1977–78 Nationalliga A

Nationalliga A
Season1977–78
ChampionsGrasshopper Club
RelegatedÉtoile Carouge
Young Fellows
European CupGrasshopper Club
Cup Winners' CupServette
UEFA CupBasel
Lausanne-Sport
Top goalscorerFritz Künzli (Zürich)
21 goals
Nationalliga B
Season1977–78
ChampionsNordstern
PromotedNordstern
Chiasso
RelegatedGossau
Bulle
Top goalscorerHelmut Degen (Nordstern)
27 goals

The following is the summary of the Swiss National League in the 1977–78 football season, both Nationalliga A and Nationalliga B. This was the 81st season of top-tier and the 80th season of second-tier football in Switzerland.

Overview

The Swiss Football Association (ASF/SFV) had 28 members at this time. The clubs were divided into two tiers, the top tier Nationalliga A (NLA) with 12 teams and the second tier Nationalliga B (NLB) with 16. The format in both divisions was that the teams played a double round-robin to decide their table positions. Two points were awarded for a win and one point was awarded for a draw. Each club playing every other club twice (home and away), for a total of 22 rounds in the NLA and 30 rounds in the NLB.

In the NLA following this first qualification stage the division was divided in two, the top placed six teams then played a championship stage and the other teams in a relegation play-out. In both groups each team took half of the points gained in the first stage, rounded up to complete units, as bonus with them. They played a further double round-robin within the group. The Swiss champions would qualify for the 1978–79 European Cup, the runners-up and third placed team would qualify for the 1978–79 UEFA Cup. From the play-out group the bottom two teams were relegated to the second-tier. From the NLB the top two teams were promoted and the bottom two teams relegated to the 1978–79 1. Liga.

Nationalliga A

The first round of the NLA was played on 13 August 1977. There was a winter break between 11 December and 26 February 1978. The qualifying phase was completed by 25 March and the second phase took place between 1 April and 27 May 1978.

Teams, locations

Team Town Canton Stadium Capacity
FC Basel Basel  Basel-Stadt St. Jakob Stadium 36,800
CS Chênois Thônex  Geneva Stade des Trois-Chêne 8,000
Étoile Carouge FC Carouge  Geneva Stade de la Fontenette 3,690
Grasshopper Club Zürich Zürich  Zürich Hardturm 20,000
FC Lausanne-Sport Lausanne  Vaud Pontaise 15,700
Neuchâtel Xamax FC Neuchâtel  Neuchâtel Stade de la Maladière 25,500
FC St. Gallen St. Gallen  St. Gallen Espenmoos 11,000
Servette FC Geneva  Geneva Stade des Charmilles 27,000
FC Sion Sion  Valais Stade de Tourbillon 16,000
BSC Young Boys Bern  Bern Wankdorf Stadium 56,000
FC Young Fellows Zürich Zürich  Zürich Utogrund 2,850
FC Zürich Zürich  Zürich Letzigrund 25,000

Qualifying phase table

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 Grasshopper Club 22 15 4 3 60 27 +33 34 To championship round
2 Servette 22 14 5 3 44 20 +24 33
3 Lausanne-Sport 22 13 4 5 47 21 +26 30
4 Basel[1] 22 12 4 6 53 34 +19 28
5 FC Zürich[2] 22 11 6 5 38 27 +11 28
6 Sion 22 6 9 7 29 33 −4 21
7 Xamax 22 8 3 11 32 42 −10 19 To relegation play-out round
8 Young Boys 22 7 5 10 27 45 −18 19
9 Chênois 22 8 2 12 27 35 −8 18
10 St. Gallen 22 5 7 10 27 38 −11 17
11 Étoile Carouge 22 5 3 14 22 40 −18 13
12 Young Fellows Zürich 22 1 2 19 14 58 −44 4
Source: rsssf.com
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored;

