Marco Streller

Marco Streller
Streller in 2006
Personal information
Full name Marco Streller[1]
Date of birth (1981-06-18) 18 June 1981 (age 43)
Place of birth Basel, Switzerland
Height 1.95 m (6 ft 5 in)
Position(s) Forward
Youth career
1988–1997 FC Aesch
1997–2000 FC Arlesheim
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2000–2004 Basel 20 (13)
2001–2002 → Concordia Basel (loan) 30 (16)
2002–2003 → Thun (loan) 16 (8)
2004–2007 VfB Stuttgart 55 (9)
2006 → 1. FC Köln (loan) 14 (3)
2007–2015 Basel 213 (98)
Total 348 (147)
International career
2001–2002 Switzerland U-20 3 (0)
2002–2003 Switzerland U-21 13 (6)
2003–2011 Switzerland 37 (12)
Managerial career
2015–2017[2] Basel (sporting adviser)
2017–2019 Basel (sporting director)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Marco Streller (born 18 June 1981) is a Swiss former footballer who played as a striker and is best known for his years with FC Basel and the Switzerland national team. He was the sporting director of FC Basel from June 2017 until June 2019.[3][4] Since February 2020 he works as a TV expert for the Swiss Pay TV broadcaster Teleclub.[5]

Club career

Youth football

Streller was born in Basel and began his youth football with local club FC Aesch, coming through the ranks between 1988 and 1997. He then played three seasons for FC Arlesheim in the 2. Liga.

Basel

Streller started his professional football career with local club FC Basel under manager Christian Gross in 2000. He played his League debut in St. Jakob-Park being substituted in during the 66th Minute at St. Jakob-Park on 11 July 2001 in the 3–1 home win against Servette. In the last minute of the game he scored an own goal, a deflected header, after Servette had taken the last corner kick.[6]

Loan to Concordia and Thun

This was to remain Streller's only game for Basel during this season because he was loaned to feeder club FC Concordia Basel for the rest of the season. He scored 16 goals in 30 starts in the Nationalliga B with Concordia, which made his home club and Gross sit up and take notice. They called him back in 2002, but after playing just three games was loaned out again in January of the following year to FC Thun. He scored eight goals in just 16 games for Thun and was subsequently recalled to Basel, being promised first team football.

Basel

During the 2003–04 Swiss Super League season, he scored 13 goals in 16 games, thus gathering the interest of a handful of Bundesliga clubs including VfB Stuttgart.

VfB Stuttgart and 1. FC Köln

Stuttgart eventually signed him ahead of the 2004–05 season. During his debut on 14 March 2005 he also scored his first goal for the VfB. But after returning from an injury he scored just four goals in 28 matches in his two years in Stuttgart. Therefore, and to gain match practice, he was loaned out to 1. FC Köln for their second half of the 2006 season. After returning from Köln, where he made 14 starts, he scored five goals in 27 games as Stuttgart won the Championship, but Streller still failed to impress the Stuttgart board of directors.

Basel

Stuttgart therefore allowed Streller to rejoin his boyhood heroes FC Basel on a free transfer in June 2007.[7] This was his fourth spell at the club and it turned out to be very successful. He was Basel's top goal-scorer during the 2007–08 season with twelve league goals and 16 goals in all competitions. In the last game of the season Valentin Stocker and Marco Streller scored the two goals in Basels 2–0 home win over BSC Young Boys and Basel won the championship.[8]

Streller missed the start of the 2008–09 season after returning from UEFA Euro 2008 injured. He playing his first game of the season in a 1–0 Swiss Cup win over FC Schötz on 20 September 2008. During the 2008–09 Swiss Super League season Streller played 23 league games, scoring six goals, but Basel finished just third in the League table, qualifying for the Europa League. In the 2009–10 season Streller played 29 League games, scoring 21 goals, and Basel won the Double. In the 2010–11 season Basel were able to defend the League Title, thus Streller won his fourth Swiss League Medal.[9]

For the 2011–12 Swiss Super League season trainer Thorsten Fink named Marco Streller as team captain.[10] He scored his first UEFA Champions League goal for Basel on 22 November in the Group C tie in the Arena Națională, in Bucharest, as Basel won the away game against Oțelul Galați 3–2.[11] At the end of the 2011–12 season, Streller won the Double, the League Championship title[12] and the Swiss Cup[13] with Basel.

At the end of the 2012–13 Swiss Super League season Streller won the Championship title[14] for the fourth time in a row and was Swiss Cup runner up with Basel.[15] 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 5–2 on aggregate.[16] In a very long season Basel played a total of 76 games (36 in the domestic League, six in the Cup, 20 in Champions und Europa League, as well as 14 Test matches). Streller made 62 appearances, of which 32 were in der domestic League, three in the Cup and 17 in the Champions League and Europa League.

