In January 2018, Fabian Frei surprisingly turned his back on the Bundesliga and moved back to Switzerland to join FC Basel. In the football talk Heimspiel, the 35-year-old explains what's behind his early return.
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- After more than 500 appearances, Fabian Frei's time in FCB kit came to an abrupt end a few days ago.
- The same applies to Frei's Bundesliga career, which came to a surprising end when he moved to FCB in January 2018.
- In the football talk Heimspiel, Frei looks back and reveals what was behind his unexpected return to Switzerland.
Fabian Frei has made 543 appearances for FC Basel in his career, more than any other player. A few days ago, however, Frei's time at FCB came to an abrupt end with his last-minute transfer to Winterthur. "I would have wished for a nicer ending," admits Fabian Frei in the football talk Heimspiel and explains why he ultimately left the club in this way.
It is not the first time that Frei has surprised with a transfer. In January 2018, he turned his back on the Bundesliga at the prime of his footballing career and surprisingly returned to FC Basel at the age of 28. Mainz were reluctant to let the top performer go at the time, but the then Chief Sports Officer Rouven Schröder explained: "We didn't want to deny him the opportunity to sign a long-term contract in his home country."
Family comes first
As a guest on the football talk show Heimspiel, Frei looks back and reveals what prompted him to return to Switzerland early. "I didn't have to go back, but I wanted to. For family reasons," explains the 35-year-old. "For the sake of my wife. I had to say: now she comes first and not me."
When asked, Frei adds that his mother-in-law "became seriously ill. She passed away six months later." After his move to FCB, his wife was able to spend the remaining time together with her mother. "They were together. That was important to me," says Frei, underlining the point: Football doesn't always come first, even for the record-breaking FCB player.
