Pickel started his youth football with FC Solothurn. In Summer 2011, he transferred to the youth department of FC Basel and played in their U-16 and advanced via their U-17 and U-18 team to their U-21 team in 2015. On 23 December 2015, he signed a two-and-a-half-year professional contract, but remained with the U-21 team.[2] On 16 May 2016, Pickel was called up to the first team by head coach Urs Fischer. He played his Swiss Super League debut for the Basel first team in the starting eleven, but Basel suffered a 0–4 away defeat against Luzern.[3] Basel won the Swiss Super League championship at the end of the 2015–16 Super League season. For the club it was the seventh title in a row and their 19th championship title in total.[4]
Pickel joined Basel's first team definitively for their 2016–17 season under head coach Urs Fischer. Although he appeared in ten test matches, he played only one more league match, with the team in the home game in the St. Jakob-Park on 4 February 2017 as Basel won 4–0 against Lugano.[5] Basel announced on 1 March that Pickel was leaving the club.[6] With the U-21 Pickel had played 38 goals scoring three goals. During a short time with Basel's first team Pickel played a total of 13 games without scoring a goal. Three of these games were in the Swiss Super League and ten were friendly games.[7]
On 1 March 2017, Basel announced that Pickel had signed for Grasshopper Club.[8] GC announced that he had signed a four-and-a-half-year contract with them.[9] Pickel played his debut for his new club on 5 March 2017 in the Swissporarena in the starting eleven against Luzern. He played the entire game and it ended in a 1–1 draw.
On 1 July 2019 GC announced that Pickel was transferring to Grenoble.[10]
On 22 July 2022, it was announced that Pickel had joined newly promoted Serie A club Cremonese.[11]
International career
Born in Switzerland, Pickel is of Congolese and Swiss descent.[12] Pickel played one international game for the Swiss U-15. He played his debut for the Swiss U-18 as midfielder on 2 September 2014 as they drew 2–2 with the Swedish U-18. He played his debut for the Swiss U-19 as defender on 1 September 2015 as they drew 1–1 with Portugal U-19.[13] His last game for the Switzerland U-20 was on 27 March 2018 in the away game against Italy U-20, where Pickel played as right-back and the Swiss won 3–2.
^FC Basel 1893 (3 December 2015). "Charles Pickel unterzeichnet einen Profivertrag". Charles Pickel signs his first professional contract (in German). FC Basel 1893 AG. Retrieved 16 November 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
^SRF (30 April 2016). "FC Basel holt den 19. Meistertitel". FC Basel wins their 19th championship title (in German). Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen (SRF). Retrieved 16 November 2022.
^Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv” (4 February 2017). "FC Basel - FC Lugano 4:0 (3:0)". Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv”. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
^Grasshopper Club Zürich (1 July 2019). "Charles Pickel wechselt zu Grenoble". Charles Pickel joins Grenoble (in German). gcz.ch. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
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