On 18 September 2013, he headed the winning goal away to Chelsea in the opening group game of the 2013–14 UEFA Champions League.[17] At the end of the 2013–14 Super League season, Streller won his seventh league championship with Basel (fifth time in a row).[18] 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 finished in the group stage in third position to qualify for Europa League knockout phase and here they advanced as far as the quarter-finals. In their season 2013–14, with Murat Yakin as trainer, Basel played a total of 68 matches (36 Swiss Super League fixtures, six Swiss Cup, ten Champions League and six Europa League and ten test matches). Streler totaled 44 appearances, 25 in the Super League, three in the Cup, eight Champions League and two Europa League appearances, as well six in the test games. He totaled 18 goals in these matches, of which ten were scored in the Super League, one in the Champions League and two in the Europa League.[19]

The season 2014–15 was a very successful one for Basel and their captain Marco Streller. The championship was won for the sixth time in a row that season[20] and in the 2014–15 Swiss Cup they reached the final. But for the third season in a row, they finished as runners-up, losing 3–0 to FC Sion in the final. Basel entered the Champions League in the group stage and reached the knockout phase as on 9 December 2014 they managed a 1–1 draw at Anfield against Liverpool.[21] But then Basel then lost to Porto in the Round of 16. Basel played a total of 65 matches (36 Swiss League fixtures, six Swiss Cup, 8 Champions League and 15 test matches). Under trainer Paulo Sousa Streller totaled 40 appearances, 24 League, one Cup, five Champions League, as well 10 in test games. He scored 20 goals in these matches.[22]

At the end of the 2014–15 FC Basel season Streller retired from professional football. Between the years 2000 to 2004 and again from 2007 to 2015 Streller played a total of 418 games for Basel scoring a total of 185 goals. 233 of these games were in the Swiss Super League, 22 in the Swiss Cup, 70 were in a UEFA European-competitions (Champions League, UEFA Cup Europa League and UIC) and 93 were friendly games. He scored 111 goals in the domestic league, nine in the domestic cup, 24 in European competitions and the other 41 were scored during the test games.[23]

International career

Youth international

Streller represented Switzerland at Under-20 and Under-21 levels. He played his Swiss U-20 debut on 7 November 2001 in the 1–3 away defeat against the Dutch U-20 team. His U-21 debut was on 21 August 2002 in the 1–0 home win against the Austrian U-21 team. He scored his first goal for the U-21 on 15 January 2003 in the 2–3 defeat against the German U-21, in fact during this game he scored both Swiss goals. Just four days later on 19 January 2003 he scored a hat-trick against the Qatar national under-23 football team as the Swiss won 3–1.

Full international

Streller played his debut as full international on 11 October 2003, being substituted in, during the 2–1 home win against the Republic of Ireland in the final match of the Group 10 qualifying match to the UEFA Euro 2004.[24] Streller was in the squad for the UEFA Euro 2004, but pulled out due to injury.[25]

During a 2006 WC qualifier against Turkey, he was lashed at and kicked by Turkey player Alpay Özalan. He played at the 2006 FIFA World Cup and during the tournament's final stage he missed a spot-kick during his side's penalty shootout against Ukraine, who emerged victorious.

His substitution in the last friendly game before the Euro 2008, against the Principality of Liechtenstein, was accompanied by catcalls from Swiss supporters, being dissatisfied with Streller's performance in that game. As a consequence, Streller announced his international retirement after the Euro 2008, citing he does not have "the full support of the fans". He was bashed about announcing such a move in front of the tournament not only by the Swiss press. Ottmar Hitzfeld, designated Swiss manager from July 2008, convinced Streller to continue his international career.

Streller scored Switzerland's second goal in a 4–1 victory against Wales in a Euro 2012 qualifier on 13 October 2010.

On 5 April 2011, he stepped down from the national team along with Alexander Frei, after being sharply criticised by home fans following a 0–0 draw with Bulgaria for the Euro 2012 qualifier.[26]

Career statistics

Scores and results list Switzerland's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Streller goal.
List of international goals scored by Marco Streller
No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1 16 November 2005 Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium, Istanbul, Turkey  Turkey 2–3 2–4 2006 World Cup qualifier
2 3 June 2006 Hardturm, Zürich, Switzerland  China 2–0 4–1 Friendly
3 4–0
4 6 September 2006 Stade de Genève, Geneva, Switzerland  Costa Rica 1–0 2–0 Friendly
5 11 October 2006 Tivoli-Neu, Innsbruck, Austria  Austria 1–2 1–2 Friendly
6 7 February 2007 Esprit Arena, Düsseldorf, Germany  Germany 1–3 1–3 Friendly
7 22 March 2007 Lockhart Stadium, Fort Lauderdale, United States  Jamaica 1–0 2–0 Friendly
8 2 June 2007 St. Jakob-Park, Basel, Switzerland  Argentina 1–1 1–1 Friendly
9 7 September 2007 Ernst-Happel-Stadion, Vienna, Austria  Chile 2–1 2–1 Friendly
10 13 October 2007 Letzigrund, Zürich, Switzerland  Austria 1–0 3–1 Friendly
11 3–1
12 12 October 2010 St. Jakob-Park, Basel, Switzerland  Wales 2–1 4–1 Euro 2012 qualifier

