# 1956–57 Nationalliga A

The following is the summary of the Swiss National League in the 1956–57 football season, both Nationalliga A and Nationalliga B. This was the 60th season of top-tier and the 59th season of second-tier football in Switzerland.

## Overview

The Swiss Football Association (ASF/SFV) had 28 member clubs at this time which were divided 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 1955–56 season and the two newly promoted teams Winterthur and Young Fellows. The champions would qualify for the 1957–58 European Cup and the last two teams in the league table at the end of the season were to be relegated.
The second-tier (NLB) was contested by the two teams that had been relegated from the NLA at the end of the last season, these were Grenchen and Fribourg, the ten teams that had been in third to twelfth position last season and the two newly promoted teams Brühl and Yverdon-Sport. The top two teams at the end of the season would be promoted to the 1957–58 NLA and the two last placed teams would be relegated to the 1957–58 Swiss 1. Liga.

## Nationalliga A
### Teams, locations

| Team | Based in | Canton | Stadium | Capacity |
| FC Basel | Basel | Basel-Stadt | Landhof | 4,000 |
| AC Bellinzona | Bellinzona | Ticino | Stadio Comunale Bellinzona | 5,000 |
| FC Chiasso | Chiasso | Ticino | Stadio Comunale Riva IV | 4,000 |
| Grasshopper Club Zürich | Zürich | Zürich | Hardturm | 20,000 |
| FC La Chaux-de-Fonds | La Chaux-de-Fonds | Neuchâtel | Centre Sportif de la Charrière | 10,000 |
| FC Lausanne-Sport | Lausanne | Vaud | Pontaise | 30,000 |
| FC Lugano | Lugano | Ticino | Cornaredo Stadium | 6,330 |
| FC Schaffhausen | Schaffhausen | Schaffhausen | Stadion Breite | 7,300 |
| Servette FC | Geneva | Geneva | Stade des Charmilles | 27,000 |
| Urania Genève Sport | Genève | Geneva | Stade de Frontenex | 4,000 |
| FC Winterthur | Winterthur | Zürich | Schützenwiese | 8,550 |
| BSC Young Boys | Bern | Bern | Wankdorf Stadium | 56,000 |
| FC Young Fellows | Zürich | Zürich | Utogrund | 2,850 |
| FC Zürich | Zürich | Zürich | Letzigrund | 25,000 |

### Final league table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Young Boys | 26 | 21 | 3 | 2 | 76 | 22 | +54 | 45 | Swiss Champions qualified for 1957–58 European Cup |
| 2 | Grasshopper Club | 26 | 19 | 3 | 4 | 82 | 30 | +52 | 41 | |
| 3 | La Chaux-de-Fonds | 26 | 17 | 4 | 5 | 87 | 35 | +52 | 38 | Swiss Cup winners |
| 4 | Basel | 26 | 15 | 4 | 7 | 53 | 38 | +15 | 34 | |
| 5 | Urania Genève Sport | 26 | 12 | 6 | 8 | 38 | 34 | +4 | 30 | |
| 6 | Bellinzona | 26 | 10 | 8 | 8 | 37 | 42 | −5 | 28 | |
| 7 | Lausanne-Sport | 26 | 11 | 5 | 10 | 44 | 37 | +7 | 27 | |
| 8 | Servette | 26 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 40 | 44 | −4 | 26 | |
| 9 | Chiasso | 26 | 10 | 5 | 11 | 46 | 62 | −16 | 25 | |
| 10 | Lugano | 26 | 6 | 5 | 15 | 39 | 51 | −12 | 17 | |
| 11 | Winterthur | 26 | 6 | 4 | 16 | 43 | 67 | −24 | 16 | |
| 12 | Young Fellows Zürich | 26 | 4 | 6 | 16 | 30 | 67 | −37 | 14 | to play-out against relegation |
| 13 | Zürich | 26 | 5 | 4 | 17 | 34 | 61 | −27 | 14 | to play-out against relegation |
| 14 | Schaffhausen | 26 | 1 | 7 | 18 | 26 | 85 | −59 | 9 | Relegated to 1957–58 Nationalliga B |

