A long list of stars caught the eye with their performances in the past German Bundesliga season: the young Brazilian playmaker Diego from Werder Bremen, the Greek leading scorer Theofanis Gekas from VfL Bochum, the German forward Jan Schlaudraff from Alemannia Aachen, whose services were secured by Bayern Munich when winning his first international cap. Borussia Dortmund fans acclaimed one player in particular: Alexander Frei, the Swiss, who entered the limelight when scoring 16 goals in 32 games. Born in Basel, Frei has been a big star in his home country for a long time. The 2006/7 season has also seen him become a star in Germany. In an online vote on the Bild-Zeitung’s – a major German newspaper – website after the final game of the championship, the 27-year-old was even voted “Player of the Year”.

In March head coach Jakob Kuhn even appointed the goal-getter as captain of Switzerland’s national team. He succeeded Johann Vogel, who will be omitted in the future. Alex Frei captained the “Nati”, as the national team is affectionately called in Switzerland, for the first time in a friendly against Columbia in Florida on 25 March 2007. The match ended in a 3-1 defeat for the Swiss. It was his 56th international appearance and came exactly six years and one day after making his debut in the 1-1 draw against Yugoslavia in Belgrade. But the striker, basically a left-sided player, will now be out of the game for a while. He has already missed Dortmund’s final game of the season after undergoing a hip operation the week before.

Doctors expect Frei to be sidelined for about five months. It means the top striker will definitely be absent from the national team’s friendly against Argentina in his home town Basel on 2 June and versus the Netherlands in Geneva on 22 August. It is also unlikely he will be able to appear in the four nations tournament against Chile in Vienna on 7 September and against Japan in Klagenfurt on 11 September. A realistic target for Frei would be a place in the line up when Austria and Switzerland, the UEFA EURO 2008™ joint hosts, meet in Zürich on 13 October. The dynamic Alex will then be back on the goal trail. Born in the German speaking part of Switzerland, he has now scored 32 goals in internationals. It makes him third on the all-time scoring list behind Kubilay Türkyilmaz (1988-2001) and Xam Abegglen (1922-1937), who both scored 34 times. In comparison, Stephane Chapuisat, who also played for Dortmund, hit the back of the net only 21 times in 103 internationals.

Last season Frei came close to being given the same kind of affection Borussia’s fans showed Chapuisat, who became the second most successful foreign goal scorer in the history of the Bundesliga after scoring 106 Bundesliga goals in 228 appearances. He netted 102 times for Dortmund and four for Bayer Uerdingen at his first port of call in Germany. Alex Frei is still a long way off achieving “Chappi’s” total but his excellent skills have won over BVB’s – as the club is popularly known in Germany – supporters. His final goal, the 16th, gave Dortmund’s Swiss player an extra special place in the fan’s hearts. Alex scored the opening goal on the 33rd and penultimate day of the season in the local derby against Schalke 04. The 2-0 win knocked the deadly rivals from nearby Gelsenkirchen off the top of the table.

Frei helped decide the dog-fight for the German championship. In doing so he paved the way for his fellow countrymen at VfB Stuttgart – Marco Streller and Ludovic Magnin – to win the title in sensational fashion a week later. “The win against Schalke saved our season. “Our fans were over the moon,” is how Frei described the elation after the derby. He scored 6 goals in the first half of the season and 10 in the final 16 sixteen games. Incredibly improved performances resulted in Alex Frei becoming a life insurance policy for Dortmund, who had stumbled into serious trouble. They even occupied a relegation spot with seven games to go. In his first season in German football, Alex immediately got to know three coaches – Bert van Marwijk, Jürgen Röber and Thomas Doll. Frei made a decisive contribution to the team that eventually placed ninth at the end of the playing year. Level with Dutchman Roy Makaay from Bayern Munich, he came second in the goal scoring charts behind Gekas (20). But he was ahead of Schalke 04’s German international striker Kevin Kuranyi (15 goals).

After playing at the 2006 FIFA World Cup™, a 4 million Euro transfer fee took Frei to Dortmund, where he signed a four year contract. At Stade Rennes he forced his way centre stage where he then made a lasting impression. He played at the French club for four seasons scoring 47 goals in 100 first division games in the process. In 2005 he became “la Ligue’s” leading scorer after netting on 20 occasions. But he is only partly satisfied with his first season at Dortmund: “I’ve made a start. But what’s the use if I score 30 goals and the club only finishes tenth or twelfth,” he said shortly before the final game of championship.

Alex Frei has set his sights high for the UEFA EURO 2008™. “We’ve got to electrify the whole country, the whole of Switzerland. Everybody has to be infected and has to believe we can do it. I’d like to say that once again. We want to become UEFA European Champions,” declared Frei in an interview with “EuroSoccer”, Switzerland’s biggest football magazine. Frei would love to finally wipe out the darkest moment of his career up to now with successful performances in the coming year. At the UEFA EURO 2004™ in Portugal, he caused a scandal when he spat at his opponent Steven Gerrard in the back of the neck and was duly banned by the European Football Union (UEFA). Frei then proved he had a sense of humour. He sponsored two lamas in Basel Zoo.