Benjamin Huggel

Benjamin "Beni" Huggel (born 7 July 1977) is a Swiss former footballer who played as a midfielder for FC Basel in the Swiss Super League and for Eintracht Frankfurt in the Bundesliga.

He won a total of twelve titles with Basel, seven League Championships and five Swiss Cup titles.

He played in four Swiss Cup Finals (he missed one due to an injury) and scored a goal in each Final.

Huggel began his youth football with local club FC Münchenstein and came through the ranks between 1987 and 1996.

He was loaned out to FC Arlesheim for two years (the price of which was a match ball), before completing his move to FC Basel in 1998.

In his first year in Basel, under Manager Guy Mathez, he was solely a reserve player.

Huggel made his debut for Basel on 6 December 1998, as he was transferred in during the 65th minute, in the 2–1 away win in the Wankdorf Stadium against Young Boys.

In the 1998–99 season he made just three short appearances as substitute in the first team.

But during the following year in the 1999–2000 Nationalliga A, under new Manager Christian Gross, he advanced into the starting team and played 34 of the 36 league games, scoring four goals.

He scored his first goal for the team on 15 August 1999 as Basel won 2–0 against Luzern at home in the Schützenmatte Stadion.

Huggel enjoyed his best campaign in 2000–01 when he scored eight goals in 29 league games from the centre of midfield.

Huggel was part of the side that won the Double in the year 2002.

But he missed the Cup Final due to an injury.

He first rose to international prominence with his displays for FC Basel during their Champions League run in the 2002–03 season.

A series of injuries had previously badly hampered his progress and the midfielder struggled in the face of stiff competition to win his way back into the side.

However, he did play as Basel knocked Liverpool out of the Champions League in 2002.

Basel finished second in the Swiss Super League that season and won the Swiss Cup after beating Neuchâtel Xamax 6–0 in the final, thus Huggel won his second Cup title.

Huggel scored the first goal in that final.

During the following year, Huggel had another successful season, scoring eight times in 32 games during the 2003–04 League season, as Basel won the Swiss title back from Grasshopper Club Zürich.

Another year later Huggel won his third Championship title at the end of the 2004–05 season.

In 2005, Huggel transferred to the newly promoted German club Eintracht Frankfurt, in the Bundesliga.

In that season he played 28 Bundesliga games and, with the team, he reached the DFB-Pokal Final in the Olympic Stadium (Berlin) against Bayern Munich, but this ended in a 0–1 defeat.

For Frankfurt he played in the 2006 DFB-Pokal Final, but the team finished as runner-up.

Huggel played 41 times as a Swiss international scoring two goals, the second of which being the 1000th goal in the history of the Swiss national team.

He was well known because of his height, his strength and for being a fearless fighter in the centre of the pitch.

He now works for Basel as assistant trainer for the U-21 team.

Born in Dornach, Huggel grew up and went to School in suburban Münchenstein, ten minutes from Basel and close to the borders of France and Germany.

He has a younger brother.

Their parents are both teachers and his mother is a well known local politician.

Huggel completed his apprenticeship as Landscape Gardener before he became professional footballer.

On 5 May 2007, he scored his first (and only) Bundesliga goal, in his 51st League game for Frankfurt, in the match against Alemannia Aachen.

In June 2007, Eintracht announced that Huggel was transferred back to his home club Basel, for an estimated fee of €400,000.

Following Huggels return to Basel for the 2007–08 season, he became a constant fixture in the centre of midfield in their domestic and European encounters.

That year he won the Swiss Super League for the fourth time and the Swiss Cup for a third.

In the 2008 cup final on 6 April 2008, he scored Basel's fourth goal as they beat AC Bellinzona 4–1.

During Basel's 2008–09 season, Huggel showed his goal scoring qualities.

Basel played their opening game of the season in Bern on 18 July 2008 against BSC Young Boys, which they won 2–1.

Basel's goals were scored by Marko Perović and Benjamin Huggel.

Basel entered the Champions League in the Second Qualifying Round and were drawn against IFK Göteborg of the Allsvenskan.

The first leg was on 30 July 2008 at Ullevi and finished 1–1.