team's record versus clubs from the away team's country Date Comp. Stage Match Res Venue 17.02.2005 UCUP 1/16 FC Basel 1893 - LOSC Lille Métropole 0-0 Basle 24.02.2005 UCUP 1/16 LOSC Lille Métropole - FC Basel 1893 2-0 Villeneuve d'Ascq Overall record Pld W D L GF GA FC Basel 1893 2 0 1 1 0 2 Away team's record versus clubs from the home team's country Away club has never played against clubs of the country of the home team UEFA club competition record FC Basel 1893 Pld W D L GF GA European Champions Clubs' Cup / UEFA Champions League 42 17 8 17 71 75 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup 4 0 1 3 3 13 UEFA Cup 28 10 5 13 51 41 UEFA Super Cup 0 0 0 0 0 0 UEFA Intertoto Cup 22 12 5 5 50 28 Total 96 39 19 38 175 157 RC Strasbourg Pld W D L GF GA European Champions Clubs' Cup / UEFA Champions League 6 3 1 2 8 6 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup 4 2 1 1 3 3 UEFA Cup 22 11 3 8 37 24 UEFA Super Cup 0 0 0 0 0 0 UEFA Intertoto Cup 10 6 4 0 22 3 Total 42 22 9 11 70 36 KEY: All-time statistics Comp - Competition, Res - Result Pld - Matches played, W - Won, D - Drawn, L - Lost, GF - Goals for (scored), GA - Goals against (conceded) (NOTE: These are the official statistics considered valid for communicating official records in UEFA club competitions defined as the European Champion Clubs' Cup, the UEFA Champions League, the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, the UEFA Cup, the UEFA Super Cup and the UEFA Intertoto Cup) (NOTE: For matches in the UEFA Champions League (group stage to final only) club record, the fixtures played in the 1992/93 and 1993/94 first and second rounds are included in the statistics calculation) Current club names used for all clubs listed in these tables Goals totals include the outcome of disciplinary decisions (eg. match forfeits when a 3-0 result is determined. Goals totals do not include goals scored from the penalty mark during a penalty shoot-out ECCC: European Champion Clubs' Cup and/or AP: Appearances QR2: Second qualifying round UEFA Champions League F: Final QR3: Third qualifying round UCUP: UEFA Cup GS: Group stage R1: First round uefa.com 4/14 FC Basel 1893 v RC Strasbourg PRESS KIT UCWC: UEFA Cup Winners' Cup GS1: First group stage R2: Second round SCUP: UEFA Super Cup GS2: Second group stage R3: Third round UIC: UEFA Intertoto Cup PR: Preliminary round R4: Fourth round EURO: UEFA European Football Championship QF: Quarter-finals SF: Semi-finals WC: FIFA World Cup QR: Qualifying round 1/8: Eighth-finals QR1: First qualifying round 1/16: Sixteenth-finals uefa.com 5/14 FC Basel 1893 v RC Strasbourg PRESS KIT Squad list FC Basel 1893 All-time UEFACUP1 UEFA2 No.