Benjamin Huggel - TheSportsDB.com

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Name
Benjamin Huggel

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Born
1977 (47 years old)

Birth Place
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Dornach, Switzerland

Position
Defensive Midfield

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Ethnicity

Team Number

Height
190 cm

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Sport

Soccer

Team
_Retired Soccer

2nd Team

League
_No League Soccer

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Description

Benjamin "Beni" Huggel (born 7 July 1977) is a Swiss former footballer who played as a midfielder for FC Basel in the Swiss Super League and for Eintracht Frankfurt in the Bundesliga.

He won a total of twelve titles with Basel, seven League Championships and five Swiss Cup titles. He played in four Swiss Cup Finals (he missed one due to an injury) and scored a goal in each Final. For Frankfurt he played in the 2006 DFB-Pokal Final, but the team finished as runner-up. Huggel played 41 times as a Swiss international scoring two goals, the second of which being the 1000th goal in the history of the Swiss national team. He was well known because of his height, his strength and for being a fearless fighter in the centre of the pitch. He now works for Basel as assistant trainer for the U-21 team.

Born in Dornach, Huggel grew up and went to School in suburban Münchenstein, ten minutes from Basel and close to the borders of France and Germany. He has a younger brother. Their parents are both teachers and his mother is a well known local politician. Huggel completed his apprenticeship as Landscape Gardener before he became professional footballer.

Huggel had a tough introduction to international football on 20 August 2003 as the Swiss lost 2–0 against France. He also appeared in Switzerland's final two matches during the Euro 2004 qualification campaign – a 4–1 defeat against Russia and 2–0 victory over the Republic of Ireland.

He appeared in all three of Switzerland's Euro 2004 matches. However, he was unable to prevent the Swiss having a disappointing tournament – they were eliminated at the group stage following defeats to France and England and a draw with Croatia.

However, Huggel did not start in any Switzerland's qualifying games for the 2006 World Cup. He also missed the tournament after receiving a six-game ban for kicking a Turkish coach Mehmet Özdilek, after his nation's play-off victory over Turkey. Huggel was included in the squad to play at Euro 2008, but did not play a game.

Huggel's second national goal was also the 1000th goal in the history of the Swiss national team. He scored it, a header from a set piece, on 10 October 2009 against Luxembourg during the 3–0 away win in the 2010 World Cup qualifier. Huggel was in the squad for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, he was in the starting eleven in all three games. But after they were eliminated during the Group Stage, he announced his international retirement. Huggel played 41 games for the national team, in which he scored two goals and was yellow carded only four times.

At the end of the 2011–2012 season Huggel retired from active professional football and since 1 July 2012, he is working as assistant manager for the Basel U-21 team. He is also eligible to play for the U-21 team and he made his debut for the team on 8 September 2012 in the 3–1 away win against Young Fellows Juventus