St Jakob-Park (Basel)

St. Jakob Park is a Swiss sports stadium in Basel. It is the largest football venue in Switzerland and home to FC Basel. “Joggeli”, as the venue is nicknamed by the locals, was originally built with a capacity of 33,433 seats. The capacity was increased to 42,500 for Euro 2008, which was hosted by Switzerland and Austria. After the Euro 2008 a number of seats were removed, thus creating more space between them. The capacity was therefore reduced to 38,512 for Swiss Super League matches or 37,500 seats for international matches. The maximum capacity for concerts is 40,000.

General information

Arena capacity: 38,512 spectators

Address: St. Jakobs-Strasse 395, 4052 Basel, Switzerland

GPS coordinates for the navigator: 47°32′29.67″N 7°37′12.65″E

Year of construction: 15 March 2001

Construction cost: CHF 220 million

Field: grass lawn

Seating plan of St Jakob-Park

The stadium has four sides that are located in the geographical regions of North, South, East and West. As far as your tickets are concerned they’ll likely be labelled A, B, C or D as this makes it easy to identify where you’ll be sitting.

The North Stand was expanded in time for 2008 and is the only section of the ground that has three tiers of seated sections. The East Stand is where Basel’s most passionate supporters sit and it is also the stand where the Fanshop and the Museum are located. The South Stand hosts not only the corporate seating, it is also the home of the dug-outs, the tunnel and the player’s changing room. Last but not least is the West Stand. Here you’ll find the away supporters in one corner and the families in the other.

When choosing a place in the stadium, use the St Jakob-Park scheme above.

Where to buy tickets?

Unlike some clubs around Europe, FC Basel make their ticket prices remarkably easy to understand. The prices are broken down into different categories depending on where in the ground you would like to sit. Interesting, they go against the grain somewhat in having a standard ticket price regardless of the opposition or the competition they’re playing in.

Children from 6-16 who go with an adult get a 20% discount, as do other concessions with a valid ID. Your ticket will also work as a valid ticket for public transport in the city of Basel for up to four hours before the match and until the buses and trams stop running after the match.

Depending on your age and where in the ground you want to sit, you’ll end up paying somewhere between €17 and €75.

How to get FC Basel 1893 Tickets

Tickets for FC Basel matches are reasonably easy to get hold of, starting with a trip to the fan shop at the stadium itself. You can also pick them up from the Markus Vogel Fan Shop at Station SBB. There may well be people hanging around outside the ground before matches offering tickets, but these people are worth avoiding.

How to get there?

St. Jakob-Park is about three kilometres West of the centre of Basel, so it can be walked to in about forty minutes. There are other options available, though, and we’ll give them to you here.

Train

You’ll be able to get the tram to right outside of the stadium itself. There is a dedicated station called ‘St. Jakob’ that can be reached by taking tram 8, 10 or 11 one stop to Aeschenplatz before transferring to tram number 14.

Bus

There are three buses that will take you to the stadium with the closest stop once again called St. Jakob. The BVB line number 36 or the BLT buses 37 and 47 will be the ones you’ll want to catch if you prefer the bus to the tram.

Car

The journey to the ground is quite easy! Route 12 onto Route 2 takes about ten minutes, whilst a journey via the A3 will take more like fifteen.

Taxi

A taxi from Basel’s centre to the ground will cost about €15 and take around fifteen minutes. If you get caught in traffic then it will take longer and, somewhat obviously, cost more.

Parking Near St Jakob-Park

There are parking spaces near to and underneath the ground itself. There’s also a shopping centre directly opposite to the ground with about 2100 parking spaces.

St Jakob-Park Hotels

Basel is a beautiful, picturesque Swiss city that is worth visiting for more than just the football. As such there are plenty of lovely hotels worth considering, some of which we’ve picked out for you here.

Hotel Wettstein — £150+

Grenzacherstrasse 8, Basel, BS, 4058

Located about 1.5 miles from the ground is the Hotel Wettstein. It offers 40 rooms, a bar and lounge, self-parking and a 24-hour business centre. There’s also a terrace and a garden, so you’ll have somewhere to chill out before and after the match.

Radisson Blu Hotel — £210+

Steinentorstrasse 25, Basel, BS, 4001

Radisson’s Blu hotels are amongst the most respected in the hotel industry. Basel’s variety of the Blu features a restaurant and bar area, a 24-hour health club with an indoor pool and self-parking. They also offer childcare and free Wi-Fi in a hotel that is just over a mile and a half from the ground.

