1972–73 Nationalliga A

Nationalliga A
Season1972–73
ChampionsBasel
RelegatedFribourg
Grenchen
Top goalscorerOttmar Hitzfeld (Basel)
and Ove Grahn (Lausanne-Sport)
both 18 goals
Nationalliga B
Season1972–73
ChampionsXamax
PromotedXamax
CS Chênois
RelegatedSC Brühl
SC Buochs
Top goalscorerJean-Robert Rub (Xamax)
and Guy Mathez (Xamax)
both 18 goals

The following is the summary of the Swiss National League in the 1972–73 football season, both Nationalliga A and Nationalliga B. This was the 76th season of top-tier and the 75th season of second-tier football in Switzerland.

Overview

The Swiss Football Association (ASF/SFV) had 28 member clubs at this time and these were devided into two divisions of 14 teams each. 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. The top tier (NLA) was contested by the top 12 teams from the previous 1971–72 season and the two newly promoted teams FC Chiasso and FC Fribourg. The champions would qualify for the 1973–74 European Cup. The second and third placed teams were qualified for the 1973–74 UEFA Cup. The last two placed teams were to be relegated.

The second-tier (NLB) was contested by the two teams that had been relegated from the NLA, FC Biel-Bienne and Luzern, the teams that had been in third to twelfth position last season and the two newly promoted teams Young Fellows Zürich and SC Buochs. The top two teams would be promoted and the last two teams relegated.[1]

Nationalliga A

The first round of the NLA was played on 14 August 1972. After playing 13 rounds, there was a winter break, held between 5 December and the 14th round on 5 March 1973. The season had 26 rounds and was completed on 10 June 1973.

Teams, locations

Team Town Canton Stadium Capacity
FC Basel Basel  Basel-Stadt St. Jakob Stadium 36,800
FC Chiasso Chiasso  Ticino Stadio Comunale Riva IV 4,000
FC Fribourg Fribourg  Fribourg Stade Universitaire 9,000
Grasshopper Club Zürich Zürich  Zürich Hardturm 20,000
FC Grenchen Grenchen  Solothurn Stadium Brühl 15,100
FC La Chaux-de-Fonds La Chaux-de-Fonds  Neuchâtel Centre Sportif de la Charrière 12,700
FC Lausanne-Sport Lausanne  Vaud Pontaise 15,700
Lugano Lugano  Ticino Cornaredo Stadium 6,330
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
FC Winterthur Winterthur  Zürich Schützenwiese 8,550
BSC Young Boys Bern  Bern Wankdorf Stadium 56,000
FC Zürich Zürich  Zürich Letzigrund 25,000

Final league table

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 Basel[2] 26 17 5 4 57 30 +27 39 Swiss champions, qualified for 1973–74 European Cup
2 Grasshopper Club 26 14 7 5 54 32 +22 35 Qualified for 1973–74 UEFA Cup
and entered 1973 Intertoto Cup
3 Sion 26 13 7 6 35 30 +5 33 Qualified for 1973–74 UEFA Cup
4 Servette 26 14 3 9 41 23 +18 31
5 Winterthur 26 12 6 8 40 29 +11 30 Entered 1973 Intertoto Cup
6 Lausanne-Sport 26 11 6 9 46 27 +19 28
7 Zürich[3] 26 10 8 8 38 33 +5 28 Swiss Cup winners, qualified for 1973–74 Cup Winners' Cup
and entered 1973 Intertoto Cup
8 Lugano 26 9 9 8 31 30 +1 27 Entered 1973 Intertoto Cup
9 Young Boys 26 9 5 12 39 40 −1 23
10 La Chaux-de-Fonds 26 8 7 11 30 43 −13 23
11 Chiasso 26 8 5 13 21 48 −27 21
12 St. Gallen 26 7 5 14 31 49 −18 19
13 Fribourg 26 4 7 15 24 43 −19 15 Relegated to 1973–74 Nationalliga B
14 Grenchen 26 4 4 18 23 53 −30 12 Relegated to 1973–74 Nationalliga B
Source: rsssf.com

