Swiss Super League | Gameweek 38

May 24, 2025 at 5pm UK

St. Jakob-Park (Basel)

Basel vs Luzern

Match preview

After eight years of struggle, Basel are back at the summit of Switzerland's top flight, eight points clear of second-placed Servette with one round remaining.

Head coach Fabio Celestini has totally transformed FCB in just a few months, taking them from the bottom of the table to the title. A double triumph could be on the cards, as they will take on lower-league Biel in next month's cup final.

However, the 21-time national champions were surprisingly hammered 6–2 at the Wankdorf Stadium last time out, as fierce rivals Young Boys ruthlessly ended their eight-match winning streak.

Nevertheless, it has been a memorable season, particularly for returning hero Xherdan Shaqiri, who has contributed 25 goals and assists in just 19 league games this year — and 38 in total.

Basel have not lost consecutive Super League games since September, so they will be intent on avoiding that fate this weekend. Instead, they will be aiming to record five straight home wins for the first time since 2019.

Although FCB have won only three of their last ten league meetings with Luzern, one of those wins came when the teams last met at St. Jakob-Park in early February. Therefore, Basel will be looking to achieve a similar result in Saturday's top-flight finale.

The pair's most recent meeting was in March, when they played out a 1–1 draw in Lucerne, with Benie Traoré's opening goal for Basel being cancelled out by a Stefan Knezevic strike.

This time, Luzern really need to win, as they are level with Lausanne Sport and one point behind Lugano ahead of the final matchday — all three teams are competing for fourth place.

After losing 4-3 in a seven-goal thriller against Servette last week, Die Leuchten have not won in five games, making it unlikely that they will overtake their two rivals and secure a place in Europe for next season.

Precedent suggests that Mario Frick's team now has just the slimmest of chances: only Sion have a worse away record in the Super League than Luzern this calendar year.

So far this calendar year, Luzern have tallied just five points on the road, losing six out of nine times, so toppling the new champions in Basel will be no easy feat.

Recent Performance

Basel Swiss Super League form:WWWWWL

Luzern Swiss Super League form:WLLDLL

Team News

Having returned to training ahead of schedule, Basel left-back Dominik Schmid could make his comeback from a head injury this week, just in time for the cup final — he may even wear a protective mask.

The home fans will say goodbye to long-serving midfielder Taulant Xhaka, who is retiring at the end of the current campaign. However, star player Xherdan Shaqiri seems keen to continue.

The former Liverpool attacker, who recently rejected the opportunity to reverse his international retirement, has been invaluable to FCB since returning, scoring 18 goals and providing 20 assists in the league.

Meanwhile, Thibault Klidje has been Luzern's main threat this term, scoring 10 goals so far. Austrian striker Adrian Grbic scored twice from the penalty spot last week, albeit in a losing cause.

He will hope that this is enough to earn him a place in the visitors' starting XI, while head coach Mario Frick must make an enforced change at the back: Stefan Knezevic is suspended and will join injured pair Jesper Lofgren and Sofyan Chader on the sidelines.

Possible starting lineup

Basel possible starting lineup:

Hitz; Kade, Adjetey, Vouilloz, Cisse; Avdullahu, Metinho; Shaqiri, Traore, Otele; Ajeti

Luzern possible starting lineup:

Loretz; Dorn, Beka, Freimann, Ciganiks; Winkler, Stankovic, Medja; Rrudhani; Grbic, Klidje