Walter Geisser

{{short description|Swiss footballer (born 1950)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2024}}

{{Infobox football biography

| name = Walter Geisser

| image =

| fullname = Walter Geisser

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1950|08|14|df=yes}}

| birth_place = Glarus, Switzerland

| death_date =

| death_place =

| height = 175cm

| position = Defender

| currentclub =

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| youthyears1 =

| youthclubs1 =

| years1 = 1973–1975

| clubs1 = FC Nordstern Basel

| caps1 = 51

| goals1 = 2

| years2 = 1975–1984

| clubs2 = FC Basel

| caps2 = 224

| goals2 = 2

| nationalyears1 =

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| nationalcaps1 =

| nationalgoals1 =

| manageryears1 =

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}}

Walter Geisser (born 1950) is a Swiss former footballer who played in the 1970s and 1980s. He played as a defender.

Geisser played from 1973 to 1975 for Nordstern Basel, who at that time played in the Nationalliga B, the second tier of Swiss football.

He then joined FC Basel's first team for their 1975–76 season under team manager Helmut Benthaus. After playing in two test games, three Cup of the Alps matches and one Swiss League Cup match, Geisser played his domestic league debut for his new club in the home game at the St. Jakob Stadium on 16 August 1975 as Basel won 5–1 against Grasshopper Club.{{cite web | last = Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv” | url = https://www.fcb-archiv.ch/saison/spiele?command=detail&id=23231 | title = FC Basel - Grasshopper Club 5:1 (2:1) | publisher = Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv” | access-date = 2019-11-16}} In the 1976–77 Nationalliga A season Geisser was part of the championship winning team. At the end of the championship phase Servette FC Genève and Basel were level on 29 points. They therefore had to play a play-off for champions. This play-off was held at the Wankdorf Stadium in Bern in front of 50,000 supporters. Basel won the match 2–1, their goals being scored by Walter Mundschin and Arthur von Wartburg.{{cite web | url = https://www.fcb-archiv.ch/saison/spiele?command=detail&id=23144 | title = FC Basel - Servette FC 2:1 (1:1) | publisher = Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv” | access-date = 2019-11-16}}

Geisser scored his first domestic league goal for his club in the home game on 12 April 1980 as Basel won 3–1 against Lausanne-Sport.{{cite web | url = https://www.fcb-archiv.ch/saison/spiele?command=detail&id=20236 | title = FC Basel - FC Lausanne-Sport 3:1 (2:0) | publisher = Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv” | access-date = 2019-11-16}} Only a few weeks later he scored his second domestic league goal as Basel won 5–0 against Luzern.{{cite web | url = https://www.fcb-archiv.ch/saison/spiele?command=detail&id=20245 | title = FC Basel - FC Luzern 5:0 (2:0) | publisher = Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv” | access-date = 2019-11-16}} At the end of this season Basel won the Championship. This was the club's eighth championship title in their history and the seventh and last under trainer Benthaus.{{cite web | last = Erik Garin | url = https://www.rsssf.org/tablesz/zwithist.html | title = Switzerland 1979–80 | publisher = Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation | access-date = 2019-11-16}}

Between the years 1975 and 1984 Geisser played a total of 415 games for Basel scoring a total of seven goals. 224 of these games were in the Nationalliga A, 42 were in the Swiss Cup or Swiss League Cup, 31 of these games were in European competitions, European Cup, UEFA Cup, UEFA Cup Winners' Cup and Cup of the Alps, and 118 were friendly games. He scored the afore mentioned two goals in the domestic league, one in the Swiss Cup and the other four were scored during the test games.{{cite web | last = Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv” | url = https://www.fcb-archiv.ch/spieler?command=detail&id=7547 | title = Walter Geisser - FCB-Statistik | publisher = Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv” | access-date = 2019-11-16}}