Ralph Thoma (born 27 August 1965) is a Swiss former footballer who played in the late 1980s and the 1990s as Striker. Thoma first played for local club FC Rheinfelden. He joined FC Basel's first team in their 1987–88 season under head-coach Urs Siegenthaler. After playing in six test games, Thoma played his domestic league debut for the club in the away game on 8 August 1987 as Basel were defeated 0–2 by Aarau. Thoma scored his first goal for his club one week later, on 15 August, in the away game as Basel were defeated 1–9 by Xamax. Up until today this is still the highest score defeat that Basel have suffered in their domestic league history. Xamax manager at that time was Gilbert Gress. The goal scorers were 2x Robert Lüthi, 2x Robert Lei-Ravello, 2x Beat Sutter, 2x Heinz Hermann und Al