Editing FC Basel (section)

===Rise and fall===
In the [[1966–67 Nationalliga A|1966–67 season]], Benthaus achieved his first league win with Basel. During this season, he acted as player-manager, having taken over the trainer job from Jiří Sobotka at the beginning of the previous season. There were 14 teams contesting in the championship, and Basel finished just one point clear of [[FC Zürich]]. Basel won 16 of the 26 games, drawing eight, losing only twice and they scored 60 goals conceding just 20. [[Roberto Frigerio]] was the team's top goal scorer with 16 league goals, while [[Helmut Hauser]] was second-best with 14.

In the Swiss Cup final that season, Basel's opponents were Lausanne-Sports. In the former Wankdorf Stadium on 15 May 1967, Helmut Hauser scored the decisive goal via a penalty. The game went down in football history due to the sit-down strike that followed this goal. After 88 minutes of play, with the score at 1–1, referee Karl Göppel awarded Basel a controversial penalty: [[André Grobéty]] had pushed Hauser gently in the back and he let himself drop theatrically. Subsequent to Basel taking the lead, Lausanne players refused to resume the game, sitting down demonstratively on the pitch. The referee was forced to abandon the match and Basel were awarded the cup with a 3–0 default victory.<ref name="bazonline">{{cite web | last = Schmid | first = Andreas W. | year = 2010 | url = http://bazonline.ch/sport/fussball/Ein-klarer-Penalty-Nein-eine-klare-Schwalbe/story/25894760 | title = "Ein klarer Penalty!" "Nein, eine klare Schwalbe!" | publisher = Basler Zeitung | access-date = 16 November 2010|language=de}}</ref><ref name="sport.sf.tv">{{cite web | last = dsc | year = 2010 | url = http://www.sport.sf.tv/Nachrichten/Archiv/2010/05/07/Fussball/Der-legendaere-Sitzstreik-im-Final-1967 | title = Der legendäre Sitzstreik im Final 1967 | publisher = sport.sf.tv | access-date = 16 November 2010|language=de}}</ref>

Basel had won the [[Double (association football)|double]] for the first time in the club's history.

The league title in 1966–67 led to Basel qualifying to play in the [[UEFA Champions League|European Cup]] for the first time, in [[1967–68 European Cup|1967–68]]. Basel, however, were knocked out of the tournament in the First Round by [[Danish 1st Division|Danish]] side [[Akademisk Boldklub]].

Basel's next league title was achieved in the [[1968–69 Nationalliga A|1968–69 Nationalliga A season]] as they once again finished just one point above the runners-up, this time Lausanne Sports. In the Swiss Cup, Basel reached the quarter-finals. This championship title meant that Basel could embark on another European adventure, but again they failed to overcome the first hurdle; this time it was [[Celtic F.C.|Celtic]] of [[Scottish Premier League|Scotland]]. Nationally in the [[1969–70 Nationalliga A|1969–70 season]], Basel won the league for the fourth time again one point ahead of Lausanne Sports. In the Swiss Cup, Basel reached the final.

The European Cup was a little kinder to Basel [[1970–71 European Cup|in 1970–71]], as they reached the Second Round, losing to [[AFC Ajax|Ajax]] after defeating [[Russian Premier League|Soviets]] [[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]] in the first round. Basel did not retain their title [[1970–71 Nationalliga A|the following season]] despite finishing with the same number of points as the subsequent champions, Grasshoppers, who won the title on a head-to-head. In the Swiss Cup, Basel reached the quarter-finals.

After a trophy-less season, Basel again won two league titles in-a-row. The [[1971–72 Nationalliga A|1971–72 season]] was the last season for [[Helmut Benthaus]] as an active footballer. Basel won the championship four points ahead of Zürich. In 
the Swiss Cup, Basel reached the final but were defeated 0–1 by Zürich through a goal in extra time. In the [[1971–72 UEFA Cup]], Basel were drawn against [[Real Madrid CF|Real Madrid]]. The home game attracted 32,059 spectators, but Basel were defeated 1–2 and lost overall 2–4 on aggregate.