Results

Home \ Away BAS CDF CHI FRI GCZ GRE LS LUG SER SIO STG WIN YB ZÜR
Basel 7–1 4–0 3–0 0–1 2–0 2–1 5–2 2–2 2–3 4–3 3–1 2–0 2–1
La Chaux-de-Fonds 2–3 1–1 2–0 0–1 1–1 0–4 3–1 1–3 3–1 0–1 1–0 2–1 1–1
Chiasso 0–0 2–0 3–2 0–2 0–1 0–3 1–3 1–0 1–0 1–0 0–2 1–0 0–0
Fribourg 0–1 1–2 0–1 0–0 3–2 0–1 1–1 0–1 2–1 1–3 1–1 2–2 1–0
Grasshopper Club 1–2 2–3 7–0 3–1 3–0 2–1 3–1 2–0 2–2 2–2 2–2 3–1 3–0
Grenchen 1–2 1–1 3–1 1–0 1–2 1–3 0–1 0–3 1–3 1–0 2–3 1–1 1–4
Lausanne-Sports 0–0 1–1 8–0 2–2 2–2 2–0 1–0 1–0 0–1 2–2 2–1 5–1 1–2
Lugano 0–1 1–1 2–2 1–1 1–1 3–2 1–0 0–1 1–1 4–0 1–0 1–0 0–0
Servette 0–0 1–2 2–0 2–1 0–1 2–0 1–0 0–1 2–2 4–0 3–0 1–0 5–1
Sion 2–1 2–0 0–0 3–1 1–1 2–0 1–3 1–0 1–0 1–0 1–0 0–3 2–2
St. Gallen 3–4 2–1 2–1 0–0 2–3 1–0 3–1 2–0 1–5 0–0 0–4 0–0 1–3
Winterthur 3–1 1–1 3–2 4–2 3–1 0–0 1–0 1–3 3–0 0–1 1–0 1–0 3–0
Young Boys 2–3 2–0 3–2 2–0 4–3 6–3 3–2 1–1 0–1 4–1 1–0 2–2 0–1
Zürich 1–1 2–0 0–1 1–2 3–1 4–0 0–0 1–1 3–2 1–2 5–3 0–0 2–0
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
SC Brühl St. Gallen  St. Gallen Paul-Grüninger-Stadion 4,200
SC Buochs Buochs  Nidwalden Stadion Seefeld 5,000
CS Chênois Thônex  Geneva Stade des Trois-Chêne 8,000
Étoile Carouge FC Carouge  Geneva Stade de la Fontenette 3,690
FC Luzern Lucerne  Lucerne Stadion Allmend 25,000
FC Martigny-Sports Martigny  Valais Stade d'Octodure 2,500
Mendrisiostar Mendrisio  Ticino Centro Sportivo Comunale 4,000
Vevey-Sports Vevey  Vaud Stade de Copet 4,000
FC Wettingen Wettingen  Aargau Stadion Altenburg 10,000
Xamax Neuchâtel  Neuchâtel Stade de la Maladière 25,500
FC Young Fellows Zürich Zürich  Zürich Utogrund 2,850

Final league table

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 Xamax 26 19 5 2 72 21 +51 43 NLB Champions and promoted to 1973–74 Nationalliga A
2 CS Chênois 26 15 7 4 44 24 +20 37 To promotion play-off
3 Luzern 26 15 7 4 60 26 +34 37 To promotion play-off
4 FC Biel-Bienne 26 11 6 9 45 35 +10 28
5 Vevey-Sports 26 11 5 10 50 40 +10 27
6 Mendrisiostar 26 9 9 8 30 34 −4 27
7 Young Fellows Zürich 26 11 4 11 35 37 −2 26
8 Etoile Carouge FC 26 8 8 10 36 51 −15 24
9 FC Wettingen 26 8 7 11 30 44 −14 23
10 FC Aarau[4] 26 7 8 11 29 42 −13 22
11 FC Martigny-Sports 26 6 9 11 27 45 −18 21
12 AC Bellinzona 26 7 6 13 30 41 −11 20
13 SC Brühl[5] 26 6 6 14 43 58 −15 18 Relegated to 1973–74 1. Liga
14 SC Buochs[5] 26 3 5 18 26 59 −33 11 Relegated to 1973–74 1. Liga
Source: rsssf.com
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference within the league, however with play-off for qualifiers;

Decider for second place

The decider match for second place was played on

Team 1  Score  Team 2
CS Chênois 2–1 (a.e.t.) Luzern

CS Chênois won and were promoted to 1973–74 Nationalliga A. Luzern remain in the division.


Further in Swiss football

References

  1. ^ Erik Garin, Luc Nackaerts. "Nationalliga A 1972/73". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 2019-11-16.
  2. ^ Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv" (1973). "1972/73 Rangliste" [1972/73 Ranking] (in Swiss High German). Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv". Retrieved 2023-11-16.
  3. ^ (red) dbFCZ (2023). "FCZ 1972/73" (in Swiss High German). dbFCZ. Retrieved 2023-11-16.
  4. ^ Beck, Stephan (2023). "Schweizer Meisterschaft 1972/73 Nationalliga B" [Swiss Championship 1972/73 Nationalliga B] (in German). arowa.ch. Retrieved 2023-11-16.
  5. ^ 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 7 (in German). Erste Liga, Abteilung des SFV. Retrieved 2023-11-16.

Sources

Preceded by
1971–72 		Nationalliga
seasons in
Switzerland 		Succeeded by
1973–74