Xherdan Shaqiri’s return from Major League Soccer as motivation, Basel won the Swiss league for the first time since 2017 on Sunday without having to play.
Basel led by 11 points with three rounds remaining after second-place Servette failed to win, drawing 0-0 at home against third-place Young Boys.
After three uneventful seasons with the Chicago Fire, the 33-year-old Shaqiri returned to his hometown team in August and has been a star in their title run-in.
After Basel was reduced to 10 men in Saturday’s 5-2 victory against Lugano, Shaqiri scored a hat trick in less than ten minutes. Similar to his goal for Switzerland versus Scotland in the 2024 European Championship, the second goal was an instinctive curling and dipping strike.
Shaqiri the Spark
Basel transformed a close title fight with at least five teams into a parade with seven consecutive victories and five goals in each of the last three games.
With nine goals and seven assists throughout the winning run, Shaqiri was the catalyst, bringing his league season totals to a career-high 18 goals and 20 assists.
After starting the first three Swiss league titles in 2010 at the age of 18, the playmaker has now won the league in each of his four seasons with Basel. That began an eight-title run at Basel that ended in 2017.
After moving to Bayern Munich from Basel in 2012, Shaqiri won the first of his two Champions League winners’ medals the following season. Liverpool in 2019 was the second.
In August of the next season, Basel will make their Champions League debut in the qualifying playoffs. To advance to the lucrative 36-team league phase, the Swiss league runner-up must defeat three opponents when they play in the second qualifying round in July.