Results

Home \ Away BAS CHÊ ÉTO GCZ LS NX SER SIO STG YB YFZ ZÜR
Basel 3–1 4–0 2–5 1–4 6–1 2–1 5–0 4–2 0–0 5–0 2–2
Chênois 2–0 1–0 1–3 0–2 3–1 1–0 2–1 1–1 1–2 5–0 0–2
Étoile Carouge 1–0 0–2 2–3 1–3 0–1 2–2 0–3 2–1 0–1 3–0 2–1
Grasshopper Club 0–1 5–1 3–2 2–0 2–0 0–1 3–0 3–2 3–0 1–1 7–2
Lausanne-Sports 0–0 3–0 1–0 1–0 3–0 1–2 2–0 4–1 6–0 4–1 1–1
Neuchâtel Xamax 2–5 1–0 2–1 2–3 1–3 0–1 1–1 3–0 5–0 3–2 1–2
Servette 2–0 2–1 2–1 2–2 3–1 3–0 2–2 0–0 5–1 2–0 0–2
Sion 4–1 0–0 1–1 2–2 3–2 3–1 0–2 0–0 1–1 2–0 0–1
St. Gallen 1–2 5–3 2–0 2–6 2–2 0–1 2–2 1–1 0–2 1–0 2–0
Young Boys 4–5 0–1 2–2 1–4 1–1 1–1 1–5 3–1 2–1 3–0 0–1
Young Fellows 1–4 3–1 0–1 1–1 0–3 2–4 0–3 1–2 0–1 0–1 1–3
Zürich 1–1 1–0 5–1 1–2 2–0 1–1 1–2 2–2 0–0 2–1 5–1
Source: rsssf.com
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Championship table

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD BP Pts Qualification
1 Grasshopper Club 10 4 4 2 17 12 +5 17 29 Swiss Champions, qualified for 1978–79 European Cup
and entered 1978 Intertoto Cup
2 Servette 10 3 5 2 10 10 0 17 28 Swiss Cup winners, qualified for 1978–79 Cup Winners' Cup
3 Basel[1] 10 5 3 2 21 14 +7 14 27 qualified for 1978–79 UEFA Cup
4 Lausanne-Sport 10 4 3 3 21 14 +7 15 26 qualified for 1978–79 UEFA Cup
5 Zürich[2] 10 5 2 3 15 15 0 14 26 entered 1978 Intertoto Cup
6 Sion 10 0 1 9 8 27 −19 11 12 entered 1978 Intertoto Cup
Source: rsssf.com
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored;

Results

Home \ Away BAS GCZ LS SER SIO ZÜR
Basel 2–0 3–1 2–2 2–0 1–1
Grasshopper Club 4–2 0–0 1–1 4–1 1–0
Lausanne-Sports 1–1 4–3 1–2 6–1 4–0
Servette 0–2 0–0 1–1 1–0 1–2
Sion 1–4 1–1 1–2 1–2 0–1
Zürich 4–2 1–3 2–1 0–0 4–2
Source: rsssf.com
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Relegation play-out

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD BP Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Young Boys 10 4 5 1 20 13 +7 10 23 entered 1978 Intertoto Cup
2 Chênois 10 4 4 2 19 9 +10 9 21
3 St. Gallen 10 3 6 1 11 7 +4 9 21
4 Xamax 10 4 2 4 14 15 −1 10 20
5 Étoile Carouge 10 4 3 3 13 12 +1 7 18 Relegated to 1978–79 Nationalliga B
6 Young Fellows Zürich 10 1 0 9 10 31 −21 2 4 Relegated to 1978–79 Nationalliga B
Source: rsssf.com
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored;

Results

Home \ Away CHÊ ÉTO NX STG YB YFZ
Chênois 1–2 2–0 0–0 2–2 4–0
Étoile Carouge 1–5 1–0 0–1 1–2 1–0
Neuchâtel Xamax 3–0 1–1 1–1 0–3 2–1
St. Gallen 0–0 0–0 2–1 2–2 3–0
Young Boys 0–0 1–1 1–2 2–2 3–1
Young Fellows 1–5 1–5 3–4 1–0 2–4
Source: rsssf.com
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Nationalliga B

