Handball: Cup final – Basel’s last hallelujah to the Basel Cup coup? – Sports

Maurus Basler’s dream farewell? The second-class RTV Basel goes into the cup final against Goliath Schaffhausen as David.

At least the manageable number of football and semantics fans had fun in March 1998 when VfL Wolfsburg introduced its new coach: Wolfgang Wolf. RTV 1879 Basel with Maurus Basler has had a similar experience so far. Now, shortly before the end of his career, the left wing is facing the biggest game of his life.

Because Basler and his team are both in the promotion playoffs and, quite surprisingly, in the cup final, the opponent and overwhelming favorite is Kadetten Schaffhausen. The second-class RTV achieved its masterpiece in the round of 16 when they defeated first division team St. Otmar St. Gallen at home 32:21. Now compulsory and free will follow: promotion and the cup sensation. Basler’s recipe for the latter: “Take it with you and enjoy it, don’t just focus on victory.”

There are several reasons why Basler ended his top sports career at the age of 29: “I want to get to know the other side of life that is not dictated by professional sport,” he explains to SRF. Recently, regeneration has become more difficult as he gets older, especially since Basler works alongside handball. He has spent his entire career in his homeland and is rooted in Basel. Accordingly, a change was never an option: “I never wanted a great career.”

“The donation is a Trullala!”

Should a schnitzel bank one day deal with the Basel handball players, it could sum up: “The donation is a Trullala!” Because the ambitions on the Rhine knee are based on a Slovenian foundation called Aleksander Spender. The 30-year-old has been the club’s top scorer for years and has scored 202 goals this season, a quarter of all Basel’s goals. The backcourt player is actually called to greater things, but fortunately for the city on the Rhine, the father of two feels so comfortable in his adopted home that his sporting ambitions are secondary.

Donation, who played for Porto, Metalurg and Zagreb and gained Champions League experience, says he thought about moving to Basel for a long time in 2020. «I found satisfaction here. I like the Swiss mentality and the air, I don’t need this travel anymore.” He doesn’t run out of goals either. What is more important, promotion or cup title? “I would take both,” smiles the powerful Slovenian, who was the NLA’s top scorer in 2022 and 2023.

50:50 or 5 percent?

For now, the focus is on the “David versus Goliath” cup final. There is nothing to lose, is the unanimous opinion from Basel. Coach Thomas Haegeli talks about “3, 4, maybe 5 percent”. It will be seen on Saturday in Gümligen whether there will be enough to pull off a big coup. The 4th cup victory would be the current highlight for the RTV.