# 1971–72 Nationalliga A

The following is the summary of the Swiss National League in the 1971–72 football season, both Nationalliga A and Nationalliga B. This was the 75th season of top-tier and the 74th 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 season and the two newly promoted teams St. Gallen and FC Grenchen. This season's champions would qualify for the 1972–73 European Cup. The second and third placed teams were to be qualified for the 1972–73 UEFA Cup, but because second placed Zürich won the 1971–72 Swiss Cup, these UEFA rights were passed down to the third and fourth placed teams. The last two placed teams were to be relegated to the 1972–73 NLB.
The second-tier (NLB) was contested by the two teams that had been relegated from the NLA, Bellinzona and Fribourg, the teams that had been in third to twelfth position last season and the two newly promoted teams CS Chênois and AS Gambarogno. The top two teams at the end of the season would be promoted to the 1972–73 NLA and the last two teams would be relegated to the 1972–73 Swiss 1. Liga.

## Nationalliga A

The first round of the NLA was played on 14 August 1971. After playing 13 rounds, completed on 12 December, there was a winter break until the 14th round was held on 5 March 1972. The season had 26 rounds and was completed on 10 June 1972.

### Teams, locations

| Team | Based in | Canton | Stadium | Capacity |
| FC Basel | Basel | Basel-Stadt | St. Jakob Stadium | 36,800 |
| FC Biel-Bienne | Biel/Bienne | Bern | Stadion Gurzelen | 15,000 |
| 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 |
| FC Lugano | Lugano | Ticino | Cornaredo Stadium | 6,330 |
| FC Luzern | Lucerne | Lucerne | Stadion Allmend | 25,000 |
| 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 | 18 | 7 | 1 | 66 | 28 | +38 | 43 | Swiss champions, qualified for 1972–73 European Cup |
| 2 | Zürich | 26 | 17 | 5 | 4 | 55 | 28 | +27 | 39 | Swiss Cup winners, qualified for 1972–73 Cup Winners' Cup and entered 1972 Intertoto Cup |
| 3 | Grasshopper Club | 26 | 16 | 6 | 4 | 56 | 24 | +32 | 38 | Qualified for 1972–73 UEFA Cup and entered 1972 Intertoto Cup |
| 4 | Lausanne-Sport | 26 | 11 | 8 | 7 | 50 | 36 | +14 | 30 | Qualified for 1972–73 UEFA Cup |
| 5 | Young Boys | 26 | 12 | 5 | 9 | 46 | 31 | +15 | 29 | Entered 1972 Intertoto Cup |
| 6 | Winterthur | 26 | 12 | 4 | 10 | 37 | 32 | +5 | 28 | Entered 1972 Intertoto Cup |
| 7 | Sion | 26 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 37 | 36 | +1 | 26 | |
| 8 | Servette | 26 | 10 | 5 | 11 | 39 | 47 | −8 | 25 | |
| 9 | Lugano | 26 | 8 | 7 | 11 | 33 | 39 | −6 | 23 | |
| 10 | Grenchen | 26 | 6 | 11 | 9 | 27 | 40 | −13 | 23 | |
| 11 | La Chaux-de-Fonds | 26 | 7 | 7 | 12 | 25 | 45 | −20 | 21 | |
| 12 | St. Gallen | 26 | 4 | 7 | 15 | 27 | 46 | −19 | 15 | To relegation play-out |
| 13 | Luzern | 26 | 6 | 3 | 17 | 24 | 49 | −25 | 15 | To relegation play-out |
| 14 | Biel-Bienne | 26 | 2 | 5 | 19 | 26 | 67 | −41 | 9 | Relegated to 1972–73 Nationalliga B |

### Relegation play out

The decider was played on 13 June 1972 at the Hardturm in Zürich.
| Team 1 | Score | Team 2 |
| St. Gallen | 4–1 | Luzern |
St. Gallen won and remained in the top-level. Luzern were relegated to 1972–73 Nationalliga B.

