Barcelona beat Basel 5-2 in sold-out pre-season friendly as 17-year-old Doucoure scores on debut

A sold-out Joggeli hosts Barcelona

Barcelona defeated FC Basel 5-2 in a pre-season friendly at St. Jakob-Park on 16 August 2026, with 36,000 tickets sold for the sold-out fixture. The match came together after Barcelona's planned test in Morocco was cancelled at short notice. FCB president David Degen reacted quickly, and Barcelona coach Hansi Flick, who has known Degen for years, supported the arrangement. Degen revealed during a halftime interview with "Blue" that he had once considered hiring Flick for the Basel job.

“I would have brought him to FCB back then if he hadn't become Bayern coach.”

Flick took over Bayern Munich in November 2019 after Niko Kovac's departure and went on to win the sextuple with the Munich club. Degen was co-owner and board member at FCB at the time, when Marcel Koller was Basel's coach.

How the goals unfolded

Karim Adeyemi opened the scoring for Barcelona in the 34th minute. Seventeen-year-old Jean Doucoure equalized shortly before halftime on his debut for FC Basel. Hamza Abdelkarim restored Barcelona's lead early in the second half (49'). Lamine Yamal and Dani Olmo came on as substitutes after 65 minutes, and Yamal converted a penalty in the 81st minute after Nicolas Vouilloz fouled Jules Kounde, making it 3-1. Basel's Kazeem Olaigbe also scored from a penalty, with SRF and watson.ch placing it in the 84th minute while SAPO records it as the 74th. Eighteen-year-old Belgian Jesse Bisiwu sealed the result with two late goals (89' and 90+1'), both set up by Yamal and Dani Olmo.

Shaqiri sidelined, youth steps up

Xherdan Shaqiri, the biggest name in Basel's squad, spent the entire match on the bench. Coach Stephan Lichtsteiner explained afterwards that the 34-year-old captain had back pain and the club did not want to take any risks, a decision agreed with Shaqiri. Basel fielded several academy products including Doucoure (17), Noah Kakor (16), and Renato (18). Only one professional, Becir Omeragic, started both this match and the previous day's 6-1 cup win at Courtételle.

“He has back pain and we didn't want to risk anything. That was agreed with him.”

Lichtsteiner added that he saw encouraging signs from the younger players.

“I saw a few very interesting things. Including a few young players who showed that we are working correctly on the campus.”

Atmosphere and fixture congestion

The demand for tickets was so high that Basel's online ticket shop temporarily crashed, and the match sold out within a short time. Thousands of Barcelona shirts filled the stadium, creating an unusually quiet atmosphere for a Basel home game. The Muttenzerkurve was occupied but not by the fans who normally drive the team forward. The match came 24 hours after Basel's cup win at Courtételle, and seven FCB players appeared in both fixtures. Albian Ajeti, who wore the captain's armband against Barcelona, felt the team held up well despite the gap in quality.

“We had to defend a lot, but we held up well.”

Barcelona's squad selection

Flick started with only two of seven Spanish World Champions: goalkeeper Joan Garcia and defender Eric Garcia. Lamine Yamal, Dani Olmo, and Pau Cubarsi entered in the second half, while Pedri and Gavi did not travel to Basel. Barcelona's players also took to the pitch without names on their shirts. The club's final pre-season test is scheduled for 19 August against Al Ahly of Egypt.