# 2001–02 Nationalliga A

The 2002–03 season of the Swiss Nationalliga contained two divisions, each with twelve clubs. The top tier was called Nationalliga A (NLA) (French: Ligue Nationale A, Italian: Lega Nazionale A) and the second tier was named Nationalliga B (NLB).

## Overview

The season was divided into two phases. The first of which was the qualification phase, and within the divisions the teams played a double round-robin, one at home and the other away. The divisions were then split. The first eight teams of the NLA then competed in the championship group and played a further double round-robin. The teams in ninth to twelfth position competed with the top four teams of the NLB in a promotion/relegation group to decide which four teams would play top tier next season. The other eight teams of the second tier competed in a play-out against relegation to the 1. Liga and the last two teams were to be relegated.
This was the second last season in which the Swiss championship would be competed in this format. It was already in planning that in two seasons the Nationalliga would be renamed to Swiss Football League and the championships were to be renamed and reformed.

## Nationalliga A
### Qualification phase
#### Table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Basel | 22 | 13 | 4 | 5 | 52 | 37 | +15 | 43 | Advance to championship round halved points (rounded up) as bonus |
| 2 | Lugano | 22 | 11 | 5 | 6 | 39 | 33 | +6 | 38 | Advance to championship round halved points (rounded up) as bonus |
| 3 | Grasshopper Club | 22 | 11 | 4 | 7 | 50 | 33 | +17 | 37 | Advance to championship round halved points (rounded up) as bonus |
| 4 | St. Gallen | 22 | 9 | 8 | 5 | 38 | 32 | +6 | 35 | Advance to championship round halved points (rounded up) as bonus |
| 5 | Servette | 22 | 9 | 7 | 6 | 36 | 29 | +7 | 34 | Advance to championship round halved points (rounded up) as bonus |
| 6 | Sion | 22 | 10 | 3 | 9 | 40 | 29 | +11 | 33 | Advance to championship round halved points (rounded up) as bonus |
| 7 | Young Boys | 22 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 35 | 28 | +7 | 31 | Advance to championship round halved points (rounded up) as bonus |
| 8 | Zürich | 22 | 7 | 9 | 6 | 24 | 27 | −3 | 30 | Advance to championship round halved points (rounded up) as bonus |
| 9 | Aarau | 22 | 7 | 6 | 9 | 28 | 25 | +3 | 27 | Continue to promotion/relegation round |
| 10 | Neuchâtel Xamax | 22 | 6 | 7 | 9 | 28 | 36 | −8 | 25 | Continue to promotion/relegation round |
| 11 | Lausanne-Sport | 22 | 4 | 4 | 14 | 24 | 49 | −25 | 16 | Continue to promotion/relegation round |
| 12 | Luzern | 22 | 3 | 4 | 15 | 23 | 59 | −36 | 13 | Continue to promotion/relegation round |

#### Results

| Home \ Away | AAR | BAS | GCZ | LS | LUG | LUZ | NX | SER | SIO | STG | YB | ZÜR |
| Aarau | | 1–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 3–1 | 3–2 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 2–2 | 2–0 | 2–3 |
| Basel | 1–0 | | 4–5 | 3–1 | 5–1 | 4–1 | 5–1 | 3–1 | 2–2 | 2–1 | 3–1 | 2–1 |
| Grasshopper | 1–0 | 1–0 | | 1–2 | 2–5 | 6–0 | 4–1 | 3–0 | 6–1 | 0–3 | 1–1 | 0–0 |
| Lausanne-Sport | 0–3 | 2–4 | 2–4 | | 1–2 | 3–2 | 1–1 | 0–3 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 2–3 | 1–1 |
| Lugano | 1–0 | 1–2 | 5–3 | 2–1 | | 5–0 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 |
| Luzern | 2–1 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 1–3 | 1–2 | | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–3 | 2–6 | 0–4 | 3–0 |
| Neuchâtel Xamax | 0–0 | 1–0 | 1–4 | 2–1 | 1–3 | 4–1 | | 1–3 | 3–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–1 |
| Servette | 3–3 | 1–4 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 2–0 | | 1–2 | 2–3 | 3–0 | 0–2 |
| St. Gallen | 1–1 | 3–3 | 0–0 | 3–0 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 4–3 | 2–2 | | 0–1 | 4–1 | 3–1 |
| Sion | 0–1 | 8–1 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 5–0 | 3–1 | 0–4 | 1–3 | 0–1 | | 1–0 | 0–1 |
| Young Boys | 2–1 | 2–2 | 1–3 | 7–0 | 1–1 | 5–1 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 3–2 | | 1–1 |
| Zürich | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1–3 | 1–0 | 2–3 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–3 | 3–2 | 0–0 | 0–0 | |

