FCB record player Fabian Frei leaves the club after 543 games in red and blue after being sidelined. blue Sport looks back at other club icons and their farewells. Not all of them were successful.
No time? blue News summarizes for you
- FCB record player Fabian Frei leaves the club after 543 games in red and blue after being sidelined. This is certainly not how he imagined the end in Basel, where he celebrated five championship and three cup titles.
- Not only for Fabian Frei (35), but also for many other figures of identification, the big exit through the front door remains an unfulfilled dream. blue Sport sheds light on six farewells from other club icons, which took very different paths.
Alex Frei (167 games for Basel)
Pushed to the side by Yakin
On April 14, 2013, Alex Frei was bid a highly emotional farewell in Basel before the last game of his extremely successful career. The then FCB president Bernhard Heusler gave a passionate speech in the sold-out Joggeli. Frei then accepts a picture and a bouquet of flowers and takes the microphone, deeply moved. With a faltering voice and to thunderous applause, he thanks his family, friends and fans. As a movie of his best moves is played in the stadium, the star striker is in tears.
He then shows all his class one last time. In the 58th minute of the classic match against FCZ, he curled a free kick from around 25 meters into the corner to make it 1:1, his 108th and last goal in an FCB shirt was a feast for the eyes. Shortly afterwards, he makes way for today's blue Sport expert Marco Streller. Fabian Schär and substitute Mohamed Salah finally secured the 3-1 victory and the perfect farewell for Frei, who celebrated his fourth championship title in a row - all of them won on his return to his boyhood club.
It is an open secret that he and then FCB coach Murat Yakin did not get on well. Looking back, Frei says: "He knows my attitude towards him as a coach and towards Murat Yakin as a person. Privately, we have an outstanding relationship, characterized by the utmost respect."
Immediately after his retirement, Frei took over as head of sport at FC Luzern and later embarked on a coaching career. The 45-year-old is currently without a club.
Tranquillo Barnetta (135 games for St. Gallen)
His end announced via video message
In April 2019, 33-year-old Tranquillo Barnetta announced his retirement at the end of the season in a video message. "After 17 years as a professional, the decision was not easy for me. But I'm convinced that the right moment has come at the end of this season to say goodbye," he says. In an interview with the St. Galler Tagblatt, Barnetta explains his reasons in more detail. "I always wanted to decide for myself when to call it a day. And not be controlled by my body. Or by the club and coach."
He mainly means the latter. Because Barnetta's last season is deeply unsatisfactory for the St. Gallen integration figure. Coach Peter Zeidler often leaves the 75-time international on the bench. "I didn't understand why I wasn't getting a chance." He calls football a special business, sometimes "too little consideration is given to people". He also criticizes the club management with regard to squad planning.
In May 2019, he provided the assist in his farewell match in the 1-1 draw in Zurich. A week earlier, he was given a fitting send-off by the home crowd in the 4:1 win against YB. Since his retirement, Barnetta has been a househusband - he no longer has much to do with the football business.
Marco Wölfli (461 games for YB)
Farewell 2 years after retirement
On April 28, 2018, Marco Wölfli saves a penalty against Luzern to help YB win its first league title in 30 years. At this point, Wölfli was actually only number 2 behind David von Ballmoos, but because the regular keeper missed the entire second half of the season with an injury, the long-serving number 1 played after all and has enjoyed legendary status ever since.
After the championship triumph, the 11-time national team goalkeeper returned to the second line without a murmur and added two more seasons in which he celebrated two more championship titles and the Cup triumph at the end. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, Wölfli would not receive a fitting send-off until two years after his retirement, in September 2022, at a legends match in the Wankdorf in front of almost 30,000 spectators.
Today, Wöfli works in the real estate industry and is co-owner of Adlatus AG real estate partners. He can also be seen on TV from time to time as a football pundit.
Marco Schönbächler (353 games for Zurich)
"The sudden end was a shock"
The FCZ dressing room has been Marco Schönbächler's second home for almost half of his life. The winger played for the first team for 14 years and was at the club for 19 years in total. In the summer of 2021, at just 31 years old, he expects his contract to be extended. Nope, FCZ no longer wants him. It was a shock, says Schönbi weeks later. He suffered for days. "I was disappointed, sad. It was really difficult to understand the decision."
The hardest minutes were when he had to clear out his locker. "When I saw all the old photos in my locker, it got emotional again," he told Blick at the time.
Schönbächler is then unemployed for a year and also goes to the RAV to clock in. In the summer of 2022, he decided to retire from professional sport and joined his youth club FC Urdorf, where he still plays amateur football today. Schönbächler runs a padel hall in Rüti ZH.
Vero Salatic (396 games for GC)
A farewell could hardly be more bitter!
The GC integration figure par excellence was called up for an interview in summer 2020. The club said they wanted to discuss the planning for the new season with him. Salatic is taken by surprise. Those responsible informed him that they were no longer planning to work with him, even though he still had a year left on his contract. "I was one hundred percent sure that I would continue to play for GC. When you've been with a club for so long, an abrupt end like this hurts."
The way in which Salatic is bid farewell shows just how little appreciation GC has for its long-serving captain. No farewell game, not even a bouquet of flowers in the stadium. There is a sober media release and the midfielder, who has put in 396 games for GC, is history. Incidentally, the media release had already been prepared before the personal interview, says Salatic.
The club had no interest in keeping the club icon beyond the end of his career. His last game in GC kit? A 6-0 defeat to Winterthur in the Challenge League in the summer of 2020. There could hardly be a more bitter farewell! Salatic now works as a player consultant.
David Zibung (520 games for Lucerne)
"This is just madness"
In 2003, Zibung made the leap from the U21s to the FC Luzern first team. He remained loyal to the club until his retirement in 2021. In his last game before retiring, the now 40-year-old wins the Cup Final with FCL - the only trophy he wins with FCL. By then, Zibung had long since lost his number 1 status, which is why he only sits on the bench in the final.
His last time between the posts will be three days earlier in the last championship match on May 21, 2021. Before the game, Dave is bid farewell by Head of Sport Remo Meyer and FCL President Stefan Wolf. It's not an overly festive occasion, as there are only around 100 spectators in attendance due to the coronavirus pandemic. However, the fans bid him a fond farewell in the weeks leading up to the match.
After Zibung announces his retirement at the end of the season in May, he is surprised, celebrated and bid farewell by around 500 fans at a supposedly normal training session. "That's just madness. I can't find any other words for this action. It was surprising and emotional - there were more and more fans, simply incredible. To feel this appreciation from the fans over these many years and then to be bid farewell like this is unique. It was one of the coolest things I've ever seen. I'm grateful to have been able to experience it," Zibung told the Luzerner Zeitung at the time.
Even after his professional career, he initially remained loyal to FCL and worked for the club in various roles. This summer, after 25 years, he leaves FCL for the Bundesliga, where he is now sports coordinator for Borussia Mönchengladbach.
He is as much a part of Lucerne as the KKL and the Kapellbrücke. FCL legend David Zibung was a guest on blue Sport's Lap of Honor in September 2022. He revealed why he never changed clubs and how he uses his time as a football pensioner.
