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Alexander Frei
Personal information
Date of birth	July 15, 1979 (1979-07-15) (age 30)
Place of birth	Basel, Switzerland
Height	1.79 m (5 ft 10+1⁄2 in)
Playing position	Striker
Club information
Current club	FC Basel
Number	13
Youth career
1987–1988 1988–1995 1995–1997	Begnins Aesch Basel
Senior career1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1997–1998 1998–1999 1999–2000 2000–2003 2003–2006 2006–2009 2009–	Basel Thun Lucerne Servette Rennes Borussia Dortmund Basel	011 00(1) 034 00(7) 032 0(15) 064 0(36) 100 0(48) 069 0(31) 017 0(13)
National team2
2001–	Switzerland	073 0(40)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 20 February, 2010. 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 14 November 2009. * Appearances (Goals)

Alexander Frei (born 15 July 1979 in Basel) is a Swiss footballer who currently plays for Swiss Axpo Super League club FC Basel and the Swiss national team, of which he is captain.

Club career

Alexander Frei started his professional career with his hometown club of FC Basel, where he later was transferred to FC Thun, FC Lucerne, and Servette FC, all in his native Switzerland. After a transfer to French club Rennes, he finished as the highest goalscorer in Ligue 1 for the 2004-05 season with 20 goals and was named Swiss Footballer of the Year the same season. He was also named Swiss Footballer of the Year in 2004 and 2007.

Frei then signed a 4-year contract with Borussia Dortmund on 29 June 2006. Dortmund paid a transfer fee of approximately €5 million for him. In the 2006-2007 season, Frei was the highest goal scorer for Borussia Dortmund with 16 goals in 32 matches.

He recovered from a long-term injury in the 2007–08 season to score six times in his last eight appearances at Borussia Dortmund. After speculation regarding his future, he came back to action against Schalke 04 in the fourth fixture of the Bundesliga. He scored two goals, equalising in an incredible game ¹

On 17 July 2009 he left Borussia Dortmund and, after six years, returned to Switzerland to sign with FC Basel² He made his debut in a 2-1 win over FC Sion on July 26, 2009. He made an assist and also scored the last minute winner in the match at the Stade Tourbillon.³

International career

Frei played for Switzerland at Euro 2004 and at the FIFA World Cup 2006 in Germany. He scored two goals in the 2006 World Cup, one in the match against Togo and a controversial goal against South Korea. Frei currently has 73 caps for Switzerland.

Frei is also Switzerland's all time top scorer with 40 goals.⁴ During Euro 2004, in a group match against England, Frei was caught on camera appearing to spit at Steven Gerrard. Although no action was taken at the time, Frei was later charged and given a provisional 15 day suspension by UEFA. Despite this, he was subsequently cleared of the charge on appeal and atoned by agreeing to take care of a llama and a sheep .⁵

Within the first half of the opening match of UEFA Euro 2008, Frei was injured while captaining the Swiss team and missed the rest of the tournament due to a torn knee ligament in his left knee after a challenge from Czech defender Zdeněk Grygera. He decided to remain with the team to show his support. He later underwent surgery.⁶

Honours

• 2001: Winner of Schweizer Cup with Servette
• 2002: Semi-finalist of the European under-21 championship
• 2003: Second highest scorer in Ligue 1 (20 goals) after Djibril Cissé
• 2003: Credit Suisse Player of the Year
• 2005: Top goalscorer in Ligue 1 (20 goals)
• 2007: Swiss Player of the Year

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Alexander Frei

• Homepage of Alex Frei (German)
• Alexander Frei's profile, stats & pics
• Related people on NamePedia
• Borussia Dortmund profile (English) (German)