### Results

| Home \ Away | BAS | BEL | CDF | CHI | GCZ | LS | LUG | SHA | SER | UGS | WIN | YB | YFZ | ZÜR |
| Basel | | 3–0 | 4–3 | 3–0 | 1–3 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 4–1 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 3–2 | 3–4 | 3–1 | 3–0 |
| Bellinzona | 3–1 | | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 2–4 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 2–2 |
| La Chaux-de-Fonds | 2–3 | 3–0 | | 1–0 | 4–2 | 5–2 | 7–2 | 4–0 | 4–1 | 4–0 | 5–2 | 2–0 | 4–0 | 6–2 |
| Chiasso | 1–1 | 3–2 | 1–4 | | 1–2 | 1–1 | 3–2 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 3–1 | 0–8 | 5–0 | 2–1 |
| Grasshopper Club | 1–0 | 7–2 | 2–2 | 8–1 | | 4–2 | 3–2 | 9–0 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 5–1 | 2–0 | 2–2 | 2–1 |
| Lausanne-Sports | 7–1 | 0–1 | 3–2 | 1–0 | 1–2 | | 3–2 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 2–2 | 3–1 | 0–1 | 3–1 | 1–2 |
| Lugano | 1–1 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 4–1 | 1–2 | 3–0 | | 6–0 | 3–1 | 0–0 | 2–3 | 0–2 | 3–1 | 1–3 |
| Schaffhausen | 0–2 | 0–4 | 1–5 | 3–4 | 0–5 | 1–3 | 1–1 | | 1–1 | 0–2 | 1–4 | 2–6 | 1–1 | 1–1 |
| Servette | 1–0 | 4–0 | 2–2 | 2–2 | 1–5 | 0–2 | 2–2 | 3–1 | | 1–2 | 4–3 | 0–2 | 1–0 | 2–1 |
| Urania Genève Sport | 1–0 | 3–1 | 0–0 | 4–0 | 0–2 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | | 1–1 | 0–1 | 5–3 | 3–0 |
| Winterthur | 0–1 | 2–3 | 1–3 | 2–5 | 0–4 | 2–3 | 2–0 | 6–2 | 1–1 | 2–1 | | 0–2 | 2–3 | 2–0 |
| Young Boys | 2–2 | 2–1 | 4–3 | 4–0 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 5–1 | 3–2 | 2–0 | 5–0 | 7–1 | | 5–1 | 2–0 |
| Young Fellows Zürich | 0–3 | 2–2 | 0–5 | 2–4 | 1–6 | 2–1 | 3–1 | 2–2 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–1 | | 0–2 |
| Zürich | 3–5 | 1–1 | 1–6 | 0–3 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 1–2 | 2–4 | 1–2 | 4–1 | 1–5 | 0–1 | |

### Relegation play-out

FC Zürich and Young Fellows Zürich finished level on points in joint twelfth position. Therefore, it required a play-out against relegation and for twelfth position. This took place on 23 June 1957 at the Hardturm in Zürich.
| Team 1 | Score | Team 2 |
| Young Fellows | 2–1 (a.e.t.) | Zürich |
Young Fellows won and remained in the top-tier. Zürich were relegated to 1957–58 Nationalliga B.

### Topscorers

| Rank | Player | Goals | Club |
| 1. | Adrien Kauer | 29 | La Chaux-de-Fonds |
| 2. | Branislav Vukosavljević | 26 | Grasshopper Club |
| 3. | Josef Hügi | 22 | Basel |
| 4. | Eugen Meier | 18 | Young Boys |
| 5. | Raymond Duret | 17 | Grasshopper Club |
| 6. | Arturo Capoferri | 16 | Bellinzona |
| 6. | Charles Antenen | 16 | La Chaux-de-Fonds |
| 6. | René Hamel | 16 | Young Boys |
| 6. | Robert Ballaman | 16 | Grasshopper Club |
| 10. | Raymond Morand | 14 | La Chaux-de-Fonds |

