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Basel seal championship - yet again

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Basel seal championship - yet again

FC Basel sealed their 14th Swiss Super League Championship on Wednesday night, with  a 3-0 home win over Lucerne. Basel have now won the title three times in the last four seasons.

 

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Basel finished the season with 73 points, a point ahead of bitter rivals FC Zurich, while third-placed Young Boys Bern ended the season a full 15 points behind the top two.

Even though Basel needed to win their last game of the season to make sure of the championship, their dominance over the league is clearly beginning to stick in the craw of their arch-rivals in Zurich.

Zurich star Ludovic Magnin was in no mood for diplomacy after his side's 1-0 win over FC Thun proved academic. Speaking to Blick newspaper, he said. "Of course you're supposed to be a fair sportsman – 'Blah blah blah, congratulations to Basel' – no, I'm sorry, it makes me sick that they're champions."

Basel's victory was virtually assured before half-time, by which time they were already two up, with goals from star-player Alex Frei and Xherdan Shaqiri. The 19-year-old Cameroonian prodigy Jacques Zoua put the icing on the cake ten minutes into the second half with a mighty header from a Frei corner.

The title earned Basel an estimated 25-million-franc jackpot, because it also meant direct qualification into the group stage of next season's Champions League.

According to financial daily Handelszeitung, the money is much needed, as the club reported a profit of only 223,000 in 2010.

bk/The Local

 

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