Philipp Degen

Basel

Degen played his youth football, together with his twin brother David, with local amateur club FC Oberdorf. In the summer of 1995, they moved to the youth department of FC Basel, playing in their U-18 and U-21 teams. Philipp Degen advanced to Basel's first team for their 2001–02 season under head coach Christian Gross. Basel played in the 2001 UEFA Intertoto Cup. After playing in five test games, Degen played his team debut coming in as substitute in the away game on 8 July 2001 as Basel won 2–0 against Grindavík. After playing in two further test games, he played his first Swiss Cup game in the away game on 10 November as Basel won 5–0 against local club Concordia. He was substituted in the 54th minute for Mario Cantaluppi, who had suffered a knee injury. Degen played his domestic league debut with the team in the home game in the St. Jakob-Park on 2 December as Basel were defeated 4–5 by Grasshopper Club. Basel started well into the second part of the season and during this period FCB played their best football, pulling away at the top of the table and subsequently achieved the championship title prematurely. Basel won the last game of the season, on 8 May 2002, and became champions ten points clear at the top of the table. Just four days later they played in the cup final against Grasshopper Club winning 2–1 in extra time and they won the double. In his second season with the team Degen came to more playing practice, because right back Massimo Ceccaroni had…

Degen has represented Switzerland at various age levels including Under-17s, Under-19s, Under-20s and Under-21s. Degen made his Swiss U-17s debut on 10 February in the 2–1 away win against the Turkish U-17s. His U-21s debut was on 20 August 2003 in the 1–1 home draw against the French national under-21 football team. Degen played for the Swiss team in the 2006 FIFA World Cup, until they were knocked out on penalties by Ukraine in the last 16. Despite having been injured for much of the season, Degen formed part of the Swiss squad for the UEFA Euro 2008 tournament. However, the host nation were knocked out in the group stage of the tournament and Degen did not make any appearances. He has not been called up to the team since Ottmar Hitzfeld took over as the new manager due to his preference to play younger players like Stephan Lichtsteiner and Valon Behrami. He played his last game for the Swiss national team in the 0–1 defeat against Norway on 14 November 2009.

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His twin brother, David, was also a footballer and has played for FC Basel too. David retired at the end of the 2013/14 season.