The 2002–03 season was FC Basel's 110th season of competition, and the club's 9th consecutive season in the Nationalliga A, the top flight of Swiss football. Basel played their home games in the newly constructed St. Jakob-Park complex. René C. Jäggi had been the club chairman for the previous six seasons, but stood down at the AGM in October, and businessman Werner Edelmann was elected as the new chairman.
The club sought to retain the Swiss Nationalliga A and Swiss Cup titles after winning the double the previous season. They also sought to compete in the Champions League for as long as possible, as well as reach its group stage.
Basel ended the domestic league season as runners-up in the league and winners of the Swiss Cup. They also reached the second group stage of the Champions League.
Overview
Off-season and pre-season
Basel started the season with high aspirations as reigning champions and cup holders. Basel and Grasshopper Club Zürich were the favourites to win the domestic championship title. Basel chose winning the championship as their top goal. Their second objective was to defend the Swiss Cup because it would be played at their home stadium, St. Jakob-Park. Basel also entered the 2002–03 Champions League in the second qualifying round and aimed to reach the group stage.
Massimo Ceccaroni retired from his professional career prior to the season. Ceccaroni is still considered to be a cult figure in Basel, due to his 25 years total of loyalty towards the club and the fact that he never scored a goal in the top flight of Swiss football. As a result of making very few appearances for the team the previous season, the club decided not to renew his contract at the end of the season, and his professional career came to an end. Ceccaroni played a total of 605 games for Basel from 1987 to 2002. 398 of these games were in the Nationalliga A and Nationalliga B, 34 in the Swiss Cup, 20 in the European competitions (UEFA cup and UIC) and 153 were friendly games. He scored six goals throughout his career, four in the Nationalliga B and two during friendlies. Other players who left the squad included fellow retirees Oliver Kreuzer and Romain Crevoisier, and Miroslav König, who transferred to Zürich.
Soon after the season began, Philippe Cravero moved to Servette, first on loan and then definitively. During his tenure of just over four seasons with the club between 1998 and 2002, Cravero played 185 games for Basel, scoring a total of five goals. 108 of these games were in the Nationalliga A, 8 in the Swiss Cup, 16 in the European competitions (UEFA cup and UIC) and 53 were friendly games. He scored two goals in the domestic league and three in friendly matches.
Christian Gross was the first team trainer for the fourth successive season. Knowing the high aspirations for the season, Gross strengthened the team. Alessandro Iandoli advanced to the first team from the U-21 team. Basel's biggest pre-season signings were Bernt Haas, who was loaned in from West Bromwich Albion, Julio Hernán Rossi transferred in from Lugano, goalkeeper Eric Rapo came in from and Antonio Esposito from St. Étienne.
Six pre-season test games were planned for June and one for early July. The Nationalliga A season began on 6 July 2002 with an away game against Aarau, and the Champions League qualifying started on 31 July with an away tie against Žilina. In the Swiss Cup, all the league teams had a bye and qualified for the round of 32, which was to take place on 22 February 2003.
Winter break
During January 2003, George Koumantarakis left the club and transferred to English team Preston North End, who at that time played in the English Championship.
Campaign
Friendly games
Basel started the season off with various warm-up matches. Their opponents included teams from the Swiss lower league, a team from Brazil, and PSV Eindhoven of the Netherlands. During the summer, Basel visited a training camp in America and played three matches against teams from the USL Premier Development League and Major League Soccer. Basel entered the Sempione Cup, which was played in Balsthal. The club won the first match against Austrian team SK Rapid Wien 3–0 and the second against Slovakian team Inter Bratislava 2–0. Basel were placed second in the final classification.