1972–73 Nationalliga A - Misplaced Pages

76th season of top-tier Swiss football Football league season

Nationalliga A
Season	1972–73
Champions	Basel
Relegated	Fribourg Grenchen
Top goalscorer	Ottmar Hitzfeld (Basel) and Ove Grahn (Lausanne-Sport) both 18 goals
← 1971–72 1973–74 →

Football league season

Nationalliga B
Season	1972–73
Champions	Xamax
Promoted	Xamax CS Chênois
Relegated	SC Brühl SC Buochs
Top goalscorer	Jean-Robert Rub (Xamax) and Guy Mathez (Xamax) both 18 goals
← 1971–72 1973–74 →

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.

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	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	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	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	26	6	6	14	43	58	−15	18	Relegated to 1973–74 1. Liga
14	SC Buochs	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

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

Switzerland 1972–73 at RSSSF
Josef Zindel (2018). FC Basel 1893. Die ersten 125 Jahre (in German). Basel: Friedrich Reinhardt Verlag. ISBN 978-3-7245-2305-5.

Preceded by
1971–72

Nationalliga
seasons in
Switzerland

Succeeded by
1973–74

Seasons of the Swiss Football League

Serie A era, 1897–1931
Seasons	1897–98 1898–99 1899–1900 1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31

Nationalliga era, 1931–1944
Seasons	1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44

Nationalliga A era, 1944–2003

Seasons

1944–45
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1999–2000
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2002–03

Super League era, 2003–present
Seasons	2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25

Swiss Challenge League seasons

1. Liga era, 1931–1944
Seasons	1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44

Nationalliga B era, 1944–2003

Seasons

1944–45
1945–46
1946–47
1947–48
1948–49
1949–50
1950–51
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1952–53
1953–54
1954–55
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1964–65
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1993–94
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1995–96
1996–97
1997–98
1998–99
1999–2000
2000–01
2001–02
2002–03

Challenge League era, 2003–present
Seasons	2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25

v t e 1972–73 in European football (UEFA)
« 1971–72 1973–74 »
Domestic leagues	Albania Austria Belgium Bulgaria Cyprus Czechoslovakia Denmark '72 '73 England Faroe Islands '72 '73 Finland '72 '73 France East Germany West Germany Greece Hungary Iceland '72 '73 Israel Italy Luxembourg Malta Netherlands Northern Ireland Norway '72 '73 Poland Portugal Republic of Ireland Romania Scotland Soviet Union '72 '73 Spain Sweden '72 '73 Switzerland Turkey Yugoslavia
Domestic cups	Albania Austria Belgium Bulgaria Cyprus Czechoslovakia Denmark England Faroe Islands '72 '73 Finland '72 '73 France East Germany West Germany Greece Hungary Iceland '72 '73 Israel Italy Liechtenstein Luxembourg Malta Netherlands Northern Ireland Norway '72 '73 Poland Portugal Republic of Ireland Romania Scotland Soviet Union '72 '73 Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey Wales
League cups	England West Germany Scotland Switzerland
UEFA competitions	European Cup (Final) Cup Winners' Cup (Final) UEFA Cup (Final)
Non-UEFA competitions	Intertoto Cup Balkans Cup '72 '73 European Super Cup

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