Teams, locations

Team Town Canton Stadium Capacity
FC Aarau Aarau  Aargau Stadion Brügglifeld 9,240
AC Bellinzona Bellinzona  Ticino Stadio Comunale Bellinzona 5,000
FC Biel-Bienne Biel/Bienne  Bern Stadion Gurzelen 15,000
FC Bulle Bulle  Fribourg Stade de Bouleyres 7,000
FC Chiasso Chiasso  Ticino Stadio Comunale Riva IV 4,000
FC Fribourg Fribourg  Fribourg Stade Universitaire 9,000
FC Gossau Gossau  St. Gallen Sportanlage Buechenwald 3,500
FC Grenchen Grenchen  Solothurn Stadium Brühl 15,100
SC Kriens Kriens  Lucerne Stadion Kleinfeld 5,100
FC La Chaux-de-Fonds La Chaux-de-Fonds  Neuchâtel Centre Sportif de la Charrière 12,700
FC Lugano Lugano  Ticino Cornaredo Stadium 6,330
FC Luzern Lucerne  Lucerne Stadion Allmend 25,000
FC Nordstern Basel Basel  Basel-Stadt Rankhof 7,600
Vevey-Sports Vevey  Vaud Stade de Copet 4,000
FC Wettingen Wettingen  Aargau Stadion Altenburg 10,000
FC Winterthur Winterthur  Zürich Schützenwiese 8,550

Final league table

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Relegation
1 Nordstern Basel 30 18 9 3 69 23 +46 45 Champions promoted to 1978–79 Nationalliga A
2 Chiasso 30 18 9 3 70 30 +40 45 Promoted to 1978–79 Nationalliga A
3 Lugano 30 16 10 4 57 19 +38 42
4 Biel-Bienne 30 15 6 9 37 30 +7 36
5 Vevey-Sports 30 13 9 8 58 36 +22 35
6 Winterthur 30 11 10 9 44 44 0 32
7 Grenchen 30 10 8 12 45 45 0 28
8 Kriens 30 11 6 13 38 58 −20 28
9 Bellinzona 30 9 8 13 44 55 −11 26
10 Fribourg 30 9 8 13 35 46 −11 26
11 Aarau[3] 30 11 4 15 44 67 −23 26
12 Luzern 30 7 11 12 34 39 −5 25
13 Wettingen 30 9 7 14 36 48 −12 25
14 La Chaux-de-Fonds 30 7 9 14 44 56 −12 23
15 Gossau[4] 30 6 8 16 36 64 −28 20 Relegated to 1978–79 1. Liga
16 Bulle[4] 30 6 6 18 37 68 −31 18
Source: rsssf.com
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference within the league, but decider play-off for qualifiers; 3) Goals scored;

Further in Swiss football

References

  1. ^ a b Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv" (1978). "1977/78 Rangliste" [1977/78 Ranking] (in Swiss High German). Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv". Retrieved 2023-11-16.
  2. ^ a b (red) dbFCZ (2006–2023). "FCZ 1977/1978" (in German). dbFCZ. Retrieved 2023-11-16.
  3. ^ Beck, Stephan (2023). "Schweizer Meisterschaft 1977/78 Nationalliga B" [Swiss Championship 1977/78 Nationalliga B] (in German). arowa.ch. Retrieved 2023-11-16.
  4. ^ a b Erste Liga (SFV) (2018). "Statistik der Ersten Liga über Aufstieg und Abstieg ab Saison 1931/32 bis 2018" [First League statistics on promotion and relegation from the 1931/32 season to 2018] (PDF). PDF page 8 (in German). Erste Liga, Abteilung des SFV. Retrieved 2023-11-16.

Sources

Preceded by
1976–77 		Nationalliga
seasons in
Switzerland 		Succeeded by
1978–79