1939–40 Swiss 1. Liga

1. Liga 1939–40 1. Liga champions:BaselGroup 1 winners:Vevey SportsGroup 2 winners:FribourgGroup 3 winners:BaselGroup 4 winners:BrühlGroup 5 winners:Bellinzona none none 4x 30 and 1x 20 plus 10 play-offs 1938–39 1940–41 The 1939–40 1. Liga season was the 9th season of the 1. Liga since its creation in 1931. At this time, the 1. Liga was the second-tier of the Swiss football league system. Due to the outbreak the Second World War on 1 September 1939 the start of the Swiss football championship was postponed until 22 October. The 1. Liga was postponed until December and it was completely reorganised for this season. Overview Preamble In Switzerland during the second world war period, sport became an integral part of the "spiritual national defense". This was a political and cultural movement that had already become increasingly important during the late 1930s. Politicians, intellectuals and media professionals had increasingly called for measures to strengthen Switzerland's basic cultural values. Since the Nationalliga games were also considered to be one of the activities that seemed important for maintaining the morale of the population, the military authorities put considerably fewer obstacles in the way of the top players and leading clubs as they had during the previous World War. Nevertheless, the outbreak of the Second World War, triggered by the German attack on Poland on 1 September 1939, was also a shock for Switzerland, although international signs had been pointing towards a war for some time. On 30 August, the Federal Assembly elected staff officer Henri Guisan as Commander-in-Chief of the Army. On 2 September, general mobilisation for war took place. The national exhibition in Zurich, during which the national football team had also played representative matches against teams from neighbouring countries, was closed for some time. The general mobilisation brought regular championship operations to a standstill, and in its place an improvised mobilisation championship was held without automatic promotion or relegation. In some cases the games could not be played or were postponed because the clubs did not have enough players available. Christian Koller 2009 https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/7144/10/Koller_Kriegsmeisterschaften.pdf Vierzigerjahre (1940 bis 1949): Die Kriegsmeisterschaften Forties (1940 to 1949): The War Championships Zurich Open Repository and Archive de-ch 2024-11-16 Format The 12 teams of the top-tier competed the improvised championship as in the years before. However, the 24 clubs that competed in the 1. Liga were re-organised. This season they were divided into five regional groups (as opposed to two in previous years), this was done to reduce travelling times. There were six teams in group 1 (West), five teams in group 2 (North-West), group 3 (Central) and group 4 (North-East), but only three in group 5 (South). The teams in group 1 played a double round-robin to decide their league position. The teams in the groups 2, 3 and 4 played three round-robins and the teams in group 5 played four round-robins. Two points were awarded for a win and one point was awarded for a draw. The five group winners then contested a play-off round to decide the championship. This contested of: a two legged semi-final for the two west group winners, a three team round-robin semi-final for the other groups and then there was to be a two legged-final for the title of 1. Liga champions. Erste Liga (SFV) 2022 https://www.el-pl.ch/Portaldata/3/Resources/statistiken/Statistik-Auf-Absteiger-bis_heute_19.12.22.pdf Statistik der Ersten Liga über Aufstieg und Abstieg ab Saison 1931/32 bis 2022 PDF page 2 First League statistics on promotion and relegation from the 1931/32 season to 2022 Erste Liga, Abteilung des SFV de 2024-11-16 Group 1 Teams, locations ClubBased inCantonStadiumCapacity Dopolavoro Genève Genève Geneva FC Monthey Monthey Valais Stade Philippe Pottier FC Montreux-Sports Montreux Vaud Stade de Chailly FC Forward Morges (red) Association cantonale vaudoise de football 2024 https://matchcenter-acvf.football.ch/default.aspx?v=1104&oid=16&lng=2 FC Forward Morges Association cantonale vaudoise de football fr 2024-11-16 Morges Vaud Parc des Sports Urania Genève Sport Genève Geneva Stade de Frontenex Vevey Sports Vevey Vaud Stade de Copet Final league table main WDL QR 2 VEV Vevey Sports 9 0 1 39 13 UGS Urania Genève Sport 7 0 3 31 18 DOP Dopolavoro Genève 5 1 4 29 26 MON FC Monthey 3 2 5 18 25 MOR FC Forward Morges 3 1 6 20 20 MOS FC Montreux-Sports 0 2 8 8 43 green3 To play-offs QP 1) Points; 2) Goal difference within the league, but decider play-off for qualifiers. complete RSSSF Group 2 Teams, locations ClubBased inCantonStadiumCapacity FC Bern Bern Bern Stadion Neufeld US Bienne-Boujean Biel/Bienne Bern FC Cantonal