Jump to content

Nicolas Schindelholz

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Nicolas Schindelholz
Personal information
Date of birth (1988-02-12)12 February 1988
Place of birth Binningen, Switzerland
Date of death 18 September 2022(2022-09-18) (aged 34)
Height 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Position(s) Centre-back, left-back
Youth career
0000–2005 SC Dornach
2005–2009 FC Basel
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2006–2009 FC Basel U21 76 (4)
2009–2010 FC Thun U-21 3 (0)
2009–2017 FC Thun 121 (5)
2017–2018 FC Luzern 2 (0)
2018–2021 FC Aarau 37 (4)
Total 239 (13)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Nicolas Schindelholz (12 February 1988 – 18 September 2022) was a Swiss professional footballer who played as a defender.

Career

[edit]

Schindelholz played his youth football and began his playing career with local semi-professional club SC Dornach. At the age of 16, he made his debut as a central defender for his home club Dornach in the 1. Liga, at that time the fourth tier of the Swiss football league system. Immediately FC Basel discovered him and he moved to their youth department. He played in their U-18 team during the 2005–06 season, under coach Patrick Rahmen and his assistant Marco Walker and with them won both the Swiss U-18 championship and the U-19/18 national cup that season.[1] The following season he advanced to their U-21 team, who played in the third tier, and they won their division and became Swiss champions at U-21 level.[2] A year later, the team defended their title as division (group2) winners in the 2007–08 season, and became Swiss champions at U-21 level again.[3] By then Schindelholz had long become the team captain.[4] Another year later, in the 2008–09 season, Schindelholz led the team to become division (group2) winners and Swiss champions at the U-21 level for the third successive time.[5]

Murat Yakin was appointed as new head coach of FC Thun in summer 2009 and one of his first actions was to acquire the services of Schindelholz and Timm Klose, both of whom could not make it to Basel's first team under new head coach Thorsten Fink.[6] The team played in the second tier and Schindelholz achieved 27 league and two cup appearances during the 2009–10 Challenge League season. They were division champions and won promotion.[7] In his second season with the club, Thun managed to finish 5th in the 2010–11 Super League season and thus earned the Qualification to 2011–12 Europa League second qualifying round. In the new season, Schindelholz played both matches, as they beat Vllaznia 2–1 on aggregate. In the third qualifying round they beat Palermo on the away goals rule, but in the play-off round they were knocked out by Stoke City. In the league he was regular starter, but in August he suffered a torn lateral knee ligament which kept him out for more than six months. Again, in the following seasons Schindelholz suffered various injuries, a tear in the cruciate ligament, torn muscle fibres and each time was out for longer periods.

In 2017, he left Thun and signed for FC Luzern for the 2017–18 Super League season.[8] Injuries led him to not making his debut with the club for 10 months. After the season, with only two league appearances he left the club.[9]

On 5 June 2018 it was announced that Schindelholz had signed with FC Aarau under his former Basel youth team coach Patrick Rahmen for the 2018–19 Challenge League season.[10] The season started really badly, the team lost nine of the first eleven games, Schindelholz was out over a month, but after recovering he returned and with a run of 15 successive games undefeated, they ended the season in second position.[11]

In the summer of 2020, Schindelholz was suspected to be suffering from pneumonia, however it was ultimately diagnosed as cancer.[12]

Private life

[edit]

Nicolas Schindelholz was married, and the couple had four children. His brother Stefan was also youth footballer with FC Basel but decided to play at amateur level with SC Dornach. The Schindelholz brothers inherited their fascination for football from their parents. Their father, a businessman, is an influential figure at his hometown club SC Dornach. He was a coach, sports director and then president. Father Schindelholz has been involved in the club for years.[6]

Death

[edit]

Schindelholz died from lung cancer on 18 September 2022, at the age of 34.[13][14][15] Tributes were paid from around the football community, including by former clubs FC Aarau and FC Thun.[16][17]

Titles and honours

[edit]
FC Basel
  • Swiss champion at U-18 level: 2005–06[1]
  • Swiss Cup at U-19/U-18 level: 2005–06[1]
  • Swiss champion at U-21 level: 2006–07, 2007–08, 2008–09
Thun

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c FC Basel 1893 (2006). "Zwei weitere Titel für FCB-Nachwuchs" [Two more titles for FCB youngsters] (in Swiss High German). FC Basel 1893. Archived from the original on 30 December 2013. Retrieved 18 June 2006.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  2. ^ Giusti, Giacomo (2007). "Switzerland Third Level 2006/07". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 16 November 2023.
  3. ^ Giusti, Giacomo (2008). "Switzerland Third Level 2007/08". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 16 November 2023.
  4. ^ FC Basel 1893 (19 September 2022). "Der FCB trauert um Nicolas Schindelholz" [FCB mourns the loss of Nicolas Schindelholz] (in Swiss High German). FC Basel 1893 AG. Retrieved 16 November 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  5. ^ Stokkermans, Karel (2013). "Switzerland 2008/09". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 16 November 2023.
  6. ^ a b Richner, Timon (24 August 2018). "Nicolas Schindelholz: Ein stylischer Familienmensch" [Nicolas Schindelholz: A stylish family man] (in Swiss High German). FC Aarau. Retrieved 16 November 2023.
  7. ^ Stokkermans, Karel (2012). "Switzerland 2009/10" (in French). Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 16 November 2023.
  8. ^ "FUSSBALL: Schindelholz und Feka definitiv beim FC Luzern" (in Swiss High German). Luzerner Zeitung. 29 June 2017. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
  9. ^ "FUSSBALL: Trotz seines FCL-Debüts leidet Verteidiger Nicolas Schindelholz" (in Swiss High German). Luzerner Zeitung. 8 April 2018. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
  10. ^ Wendel, Sebastian; Fuss, Dean (5 June 2018). "Erster Neuzugang beim FC Aarau bekannt" [First new signing at FC Aarau announced] (in Swiss High German). Luzerner Zeitung. Retrieved 16 November 2023.
  11. ^ Stokkermans, Karel (2019). "Switzerland 2018/19". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 16 November 2023.
  12. ^ ""Sag es bitte nicht den Spielern": Aarau-Verteidiger Schindelholz denkt auch nach der Krebs-Diagnose ans Team" [«Please don’t tell the players»: Aarau defender Schindelholz thinks about the team even after the cancer diagnosis] (in Swiss High German). Luzerner Zeitung. 18 August 2020. Retrieved 16 November 2023.
  13. ^ Wendel, Sebastian (18 September 2022). "Ex-Profi Schindelholz (†34) an Lungenkrebs gestorben" [Ex-professional Schindelholz (†34) died of lung cancer] (in Swiss High German). Blick. Retrieved 16 November 2023.
  14. ^ "Der FC Thun trauert um Nicolas Schindelholz" (in Swiss High German). RadioBEO. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
  15. ^ ""Verlieren grossartigen Menschen": Ehemaliger FCA-Spieler Nicolas Schindelholz ist an Krebs gestorben" (in Swiss High German). Aargauer Zeitung. 18 September 2022. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
  16. ^ "Der FC Aarau trauert um Nicolas Schindelholz" (in Swiss High German). FC Aarau. 18 September 2022. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
  17. ^ "Trauer um Nicolas Schindelholz". FC Thun. Archived from the original on 22 December 2019. Retrieved 19 September 2022.

Sources

[edit]
  • Josef Zindel (2018). FC Basel 1893. Die ersten 125 Jahre (in German). Basel: Friedrich Reinhardt Verlag. ISBN 978-3-7245-2305-5.
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nicolas_Schindelholz&oldid=1252767902"