The [[1972–73 Nationalliga A|1972–73 season]] was Benthaus' eighth season as manager. Basel won 17 of their 26 league games and won the championship four points ahead of Grasshoppers. [[Ottmar Hitzfeld]] was the league's joint top goal scorer with 18 league goals. In the Swiss Cup, Basel played [[FC Martigny-Sports|Martigny-Sports]], Young Boys, [[FC Chiasso]] and [[FC Biel-Bienne]] to reach the final against Zürich. The [[1972 Swiss League Cup]] was the inaugural [[Swiss League Cup]] competition. It was played in the summer of 1972 as a pre-season tournament to the 1972–73 season. This was won by Basel who defeated [[FC Winterthur]] 4–1 in the final in which Hitzfeld scored a hattick. In Europe, Basel failed to impress once again, [[1972–73 European Cup|in 1972–73]], as they were sent crashing out at the first stage by [[Hungarian National Championship I|Hungary]]'s [[Újpest FC|Újpesti Dózsa SC]].

But in the [[1973–74 European Cup|1973–74 season]], they excelled with the Peruvian legend [[Teófilo Cubillas]] in their ranks, eliminating [[Úrvalsdeild|Icelanders]] [[Knattspyrnufélagið Fram|Fram Reykjavík]] and [[Club Brugge KV|Club Brugge]] of [[Belgian First Division|Belgium]], before narrowly exiting in the quarter-finals to [[Celtic F.C.|Celtic]] 5–6 on aggregate after extra time in the away leg. In the [[1973–74 Nationalliga A]] season Basel finished in just 5th position winning 13 of their 26 league games, drawing twice and suffering 10 defeats, gaining 29 points. They finished 16 points behind the new champions [[FC Zürich|Zürich]]. [[Ottmar Hitzfeld]] was the teamst top goal scorer with 19 league goals. He ended the Swiss ranking in third position behind [[Daniel Jeandupeux]] (Zürich, 22 goals) and [[Walter Müller (footballer, born 1942)|Walter Müller]] ([[Lausanne-Sports]], 21 goals). In the Swiss Cup Basel proceeded to the quarter-finals, in which they played against [[FC Sion|Sion]]. Sion won the two legged round 3–2 on aggregate.

Despite Basel's improvement on the European stage, they did not retain the league for another four years. At the end of the [[1974–75 Nationalliga A]] season Basel finished in fourth position (11 wins, 9 draws, 2 defeats, 49–33 goals) 8 points adrift of FC Zürich who won the championship for the second time in a row. In the League Cup Basel reached the semi-finals. But they did manage to lift the Swiss Cup in 1975, beating Winterthur 2–1 in the Final [[extra time|after extra time]] and therefore qualifying for the [[1975–76 European Cup Winners' Cup|1975–76 Cup Winners' Cup]].

Basel's long-awaited title-win came [[1976–77 Nationalliga A|in 1977]] as they triumphed over Servette FC in a playoff. This meant that Basel returned to play in the European Cup, but they were defeated in the first round, once more, by [[FC Wacker Innsbruck|Wacker Innsbruck]] of [[Austrian Football Bundesliga|Austria]], after showing so much promise on their last European outing. After the success of the 1976–77 season, Basel endured two seasons of below-par performances and mid-table finishes until glory returned [[1979–80 Nationalliga A|in 1980]], as Basel won the [[Swiss Super League|Nationalliga A]] title through the playoff. However, manager Helmut Benthaus left in 1982 and in the following seasons, Basel's final league positions started to drop until their relegation into the [[Swiss Challenge League|Nationalliga B]] [[1987–88 Nationalliga A|in 1988]].

Several managers came and went at the [[St. Jakob Stadium]] between then, until Basel finally returned to the Nationalliga A [[1994–95 Nationalliga A|in 1994]] under [[Claude Andrey]]. Basel avoided relegation by three points in their first season back at the top-flight, but Andrey left and was replaced by [[Karl Engel (Swiss footballer)|Karl Engel]]. Engel led Basel to a fifth-place finish in [[1995–96 Nationalliga A|his first season in charge]] and a solid mid-table finish in [[1996–97 Nationalliga A|1997]], but he was sacked after a poor start to the [[1997–98 Nationalliga A|1997–98 campaign]], in which Basel finished second-last. [[Jörg Berger]] then took over but lasted only a year in charge before [[Christian Gross]] was appointed. Gross' appointment went hand-in-hand with the financial backing that had just been put into the club and it was not long until Basel returned to the top.