Hotel Schweizerhof Basel — £250+

Centralbahnplatz 1, Basel, BS, 4002

The Hotel Schweizerhof looks exactly how you’d imagine a large Swiss hotel to look and is located in the middle of Basel, about 1.4 miles from the stadium. There are 82 rooms, a 24-hour business centre, a terrace and free Wi-Fi.

Pubs & Bars Near St Jakob-Park

There is a broad selection of pubs and bars in Basel that you can choose from for your pre-match pint. We’ve picked out a few of our favourites, so bear them in mind.

Mr. Pickwick Pub Basel

Steinenvorstadt 13, 4051

Located close to the river that runs through Basel is Mr. Pickwick Pub. Offering what they call the ‘British way of life’, the pub does good food, has beers on draft and shows as much live sport as you could possibly want to watch.

Paddy Reilly’s

Steinentorstrasse 45, 4051

Paddy Reilly’s is about as Irish a name as you can get and here you’ll enjoy live sport on big screens, Guinness on draft and all the craic you can handle.

Rotblau Bar/Bistro

St. Jakob-Park, St. Jakobs-Strasse 395, 4052

This place used to be called Hattrick Sport-Bar, so that should give you some indication of what to expect. It’s the closest pub to the stadium and has a summer terrace, lunch menu, American snacks and plenty of big screens to show the various sports events that are taking place at any given moment.

Facilities

The redevelopment of the ground in preparation for its hosting of the 2016 Europa League final means that the facilities are excellent. There are two restaurants in the ground that are open to the public, plus plenty of smaller food and drink venues that you can use to get yourself fed and watered before, during and after the match.

Hospitality

FC Basel 1893 redesigned their hospitality experience in the summer of 2013. They began to focus on the notion of premium lounges and brought in renowned gastronomical expert Frank Wassermann to help them create a new menu for their hospitality guests. Here is a bit of information on some of the lounges and what they offer.

1. The Captains Lounge — Dedicated to the different captains of FC Basel through the years, the Captains Lounge experience offers access to the room up to 90 minutes before kick off, food and beverage choices and a seat in the lower level of section A.
2. The Cooking Lounge — Something of a unique hospitality lounge in football, the Cooking Lounge gives you the chance to either cook your own meal or else help the chefs as they prepare it. You’ll also get the same benefits as you would in the Captain Lounge.
• Find out which bookmaker you can get a sign-up bonus from.
3. The Baloise Lounge — Access to the Baloise Lounge comes in five different categories, each of which offers you something different. The lounge itself is full of modern furnishings and a feeling of warmth and classiness.
4. Eventbox — Aimed at those hoping to enjoy a more corporate experience, there’s room for up to 48 people in the Eventbox. You get access to the area from two hours before the game and plenty of food and drink.
• We make dozens of free sports predictions every day.
5. Warteck Box Pub — Designed, as the name suggests, to resemble an old fashioned pub atmosphere, the Wateck Box offers a buffet with pub food and a bar to stand at and enjoy a pint before you head outside to your seat.

Private hire

Like any top quality football stadium, St. Jakob-Park offers plenty of private hire options. There are a number of different suites available depending on the type of event you’d like to host there. From business meetings for a select few through to private parties for up to 900 people, FC Basel’s home ground has got you covered.

There are numerous different lounges and rooms that you can use so if you’re hoping to host an event in the heart of one of Switzerland’s nicest cities then drop the club a line directly and they’ll give you all of your choices.

History

St. Jakob Stadium was the home of FC Basel 1893 from 1954 until it was closed in 1998. That ground had a storied history, being used as the location for matches in the 1954 World Cup, including a famous 7-0 win for Uruguay over Scotland. It was also used as the venue for the UEFA Cup Winners Cup on four separate occasions. Unfortunately age began to take its toll on the stadium and a decision was reached in the early 1990s to build a new venue for FC Basel’s games to played in.

For reasons known only to the club and the local area the new stadium was to be named, somewhat confusingly, St. Jakob-Park. It is the largest football venue in all of Switzerland and has actually had its capacity reduced over the years. Originally it could house up to 33,433 supporters but that was increased to 42,500 in time for the 2008 European Championships, during which it was a host venue. It can welcome 38,512 for matches in the Swiss Super League, 37,500 for Swiss international matches and 60,000 for music concerts.