### Championship round

The first eight teams of the qualification then competed in the Championship Round. They took half of the points (rounded up to complete units) gained in the Qualification as bonus with them.

#### Table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | BP | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Basel (C) | 14 | 11 | 0 | 3 | 36 | 16 | +20 | 22 | 55 | Qualification to Champions League third qualifying round |
| 2 | Grasshopper Club | 14 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 28 | 17 | +11 | 19 | 45 | Qualification to UEFA Cup first round |
| 3 | Lugano (R) | 14 | 7 | 2 | 5 | 23 | 19 | +4 | 19 | 42 | Qualification to UEFA Cup qualifying round |
| 4 | Servette | 14 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 25 | 23 | +2 | 17 | 38 | Qualification to UEFA Cup qualifying round |
| 5 | Zürich | 14 | 6 | 2 | 6 | 14 | 17 | −3 | 15 | 35 | Qualification to Intertoto Cup first round |
| 6 | St. Gallen | 14 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 18 | 20 | −2 | 18 | 34 | Qualification to Intertoto Cup first round |
| 7 | Young Boys | 14 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 18 | 25 | −7 | 16 | 31 | |
| 8 | Sion (R) | 14 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 10 | 35 | −25 | 17 | 21 | |
* 1 2 Both Lugano and Sion did not obtain a 1st level license for the 2002/03 season. Nor die Lausanne; all three clubs are relegated to the NL B and their NL A places filled by Aarau, Delémont and Luzern.

#### Results

| Home \ Away | BAS | GCZ | LUG | SER | SIO | STG | YB | ZÜR |
| Basel | | 4–1 | 4–3 | 3–2 | 4–0 | 1–2 | 2–0 | 1–0 |
| Grasshopper | 1–0 | | 2–1 | 2–2 | 1–0 | 3–3 | 1–1 | 3–0 |
| Lugano | 2–5 | 1–0 | | 1–3 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 2–0 |
| Servette | 1–2 | 1–5 | 1–0 | | 4–1 | 2–2 | 0–0 | 0–1 |
| Sion | 0–3 | 0–2 | 1–4 | 2–3 | | 0–2 | 3–1 | 1–1 |
| St. Gallen | 1–3 | 2–2 | 0–0 | 1–3 | 2–1 | | 3–1 | 0–1 |
| Young Boys | 0–3 | 1–4 | 2–2 | 3–1 | 4–0 | 1–0 | | 3–2 |
| Zürich | 3–1 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 0–2 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 | |

## Nationalliga B
### Qualification phase
#### Table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Wil | 22 | 12 | 5 | 5 | 53 | 32 | +21 | 41 | Advance to promotion/relegation NLA/LNB round |
| 2 | Winterthur | 22 | 12 | 3 | 7 | 48 | 48 | 0 | 39 | Advance to promotion/relegation NLA/LNB round |
| 3 | Thun | 22 | 11 | 5 | 6 | 42 | 32 | +10 | 38 | Advance to promotion/relegation NLA/LNB round |
| 4 | Delémont | 22 | 11 | 5 | 6 | 33 | 26 | +7 | 38 | Advance to promotion/relegation NLA/LNB round |
| 5 | Yverdon-Sport | 22 | 10 | 5 | 7 | 37 | 31 | +6 | 35 | Continue to relegation round NLB/1. Liga halved points (rounded up) as bonus |
| 6 | Étoile Carouge | 22 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 27 | 26 | +1 | 31 | Continue to relegation round NLB/1. Liga halved points (rounded up) as bonus |
| 7 | Kriens | 22 | 9 | 3 | 10 | 28 | 30 | −2 | 30 | Continue to relegation round NLB/1. Liga halved points (rounded up) as bonus |
| 8 | Bellinzona | 22 | 7 | 4 | 11 | 26 | 33 | −7 | 25 | Continue to relegation round NLB/1. Liga halved points (rounded up) as bonus |
| 9 | Baden | 22 | 5 | 9 | 8 | 40 | 37 | +3 | 24 | Continue to relegation round NLB/1. Liga halved points (rounded up) as bonus |
| 10 | Locarno | 22 | 6 | 5 | 11 | 28 | 34 | −6 | 23 | Continue to relegation round NLB/1. Liga halved points (rounded up) as bonus |
| 11 | Vaduz | 22 | 5 | 7 | 10 | 34 | 43 | −9 | 22 | Continue to relegation round NLB/1. Liga halved points (rounded up) as bonus |
| 12 | Concordia Basel | 22 | 5 | 4 | 13 | 34 | 58 | −24 | 19 | Continue to relegation round NLB/1. Liga halved points (rounded up) as bonus |