## Nationalliga B
### Teams, locations

| Team | Based in | Canton | Stadium | Capacity |
| FC Bern | Bern | Bern | Stadion Neufeld | 14,000 |
| FC Biel-Bienne | Biel/Bienne | Bern | Stadion Gurzelen | 5,500 |
| SC Brühl | St. Gallen | St. Gallen | Paul-Grüninger-Stadion | 4,200 |
| FC Cantonal Neuchâtel | Neuchâtel | Neuchâtel | Stade de la Maladière | 25,500 |
| FC Fribourg | Fribourg | Fribourg | Stade Universitaire | 9,000 |
| FC Grenchen | Grenchen | Solothurn | Stadium Brühl | 10,900 |
| FC Lengnau | Lengnau | Bern | Moos Lengnau BE | 3,900 |
| FC Luzern | Lucerne | Lucerne | Stadion Allmend | 25,000 |
| ES FC Malley | Malley | Vaud | Centre sportif de la Tuilière | 1,500 |
| FC Nordstern Basel | Basel | Basel-Stadt | Rankhof | 7,600 |
| FC Solothurn | Solothurn | Solothurn | Stadion FC Solothurn | 6,750 |
| FC St. Gallen | St. Gallen | St. Gallen | Espenmoos | 11,000 |
| FC Thun | Thun | Bern | Stadion Lachen | 10,350 |
| Yverdon-Sport FC | Yverdon-les-Bains | Vaud | Stade Municipal | 6,600 |

### Final league table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | FC Biel-Bienne | 26 | 18 | 4 | 4 | 64 | 25 | +39 | 40 | To play-off for title |
| 2 | FC Grenchen | 26 | 19 | 2 | 5 | 73 | 34 | +39 | 40 | To play-off for title |
| 3 | FC Fribourg | 26 | 10 | 11 | 5 | 47 | 27 | +20 | 31 | |
| 4 | FC Solothurn | 26 | 12 | 5 | 9 | 31 | 40 | −9 | 29 | |
| 5 | Yverdon-Sport FC | 26 | 11 | 6 | 9 | 53 | 46 | +7 | 28 | |
| 6 | FC Cantonal Neuchâtel | 26 | 10 | 7 | 9 | 41 | 46 | −5 | 27 | |
| 7 | FC Luzern | 26 | 11 | 4 | 11 | 47 | 43 | +4 | 26 | |
| 8 | ES FC Malley | 26 | 10 | 6 | 10 | 49 | 50 | −1 | 26 | |
| 9 | FC Nordstern Basel | 26 | 8 | 8 | 10 | 45 | 48 | −3 | 24 | |
| 10 | FC Thun | 26 | 9 | 4 | 13 | 45 | 48 | −3 | 22 | |
| 11 | FC Lengnau | 26 | 8 | 6 | 12 | 38 | 55 | −17 | 22 | |
| 12 | FC Bern | 26 | 6 | 7 | 13 | 29 | 33 | −4 | 19 | to play-out against relegation |
| 13 | FC St. Gallen | 26 | 5 | 9 | 12 | 27 | 43 | −16 | 19 | to play-out against relegation |
| 14 | SC Brühl | 26 | 4 | 3 | 19 | 23 | 74 | −51 | 11 | Relegated to 1957–58 1. Liga |

### Play-off for title

FC Biel-Bienne and FC Grenchen finished level on points in joint first position and had both achieved promotion to 1957–58 Nationalliga A. However, it required a play-off to decide the title as NLB champions and this took place on 23 June 1957 at the Stadion Neufeld in Bern.
| Team 1 | Score | Team 2 |
| Biel-Bienne | 3–1 | Grenchen |
Biel-Bienne won the NLB championship.

### Relegation play-out

FC Bern and FC St. Gallen finished level on points in joint twelfth position. Therefore, it required a play-out against relegation and for twelfth position. This took place on 23 June 1957 at the Hardturm in Zürich.
| Team 1 | Score | Team 2 |
| Bern | 1–1 (a.e.t.) | FC St. Gallen |
Due to the egality a replay was required and this was played on 30 June at the Stadion Allmend in Luzern.
| Team 1 | Score | Team 2 |
| Bern | 2–1 | St. Gallen |
Bern won and remained in the second-tier. St. Gallen were relegated to 1957–58 1. Liga.

## Further in Swiss football

* 1956–57 Swiss Cup
* 1956–57 Swiss 1. Liga