Neuchâtel Neuchâtel Neuchâtel Stade de la Maladière FC Étoile-Sporting (red) Association neuchâteloise de football 2024 https://matchcenter-anf.football.ch/default.aspx?v=900&oid=15&lng=2 FC Étoile-Sporting' Association neuchâteloise de football fr 2024-11-16 La Chaux-de-Fonds Neuchâtel Les Foulets / Terrain des Eplatures / FC Fribourg Fribourg Fribourg Stade Universitaire Final league table main WDL QR 2 FRI FC Fribourg 8 1 3 32 18 BER FC Bern 7 0 5 38 19 CN FC Cantonal Neuchâtel 4 2 6 24 34 BBB US Bienne-Boujean 4 2 6 21 39 ES FC Étoile-Sporting 3 3 6 27 32 green3 To play-offs QP 1) Points; 2) Goal difference within the league, but decider play-off for qualifiers. complete RSSSF Group 3 Teams, locations ClubBased inCantonStadiumCapacity FC Aarau Aarau Aargau Stadion Brügglifeld FC Basel Basel Basel-Stadt Landhof FC Birsfelden (red) Fussballverband Nordwestschweiz 2024 https://matchcenter.fvnws.ch/default.aspx?v=488&oid=8&lng=1 FC Birsfelden Fussballverband Nordwestschweiz de 2024-11-16 Birsfelden Basel-Landschaft Sternenfeld FC Concordia Basel Basel Basel-Stadt Stadion Rankhof FC Solothurn Solothurn Solothurn Stadion FC Solothurn Final league table main WDL QR 2 BAS FC Basel Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv" 2024 https://www.fcb-archiv.ch/saison/rangliste?saison=1939/40 FCB Rangliste 1939/40 de-ch FCB Ranking 1939/40 Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv" 2024-11-16 9 2 1 38 16 AAR FC Aarau Stephan Beck 2023 https://www.arowa.ch/index.php?page=ligatabelle&saison=40 Schweizer Meisterschaft 1939/40 FCA Rangliste de-ch Swiss Championship 1939/40 FCA Ranking arowa.ch 2024-11-16 7 1 4 37 26 CON FC Concordia Basel 4 1 7 26 32 SOL FC Solothurn 4 0 8 25 35 BIR FC Birsfelden 4 0 8 14 31 green3 To play-offs QP 1) Points; 2) Goal difference within the league, but decider play-off for qualifiers. complete RSSSF Group 4 Teams, locations ClubBased inCantonStadiumCapacity FC Blue Stars Zürich (red) Fussballverband Region Zürich 2024 https://matchcenter.fvrz.ch/default.aspx?v=1573&oid=11&lng=1 FC Blue Stars Zürich Fussballverband Region Zürich de 2024-11-16 Zürich Zürich Hardhof SC Brühl St. Gallen St. Gallen Paul-Grüninger-Stadion SC Juventus Zürich Zürich Zürich Utogrund SC Zug Zug Zug Herti Allmend Stadion FC Zürich Zürich Zürich Letzigrund Final league table main WDL QR 2 BRÜ SC Brühl 8 3 1 31 15 SCZ SC Zug 6 0 6 27 49 FCZ FC Zürich (red) dbFCZ 2023 https://www.dbfcz.ch/saison.php?saison_id=81 FCZ Saison 1939/40 de-ch FCZ season 1939/40 dbFCZ 2024-11-16 4 3 5 39 25 BSZ FC Blue Stars Zürich 4 2 6 35 27 YFJ SC Juventus Zürich 3 2 7 19 35 green3 To play-offs QP 1) Points; 2) Goal difference within the league, but decider play-off for qualifiers. complete RSSSF Group 5 Teams, locations ClubBased inCantonStadiumCapacity AC Bellinzona Bellinzona Ticino Stadio Comunale Bellinzona FC Chiasso Chiasso Ticino Stadio Comunale Riva IV FC Locarno Locarno Ticino Stadio comunale Lido Final league table main WDL QR 2 BEL AC Bellinzona 5 1 0 23 7 CHI FC Chiasso 3 0 4 14 28 LOC FC Locarno 1 1 5 18 20 green3 To play-offs QP 1) Points; 2) Goal difference within the league, but decider play-off for qualifiers. complete RSSSF The matches Bellinzona–Locarno and Chiasso–Bellinzona were not played as they were irrelevant in determining the team classified in the final phase. Championship play-off Semi-finals The winners of the groups 1 and 2 played their matches on 30 June and 7 July 1940. Vevey Sports Forfeit Fribourg Vevey did not play the match because the team had too few players due to the mobilisation. The game was awarded 0–3 for Fribourg Fribourg 2–1 Vevey Sports Fribourg won and advanced to the final. The three other group winners played a three team round-robin for the other finalist. main WDL Q 2 BRÜ Brühl 1 1 0 5 3 BAS Basel 1 1 0 6 3 BEL Bellinzona 0 0 2 2 7 2–2 — — 4–1 1–3 — y noflag 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head 3) Decider. complete RSSSF Due to the egality between two teams a play-off decider was required. This was played on 7 July in Basel. Basel 2–0 Brühl Final The games in the final were played on 4 and 11 August 1940. Fribourg 4–0 Basel Basel 4–2 Fribourg Due to the egality, one win each, a replay was required. This was played at Stadion Neufeld in Bern on 18 August. Fribourg 1–2 Basel Basel won the 1. Liga championship title. Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv" 18 August 1940 https://www.fcb-archiv.ch/saison/spiele?command=detail&id=28049 FC Fribourg - FC Basel 1:2 (1:1) Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv" de-ch 2024-11-16 Further in Swiss football 1939–40 Nationalliga 1939–40 Swiss Cup 1939–40 FC Basel season References Sources Switzerland 1939–40 at RSSSF Seasons inSwiss 1. Liga 1938–39 1940–41 Category:1939–40 in Swiss football Category:Swiss 1. Liga (football) seasons Switzerland