References

Navigation boxes and awards v • d • e Ligue 1 top scorers 1933: Kaiser/Mercier | 1934: Lukács | 1935: Abegglen | 1936: Courtois | 1937: Rohr | 1938: Nicolas | 1939: Courtois/Koranyi | 1946: Bihel | 1947: Sinibaldi | 1948: Baratte | 1949: Baratte/Humpál | 1950: Grumellon | 1951: Piantoni | 1952: Andersson | 1953: Andersson | 1954: Kargu | 1955: Bliard | 1956: Cisowski | 1957: Cisowski | 1958: Fontaine | 1959: Cisowski | 1960: Fontaine | 1961: Piantoni | 1962: Touré | 1963: Masnaghetti | 1964: Oudjani | 1965: Simon | 1966: Gondet | 1967: Revelli | 1968: Sansonetti | 1969: Guy | 1970: Revelli | 1971: Skoblar | 1972: Skoblar | 1973: Skoblar | 1974: Bianchi | 1975: Onnis | 1976: Bianchi | 1977: Bianchi | 1978: Bianchi | 1979: Bianchi | 1980: Kostedde/Onnis | 1981: Onnis | 1982: Onnis | 1983: Halilhodžić | 1984: Garande | 1985: Halilhodžić | 1986: Bocandé | 1987: Zénier | 1988: Papin | 1989: Papin | 1990: Papin | 1991: Papin | 1992: Papin | 1993: Bokšić | 1994: Boli/Djorkaeff/Ouédec | 1995: Loko | 1996: Anderson | 1997: Guivarc'h | 1998: Guivarc'h | 1999: Wiltord | 2000: Anderson | 2001: Anderson | 2002: Cissé/Pauleta | 2003: Nonda | 2004: Cissé | 2005: Frei | 2006: Pauleta | 2007: Pauleta | 2008: Benzema | 2009: Gignac   Switzerland Squad v • d • e Switzerland squad – UEFA Euro 2004 1 Stiel • 2 Haas • 3 Berner • 4 Henchoz • 5 Murat Yakin • 6 Vogel • 7 Cabanas • 8 Wicky • 9 Frei • 10 Hakan Yakin • 11 Chapuisat • 12 Zuberbühler • 13 Zwyssig • 14 Magnin • 15 Gygax • 16 Celestini • 17 Spycher • 18 Huggel • 19 Barnetta • 20 Müller • 21 Rama • 22 Vonlanthen • 23 Roth • Coach: Kuhn v • d • e Switzerland squad – 2006 FIFA World Cup 1 Zuberbühler • 2 Djourou • 3 Magnin • 4 Senderos • 5 Margairaz • 6 Vogel • 7 Cabanas • 8 Wicky • 9 Frei • 10 Gygax • 11 Streller • 12 Benaglio • 13 Grichting • 14 D. Degen • 15 Džemaili • 16 Barnetta • 17 Spycher • 18 Lustrinelli • 19 Behrami • 20 Müller • 21 Coltorti • 22 Yakin • 23 P. Degen • Coach: Kuhn v • d • e Switzerland squad – UEFA Euro 2008 1 Benaglio • 2 Djourou • 3 Magnin • 4 Senderos • 5 Lichtsteiner • 6 Huggel • 7 Cabanas • 8 Inler • 9 Frei • 10 Yakin • 11 Streller • 12 Derdiyok • 13 Grichting • 14 Gygax • 15 Gelson • 16 Barnetta • 17 Spycher • 18 Zuberbühler • 19 Behrami • 20 Müller • 21 Jakupović • 22 Vonlanthen • 23 P. Degen • Coach: Kuhn v • d • e FC Basel – current squad 1 Costanzo · 3 Boumelaha · 4 Atan · 5 Ritter · 6 Gelabert · 7 Schürpf · 8 Huggel · 9 Streller · 10 Perović · 11 Chipperfield · 13 Frei · 14 Stocker · 15 Almerares · 17 Shaqiri · 18 Wessels · 19 Abraham · 20 Safari · 22 Inkoom · 23 Colomba · 24 Cabral · 25 da Silva · 26 Unal · 27 Aratore · 28 Ferati · 29 Mustafi · 30 Carlitos · 31 Zoua · 32 Zanni · 33 Şahin · 35 Klaus · Coach: Fink Preceded by Johann Vogel Switzerland captain 2007-Present Succeeded by Incumbent