# 1943–44 Nationalliga

The following is the summary of the Swiss National League in the 1943–44 football season. This was the 47th season of top-tier Swiss football.

## Overview
### Preamble

In Switzerland during the second world war, 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 as they had during the previous World War.

### ASF/SFV

Therefore, it came about that the Swiss Football Association (ASF/SFV) expanded themselves. To this date, the Association had 14 members in the top-tier and 25 members in the second-tier, calles 1. Liga. The decision of the extraordinary assembly, held on 9 October 1943 in Lugano, was to double the number of top-tier members to 28 clubs for the following season. The Nationalliga would then be divided into two strength classes each with 14 teams. The Nationalliga would become the new Nationalliga A (NLA), while the Nationalliga B (NLB) would be completely newly formed. The second-tier would be contested by the one relegated team from the NLA and the 13 best teams of the 1943–44 1. Liga season. From this moment, the 1. Liga would become the third-tier of the Swiss football league system and would also be increased in size, from 25 clubs in two groups, to 30 clubs in three groups with 10 teams each.

### Format

The 14 teams, in this final Nationalliga season, 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. It was contested by the top 13 teams from the 1942–43 Nationalliga and the newly promoted, 1. Liga champion, La Chaux-de-Fonds.

## Nationalliga
### Teams, locations

| Team | Based in | Canton | Stadium | Capacity |
| FC Basel | Basel | Basel-Stadt | Landhof | 4,000 |
| FC Biel-Bienne | Biel/Bienne | Bern | Stadion Gurzelen | 5,500 |
| FC Cantonal Neuchâtel | Neuchâtel | Neuchâtel | Stade de la Maladière | 25,500 |
| 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 | 10,000 |
| FC Lausanne-Sport | Lausanne | Vaud | Pontaise | 30,000 |
| FC Lugano | Lugano | Ticino | Cornaredo Stadium | 6,330 |
| FC Luzern | Lucerne | Lucerne | Stadion Allmend | 25,000 |
| Servette FC | Geneva | Geneva | Stade des Charmilles | 27,000 |
| FC St. Gallen | St. Gallen | St. Gallen | Espenmoos | 11,000 |
| 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 | Lausanne-Sport | 26 | 17 | 4 | 5 | 48 | 25 | +23 | 38 | Swiss Champions and Swiss Cup winners |
| 2 | Servette | 26 | 12 | 8 | 6 | 39 | 25 | +14 | 32 | |
| 3 | Lugano | 26 | 12 | 6 | 8 | 47 | 32 | +15 | 30 | |
| 4 | Grasshopper Club | 26 | 13 | 3 | 10 | 54 | 32 | +22 | 29 | |
| 5 | Biel-Bienne | 26 | 12 | 5 | 9 | 42 | 30 | +12 | 29 | |
| 6 | Young Boys | 26 | 9 | 11 | 6 | 38 | 32 | +6 | 29 | |
| 7 | Cantonal Neuchâtel | 26 | 10 | 8 | 8 | 38 | 27 | +11 | 28 | |
| 8 | Grenchen | 26 | 12 | 4 | 10 | 45 | 41 | +4 | 28 | |
| 9 | Basel | 26 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 42 | 38 | +4 | 26 | |
| 10 | La Chaux-de-Fonds | 26 | 10 | 6 | 10 | 34 | 45 | −11 | 26 | |
| 11 | Young Fellows Zürich | 26 | 9 | 3 | 14 | 46 | 51 | −5 | 21 | |
| 12 | St. Gallen | 26 | 8 | 3 | 15 | 26 | 60 | −34 | 19 | |
| 13 | Zürich | 26 | 6 | 5 | 15 | 37 | 54 | −17 | 17 | |
| 14 | Luzern | 26 | 4 | 4 | 18 | 19 | 63 | −44 | 12 | Relegated to 1944–45 Nationalliga B |

### Results

| Home \ Away | BAS | BB | CAN | CDF | GCZ | GRE | LS | LUG | LUZ | SER | STG | YB | YFZ | ZÜR |
| Basel | | 2–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 2–3 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 6–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 3–0 |
| Biel-Bienne | 2–0 | | 0–1 | 3–0 | 0–2 | 2–0 | 5–1 | 1–1 | 4–1 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 |
| Cantonal Neuchâtel | 2–0 | 1–1 | | 0–0 | 0–2 | 4–1 | 2–0 | 5–0 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 1–1 |
| La Chaux-de-Fonds | 3–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | | 1–0 | 2–0 | 2–3 | 0–5 | 3–0 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 3–2 |
| Grasshopper Club | 1–2 | 5–1 | 2–1 | 1–3 | | 0–2 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 5–2 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 3–2 | 1–0 | 4–1 |
| Grenchen | 4–1 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 1–4 | | 1–1 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 7–1 | 0–0 | 4–1 | 2–1 |
| Lausanne-Sports | 4–1 | 2–1 | 4–1 | 2–1 | 3–2 | 3–1 | | 2–0 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 7–0 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 |
| Lugano | 2–1 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 1–3 | 1–2 | 3–1 | 0–1 | | 6–0 | 0–1 | 3–1 | 1–2 | 3–2 | 5–1 |
| Luzern | 1–1 | 3–0 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 0–8 | 1–2 | 1–2 | 0–1 | | 2–1 | 1–3 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 1–4 |
| Servette | 1–1 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 1–3 | 4–1 | 2–1 | 2–2 | 2–1 | | 0–1 | 0–0 | 4–1 | 1–0 |
| St. Gallen | 2–1 | 0–5 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 2–5 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 2–4 | 2–0 | 1–4 | | 0–2 | 2–0 | 0–3 |
| Young Boys | 0–3 | 2–1 | 0–5 | 11–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 2–2 | 0–0 | | 1–7 | 1–1 |
| Young Fellows | 1–3 | 4–2 | 3–1 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 1–3 | 5–1 | 0–3 | 2–0 | 0–4 | | 5–2 |
| Zürich | 4–3 | 0–1 | 1–3 | 2–1 | 0–2 | 4–2 | 0–2 | 1–3 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 2–3 | 3–3 | |

### Topscorers

| Rank | Player | Goals | Club |
| 1. | Erich Andres | 23 | Young Fellows Zürich |
| 2. | Alfred Bickel | 15 | Grasshopper Club |
| 2. | Alfred Weisshaar | 15 | Basel |
| 4. | Numa Monnard | 14 | Lausanne-Sport |
| 5. | André Facchinetti | 13 | Cantonal Neuchâtel |
| 5. | Marc Perroud | 13 | La Chaux-de-Fonds |
| 5. | Josef Righetti | 13 | Grenchen |
| 8. | Domenico Gallo | 12 | Lugano |
| 9. | Hans-Peter Friedländer | 11 | Grasshopper Club |
| 10. | Walter Bosshard | 10 | Zürich |
| 10. | Robert Hasler | 10 | Biel-Bienne |

## Further in Swiss football

* 1943–44 Swiss Cup
* 1943–44 Swiss 1. Liga