Fulham set sights on buoyant Basel

Fulham FC coach Roy Hodgson will look to put his Swiss experience to use when FC Basel 1893 come to London still fresh from beating AS Roma 2-0 in their first UEFA Europa League Group E game.

Previous meetings
• Fulham are facing Swiss opponents for the first time, but Basel have been to England on six previous occasions, earning two 1-1 draws and four defeats – three of them by three-goal margins. This will be their first match in London.

Match background
• Fulham are competing in the group stage of a major UEFA club competition for the first time. Basel contested four consecutive UEFA Cup group phases from 2004/05 to 2007/08, missing the cut only once – in 2006/07.

• Fulham have yet to lose in nine home games since making their European debut in the 2002 UEFA Intertoto Cup, earning six wins and three draws.

• Basel are unbeaten in seven European fixtures this season. However, they have not won any of their last eight away games in the group stages of a UEFA competition. Their last success came when they defeated FK Crvena Zvezda 2-1 in the 2005/06 UEFA Cup (03/11/05).

Team facts
• Fulham boss Hodgson has extensive knowledge of Swiss football. After coaching Neuchâtel Xamax FC (1990-92), he took over the national team, leading Switzerland to the 1994 FIFA World Cup finals – their first since 1966 – and guiding them successfully through EURO '96™ qualifying before taking over at FC Internazionale Milano. He later returned to Switzerland to coach Grasshopper-Club (1999/00).

• Former Basel and Switzerland goalkeeper Pascal Zuberbühler has been at Fulham since last summer.

• Basel changed coach this summer, with Christian Gross leaving after nine seasons to be replaced by Thorsten Fink, the former FC Bayern München midfielder. Fink started his coaching career with FC Salzburg's amateur side, taking command at Basel following a spell in charge of German lower-league outfit FC Ingolstadt 04.

• Fink played in one UEFA Champions League game in England as a Bayern player, earning a 0-0 draw at Manchester United FC (13/03/2002).

• He came on ten minutes from the end when Bayern lost 2-1 to United in the 1999 UEFA Champions League final, the English side scoring both their goals in the dying moments.

• Fink played for Bayern when they lost 3-2 to Liverpool FC in the 2001 UEFA Super Cup. Fulham's Danny Murphy came on as a substitute for Liverpool in that game.

• Fulham's Australian goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer -  who has not been registered to play in the UEFA Europa League - was on the winning side when Middlesbrough FC beat Basel in the 2005/06 UEFA Cup quarter-finals, losing 2-0 in Switzerland and going a goal behind in the second leg before fighting back to win 4-1 on the night and 4-3 on aggregate. Züberbuhler was his opposite number in that tie.

• Fulham welcome Roma on Matchday 3, while PFC CSKA Sofia host Basel on the same night, 22 October.