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It's 6 in a row for FC Basel!

May 18, 2015 10:02 IST

FC Basel fans

Basel fans cheer on their team. Photograph: Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images

FC Basel won the Swiss Super League for an unprecedented sixth season in a row on Sunday, clinching the title with an uninspiring 0-0 draw at home to Young Boys Berne.

Portuguese coach Paulo Sousa, who last season won the Israeli league with Maccabi Tel Aviv, watched his side wrap up the title barely an hour after compatriot Andre Villas-Boas had led Zenit St Petersburg to the title in Russia.

Basel, who have won the title nine times in the 12 seasons and 17 time overall, stayed 11 points clear of second-placed Young Boys with three matches each to play.

They will enter next season's Champions League in the third qualifying round.

Guillaume Hoarau had two chances to spoil Basel's party, the first when he headed centimetres wide and the second when he hooked wildly over the bar from an unmarked position late in the game.

Basel, who earlier this season knocked Liverpool out of the Champions League in the group stage, made a slow start to the championship as they adapted to Sousa's tactics.

But they quickly re-established their dominance in the league, winning 23 and drawing five out of 33 games including Sunday's.

"I am proud of my players because I demanded a lot of them and they accepted my ideas," Sousa told SRF television. "They deserve everything."

Club president Bernhard Heusler admitted it had been something of a gamble to bring in Sousa, having only appointed either German or Swiss coaches since 1965.

"We took risks last summer," said club president Bernhard Heusler. "Sousa brought in new policies and, if it had gone wrong, we would have felt the consequences."

Source: REUTERS
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