Xherdan Shaqiri's Basel renaissance

Basel secured their first Swiss Super League title since 2017 with returning hero Xherdan Shaqiri rolling back the years with his boyhood club.

12 years on from his move to Bayern Munich, you'd expect Xherdan Shaqiri to be winding down his career back in Switzerland... not re-discovering his peak.

Six different clubs in five different leagues have intersected his time with FC Basel, a run that concluded with an underwhelming spell with Chicago Fire.

Many thought that the Swiss legend may have lost a bit of stardust, but he has proven that is far from the truth.

This season, Shaqiri has transformed the fortunes of Basel - putting an end to a eight-year Swiss Super League title drought.

The club wrapped 21st top-flight title on Saturday and Shaqiri was of course played a starring role, netting a nine-minute hat-trick after his side went down to 10-men, in a 5-2 win at Lugano.

His 38 direct goal contributions in the league double that of second place and he leads the league by 11 in term of assists, making 2024-25 by far his most productive season to date.

At the age of 33, Shaqiri has contributed a massive 41 goals and assists in all competitions.

Xherdan Shaqiri for Basel in 2024/25

Success this campaign means an opportunity to return to the UEFA Champions League.

Under the old format, FC Basel had qualified for the group stages of the competition more than any other Swiss club, while 2025/26 will see them enter the qualifying round of Europe's premier footballing tournament.

With the league wrapped up, FC Basel now have the opportunity to do the double with a Swiss Cup final pencilled in for 1st June as third-tier side FC Biel-Bienne stand in the way of the club's seventh league and cup double.

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William Dobbie

• Switzerland Men's Football Team
• European Football
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