High Performance Sport
People in Basel are great sports fans. Top tennis player Roger Federer grew up in the area. He started a real tennis craze in Basel. And the city is very proud of its football club, FC Basel. For some years now, the club has been amongst the top teams in the Swiss football scene. It is also the richest club in Switzerland and plays in the biggest stadium (42’000 seats). Home matches are often real parties.
Davidoff Swiss Indoors
The Davidoff Swiss Indoors are a world class tennis competition, Switzerland’s top sporting event, and is one of the world’s leading indoor competitions. The world’s best male tennis players come together every year in Basel. Some 65'000 spectators watch the matches live, while many million viewers in over 70 countries watch them on television.
Ice hockey
Another extremely popular spectator sport in Switzerland is ice hockey. Basel’s own club, the EHC Basel, also known as the Dragons, has many supporters. The Dragons’ glory years are several decades back. However, great efforts have been made of late, and a brand new ice stadium is now in place. Thus all prerequisites for top-class ice hockey are given.
Handball
Another great tradition enjoyed in Basel is the sport of handball. The club RTV 1879 Basel, founded over 130 years ago, is the handball showpiece for an entire region. The two-time Swiss champions have played successfully in the Nationalliga A (Swiss first division) for many years. The venue for playing home games is Rankhof sports hall.
High-performance sporting events
In addition to national championships, many other top international sporting events and competitions are organised at regular intervals throughout the year in Basel. For example the handball or ice hockey world championships. In 2008, the UEFA EURO 2008TM was hosted in Switzerland and Austria, and six games were played in Basel. Annual competitions include the men’s ‘Badminton Swiss Open’, the World Inline Cup, the European Skateboard Championships or the women’s top volleyball competition. The international football matches played at St. Jakob Park are also very attractive. Major cycling events such as ‘Tour de Suisse’ or the ‘Tour de France’, regularly pass through the city or area.