Stepping-stone clubs hope to stay afloat

BASEL’S Champions League tie against Porto Wednesday pits two clubs, who have mastered the art of nurturing the talent of little-known footballers and selling them on to Europe’s top teams.

Unable to compete with the financial power of the biggest clubs, both have instead been happy to accept a role as stepping-stones for players hoping to make their way to one of the leading five leagues.

  Both have been highly successful at what they do and have managed to remain competitive despite allowing a succession of top footballers to walk through the exit door.

  Twice European champions, Porto, have raked in more than half a billion euros from selling players, many of them bought for a pittance from South American clubs, in the last 10 years.

  The likes of Radamel Falcao, Hulk, James Rodriguez, Raul Meireles, Pepe and Anderson all passed through the Dragao Stadium and Porto’s much-acclaimed youth academy before heading elsewhere.

  However, they have managed to keep replenishing their talent pool and now boast the likes of Colombia forward, Jackson Martinez, in attack and Algerian midfielder, Yacine Brahimi, in midfield.

  Porto have won the Primeira Liga seven times in the last 10 seasons and reached the Champions League knockout stages five times.

  Basel’s model is slightly different as they place more emphasis on generating revenue from ticket and hospitality sales and regard income from transfers as a welcome extra.

 Even so, they have an impressive record and, in the last few years, have turned the likes of Xherdan Shaqiri, Granit Xhaka and Yann Sommer into Bundesliga material and helped Egypt forward Mohammad Salah earn a move to the Premier League.

  The club’s only disappointment is that some of those, such as Shaqiri and Salah, left too early and failed to win a regular place at their new clubs.

  Like Porto, the continued departures have not prevented them from lifting titles.

  They have won the Swiss league for the last five seasons and reached the Champions League last 16 on three occasions, an outstanding achievement for a club from a small country.

  Having qualified at the expense of Manchester United in 2011-12, Basel ousted Liverpool in the group stage this time around. The Swiss side, in their first season under Portuguese coach Paulo Sousa, are attempting to reach the quarter-finals for the first time since 1973-74 when they lost 6-5 on aggregate to Celtic.

 Captain Marco Streller believes Basel’s inside knowledge could make a difference Wednesday.