### Promotion/relegation NLA/NLB
#### Table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Xamax | 14 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 26 | 12 | +14 | 28 | Remain in NLA |
| 2 | Lausanne-Sport | 14 | 8 | 2 | 4 | 21 | 14 | +7 | 26 | Did not obtain licence for top level |
| 3 | Wil | 14 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 17 | 13 | +4 | 23 | Promoted to NLA |
| 4 | Thun | 14 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 19 | 18 | +1 | 21 | Promoted to NLA |
| 5 | Aarau | 14 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 20 | 20 | 0 | 21 | Relegated, but remained in NLA via green table |
| 6 | Delémont | 14 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 14 | 20 | −6 | 16 | Promoted on green table |
| 7 | Luzern | 14 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 26 | 28 | −2 | 11 | Relegated, but remained in NLA via green table |
| 8 | Winterthur | 14 | 1 | 4 | 9 | 11 | 29 | −18 | 7 | Remain in NLB |
* 1 2 3 4 Lausanne did not obtain a top level license for the 2002/03 season, neither did Lugano and Sion; these three clubs were relegated to the NLB and their NLA places filled by Aarau, Delémont and Luzern.

#### Results

| Home \ Away | AAR | DEL | NX | LS | LUZ | THU | WIL | WIN |
| Aarau | | 2–0 | 2–1 | 0–3 | 2–1 | 1–3 | 0–1 | 3–0 |
| Delémont | 2–1 | | 1–2 | 4–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 |
| Neuchâtel Xamax | 3–1 | 4–0 | | 1–0 | 3–2 | 4–0 | 2–0 | 2–0 |
| Lausanne-Sport | 0–1 | 3–2 | 1–1 | | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 4–1 |
| Luzern | 2–2 | 4–1 | 2–2 | 1–2 | | 3–3 | 1–2 | 4–1 |
| Thun | 0–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 4–2 | | 1–2 | 1–0 |
| Wil | 2–2 | 3–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 2–2 | 2–0 | | 2–0 |
| Winterthur | 2–2 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–4 | 3–2 | 1–2 | 1–1 | |

### Relegation NLB/1. Liga
#### Table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | BP | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Yverdon-Sport | 14 | 8 | 1 | 5 | 30 | 26 | +4 | 18 | 43 | Remain in LNB |
| 2 | Vaduz | 14 | 8 | 3 | 3 | 28 | 18 | +10 | 11 | 38 | Remain in LNB |
| 3 | Bellinzona | 14 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 22 | 18 | +4 | 13 | 37 | Remain in LNB |
| 4 | Kriens | 14 | 7 | 0 | 7 | 31 | 24 | +7 | 15 | 36 | Remain in LNB |
| 5 | Concordia Basel | 14 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 23 | 20 | +3 | 15 | 37 | Remain in LNB |
| 6 | Baden | 14 | 5 | 2 | 7 | 15 | 21 | −6 | 12 | 29 | Remain in LNB |
| 7 | Locarno | 14 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 17 | 19 | −2 | 12 | 29 | Relegated to 1. Liga |
| 8 | Étoile Carouge | 14 | 1 | 2 | 11 | 10 | 30 | −20 | 16 | 21 | Relegated to 1. Liga |