Honours

Basel[27]

VfB Stuttgart[27]

Individual

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. ^ "Streller mit vielfältigen neuen Aufgaben beim FCB". FC Basel (in German). 15 September 2015. Retrieved 22 June 2017.
  3. ^ Kreis, Stefan; Arn, Martin (16 June 2017). "Marco Streller über seine neue Rolle als Sportchef "Ich werde Lehrgeld bezahlen!"". Blick. Retrieved 22 June 2017.
  4. ^ "Streller tritt als FCB-Sportchef zurück". Telebasel. 14 June 2019. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
  5. ^ "MARCO STRELLER WIRD NEUER TELECLUB FUSSBALLEXPERTE". Telebasel. 24 February 2020. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
  6. ^ Weber, Eugen (11 July 2001). "3:1 gegen Servette Genf" (in German). FC Basel 1893. Archived from the original on 19 December 2013. Retrieved 3 February 2013.
  7. ^ "Streller wieder ein Basler" (in German). tagesanzeiger.ch. 20 June 2007. Archived from the original on 4 October 2011. Retrieved 20 June 2007.
  8. ^ "Der FC Basel ist Schweizer Meister" (in German). Tagesanzeiger. 10 May 2008. Archived from the original on 5 October 2008. Retrieved 10 May 2008.
  9. ^ "FC Basel ist Schweizer Meister" (in German). football.ch. 25 May 2011. Retrieved 25 May 2011.
  10. ^ "Marco Streller neuer FCB-Captain" (in German). FC Basel 1893. 3 July 2011. Archived from the original on 5 April 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2011.
  11. ^ Haylett, Trevor (22 November 2011). "Basel hang on to set up United showdown". uefa.com. Retrieved 15 June 2013.
  12. ^ "Jetzt hat Basel den Titel auf sicher" (in German). football.ch. 29 April 2012. Archived from the original on 16 October 2013. Retrieved 18 May 2012.
  13. ^ "Matchtelegram FC Basel 1893 5:3 FC Luzern" (in German). football.ch. 16 May 2012. Archived from the original on 4 December 2012. Retrieved 18 May 2012.
  14. ^ Schifferle, Michael (10 June 2013). "Season review: Switzerland". UEFA. Retrieved 15 June 2013.
  15. ^ SFV (20 May 2013). "Telegramm Schweizer Cup Final" (in German). Schweizerischer Fussballverband. Retrieved 15 June 2013.
  16. ^ Haylett, Trevor (3 May 2013). "Basel take heart after Chelsea defeat". UEFA. Retrieved 15 June 2013.
  17. ^ "Chelsea 1 Basle 2". Daily Telegraph. 19 September 2013. Retrieved 19 September 2013.
  18. ^ Grossenbacher, Sacha (18 May 2014). "Fotos vom Spiel gegen Lausanne sowie den anschliessenden Feierlichkeiten" (in German). FC Basel 1893. Retrieved 26 October 2014.
  19. ^ Zindel, Josef (2014). Rotblau: Jahrbuch Saison 2014/2015 (in German). FC Basel Marketing AG. ISBN 978-3-7245-2027-6.
  20. ^ Marti, Caspar (29 May 2015). "Der Meisterfreitag im bunten Zeitraffer" (in German). FC Basel 1893. Retrieved 29 May 2015.
  21. ^ "Liverpool 1 Basel 1". BBC Sport. 10 December 2014. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
  22. ^ Zindel, Josef (2015). Rotblau: Jahrbuch Saison 2015/2016 (in German). FC Basel Marketing AG. ISBN 978-3-7245-2050-4.
  23. ^ Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv” (2015). "FCB-Statistik". Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv”. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
  24. ^ "Swiss through after sinking Ireland". UEFA.com. 11 October 2003. Archived from the original on 5 January 2013. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
  25. ^ "Swiss keeper breaks arm". BBC Sport. 13 June 2004. Retrieved 18 December 2015.
  26. ^ "Swiss pair Frei and Streller announce retirements". BBC News. 5 April 2011. Retrieved 5 April 2011.
  27. ^ a b "M. Streller". Soccerway. Retrieved 19 September 2014.
  28. ^ "Super League - Salah zum SL-"Spieler des Jahres" gewählt". Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen (SRF) (in German). 27 January 2014. Retrieved 16 September 2023.
  29. ^ "Gashi footballeur de l'année 2014". Le Matin (in French). 2 February 2015. ISSN 1018-3736. Retrieved 16 September 2023.
Sporting positions
Preceded by FC Basel captain
2011–2015 		Succeeded by