David Degen

David Degen
David Degen (January 2007)
Personal information
Full name David Degen[1]
Date of birth (1983-02-15) 15 February 1983 (age 41)
Place of birth Liestal, Switzerland
Height 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Position(s) Right winger
Youth career
1990–1996 FC Oberdorf
1996–1999 FC Basel
1999–2000 FC Aarau
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2000–2003 FC Aarau 30 (3)
2003–2006 FC Basel 61 (8)
2006–2008 VfL Borussia Mönchengladbach 18 (2)
2007–2008 → FC Basel (loan) 20 (3)
2008–2012 BSC Young Boys 106 (17)
2012–2014 FC Basel 34 (3)
Total 269 (36)
International career‡
2000–2001 Switzerland U-17 10 (3)
2001 Switzerland U-19 4 (0)
2002–2003 Switzerland U-20 6 (0)
2003–2005 Switzerland U-21 24 (6)
2006–2011 Switzerland 17 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 18 May 2014
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 15 November 2011

David Degen (born 15 February 1983) is a former Swiss footballer who last played for FC Basel, mostly as a right midfielder, in the Swiss Super League.[2] He is half Dutch as his mother is from the Netherlands. His twin brother Philipp Degen was also a professional football player.

Club career

Degen started his youth football with local club FC Oberdorf. In 1996, he transferred to the youth teams of FC Basel playing in their U-18 and U-21 teams. He started his professional career at FC Aarau in 2000 but returned to Basel in 2003. With the club, during the Super League season 2003–04 and 2004–05, Degen won two domestic League Titles.

Degen moved to Bundesliga club Borussia Mönchengladbach in 2006. He played his debut for Mönchengladbach on 14 October 2006 in the game against VfL Wolfsburg and scored his first goal for his new club in that game. However, after the club's relegation in the Bundesliga season 2006–07 into the 2. Bundesliga, Borussia manager Jos Luhukay loaned him out to his former club, Basel for the 2007–08 season. On 22 August 2008, he returned to Switzerland on a permanent deal with BSC Young Boys. Degen spent four seasons in Bern playing 106 league matches and scoring 17 goals.

On 31 May 2012, Basel announced that they had signed Degen on a contract up until June 2015 together with his brother Philipp.[3] He started his first game for his team following his return against Servette FC on 13 July and scored the winning goal to the 1–0 victory. At the end of the Swiss Super League season 2012–13 Degen won the Championship title[4] and was Swiss Cup runner up with Basel.[5] In the 2012–13 UEFA Europa League Basel advanced as far as the semi-finals, there being matched against the reigning UEFA Champions League holders Chelsea, but were knocked out being beaten 2–5 on aggregate.[6]

At the end of the 2013–14 Super League season Degan won his fifth league championship with Basel.[7] They also reached the final of the 2013–14 Swiss Cup, but were beaten 2–0 by Zürich after extra time. In the 2013–14 Champions League season Basel in the group stage finished the group in third position to qualify for Europa League knockout phase and here they advanced as far as the quarter-finals. After the season Degen retired from professional football.

International career

Degen was selected for the Swiss 2006 World Cup squad. However, he only played in the warm-up games. Degen was left out of the squad to play at UEFA Euro 2008.[8]

Honours

Basel

Club statistics

As of 22 December 2013

Club performance League Cup Continental Total
Club League Season Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
FC Aarau Nationalliga A 2000–01 5 1
2001–02 2 0
2002–03 23 2
Total 30 3
FC Basel Swiss Super League 2003–04 22 2
2004–05 16 1
2005–06 23 5
Total 61 8
Borussia Mönchengladbach Bundesliga 2006–07 18 2 1 0 – – 19 2
Total 18 2 1 0 – – 19 2
FC Basel Swiss Super League 2007–08 20 3
Total 20 3
Young Boys Bern Swiss Super League 2008–09 19 5
2009–10 30 6
2010–11 32 4
2011–12 25 2
Total 106 17
FC Basel Swiss Super League 2012–13 26 3 1 0 8 1 35 3
Swiss Super League 2013–14 6 0 3 0 1 0 10 0
Total 32 3 4 0 9 1 45 3
Career Total 267 33

References

  1. ^ "2006 FIFA World Cup Germany: List of Players: Switzerland" (PDF). FIFA. 21 March 2014. p. 27. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 June 2019.
  2. ^ "Degen, David". kicker (in German). Retrieved 1 April 2011.
  3. ^ "Degen-Zwillinge: FCB-Vertrag bis 2015" (in German). FC Basel 1893. 31 May 2012. Archived from the original on 21 October 2013. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
  4. ^ Schifferle, Michael (10 June 2013). "Season review: Switzerland". UEFA. Retrieved 15 June 2013.
  5. ^ SFV (20 May 2013). "Telegramm Schweizer Cup Final" (in German). Schweizerischer Fussballverband. Retrieved 15 June 2013.
  6. ^ Haylett, Trevor (23 May 2013). "Basel take heart after Chelsea defeat". UEFA. Retrieved 15 June 2013.
  7. ^ Grossenbacher, Sacha (18 May 2014). "Fotos vom Spiel gegen Lausanne sowie den anschliessenden Feierlichkeiten" (in German). FC Basel 1893. Archived from the original on 12 June 2018. Retrieved 12 November 2014.
  8. ^ Meister, Remo 2012 (13 July 2012). "Der FCB erarbeitet sich zum Auftakt in Genf gegen Servette einen 1:0-Sieg" (in German). FC Basel 1893. Retrieved 1 January 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)