### Results

| Home \ Away | BAS | BB | CDF | GCZ | GRE | LS | LUG | LUZ | SER | SIO | STG | WIN | YB | ZÜR |
| Basel | | 6–2 | 6–2 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 1–0 | 5–1 | 3–0 | 3–0 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 4–0 |
| Biel-Bienne | 1–2 | | 2–2 | 1–2 | 2–2 | 1–5 | 1–3 | 0–1 | 0–2 | 2–4 | 2–1 | 1–3 | 0–3 | 1–4 |
| La Chaux-de-Fonds | 1–3 | 1–2 | | 1–2 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 0–2 | 3–2 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 0–2 |
| Grasshopper Club | 1–2 | 1–1 | 5–0 | | 4–0 | 4–1 | 2–0 | 3–0 | 3–1 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 1–2 |
| Grenchen | 0–2 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 0–2 | | 3–2 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 2–2 | 3–3 | 1–1 |
| Lausanne-Sports | 1–1 | 4–0 | 1–1 | 3–3 | 2–1 | | 2–0 | 4–1 | 1–2 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 3–2 | 3–1 | 2–0 |
| Lugano | 0–3 | 2–2 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 3–1 | 3–1 | | 1–1 | 3–0 | 2–2 | 3–3 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 1–3 |
| Luzern | 1–2 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 0–2 | 0–1 | | 2–2 | 0–3 | 2–0 | 0–2 | 1–2 | 0–4 |
| Servette | 0–2 | 2–1 | 3–0 | 2–2 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 3–0 | | 4–0 | 3–2 | 0–3 | 2–1 | 1–2 |
| Sion | 3–3 | 4–1 | 2–2 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 3–2 | 2–2 | 1–0 | | 3–1 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 1–1 |
| St. Gallen | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 1–4 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 3–0 | 2–2 | 1–1 | | 0–1 | 2–1 | 1–4 |
| Winterthur | 2–4 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 3–0 | 0–3 | 3–1 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 3–1 | | 1–3 | 0–1 |
| Young Boys | 4–1 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 3–1 | 2–2 | 0–0 | 2–3 | 6–0 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 2–1 | | 0–2 |
| Zürich | 3–3 | 4–1 | 4–0 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 2–3 | 0–1 | 3–1 | 3–1 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 | |

## Nationalliga B
### Teams, locations

| Team | Based in | Canton | Stadium | Capacity |
| FC Aarau | Aarau | Aargau | Stadion Brügglifeld | 9,240 |
| AC Bellinzona | Bellinzona | Ticino | Stadio Comunale Bellinzona | 5,000 |
| SC Brühl | St. Gallen | St. Gallen | Paul-Grüninger-Stadion | 4,200 |
| CS Chênois | Thônex | Geneva | Stade des Trois-Chêne | 8,000 |
| FC Chiasso | Chiasso | Ticino | Stadio Comunale Riva IV | 4,000 |
| Étoile Carouge FC | Carouge | Geneva | Stade de la Fontenette | 3,690 |
| FC Fribourg | Fribourg | Fribourg | Stade Universitaire | 9,000 |
| AS Gambarogno | Gambarogno | Ticino | Centro Sportivo Regionale Magadino | 1,100 |
| FC Martigny-Sports | Martigny | Valais | Stade d'Octodure | 2,500 |
| Mendrisiostar | Mendrisio | Ticino | Centro Sportivo Comunale | 4,000 |
| FC Monthey | Monthey | Valais | Stade Philippe Pottier | 1,800 |
| Vevey-Sports | Vevey | Vaud | Stade de Copet | 4,000 |
| FC Wettingen | Wettingen | Aargau | Stadion Altenburg | 10,000 |
| FC Xamax | Neuchâtel | Neuchâtel | Stade de la Maladière | 25,500 |

### Final league table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | FC Chiasso | 26 | 17 | 3 | 6 | 45 | 25 | +20 | 37 | NLB Champions and promoted to 1972–73 Nationalliga A |
| 2 | FC Fribourg | 26 | 15 | 4 | 7 | 41 | 22 | +19 | 34 | Promoted to 1972–73 Nationalliga A |
| 3 | FC Xamax | 26 | 12 | 9 | 5 | 59 | 41 | +18 | 33 | |
| 4 | Vevey-Sports | 26 | 12 | 8 | 6 | 44 | 39 | +5 | 32 | |
| 5 | FC Martigny-Sports | 26 | 9 | 10 | 7 | 46 | 37 | +9 | 28 | |
| 6 | AC Bellinzona | 26 | 10 | 6 | 10 | 48 | 39 | +9 | 26 | |
| 7 | Mendrisiostar | 26 | 8 | 10 | 8 | 36 | 30 | +6 | 26 | |
| 8 | FC Wettingen | 26 | 9 | 7 | 10 | 34 | 42 | −8 | 25 | |
| 9 | CS Chênois | 26 | 10 | 5 | 11 | 39 | 54 | −15 | 25 | |
| 10 | FC Aarau | 26 | 8 | 7 | 11 | 32 | 31 | +1 | 23 | |
| 11 | Etoile Carouge FC | 26 | 6 | 11 | 9 | 31 | 34 | −3 | 23 | |
| 12 | SC Brühl | 26 | 7 | 8 | 11 | 35 | 49 | −14 | 22 | |
| 13 | FC Monthey | 26 | 7 | 7 | 12 | 35 | 49 | −14 | 21 | Relegated to 1972–73 1. Liga |
| 14 | AS Gambarogno | 26 | 0 | 9 | 17 | 21 | 54 | −33 | 9 | Relegated to 1972–73 1. Liga |

## Further in Swiss football

* 1971–72 Swiss Cup
* 1971–72 Swiss 1. Liga