# 1939–40 Nationalliga

The following is the summary of the Swiss National League in the 1939–40 football season. This was the 43rd season of top-tier football in Switzerland. This was played as "Championnat Suisse de Mobilisation" due to the Second World War.

## Overview
### Preamble

In Switzerland during the Second World War period, 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 and leading clubs as they had during the previous World War.
Nevertheless, the outbreak of the Second World War, triggered by the German attack on Poland on 1 September 1939, was also a shock for Switzerland, although international signs had been pointing towards a war for some time. On 30 August, the Federal Assembly elected staff officer Henri Guisan as Commander-in-Chief of the Army. On 2 September, general mobilisation for war took place. The national exhibition in Zurich, during which the Swiss national football team had also played representative matches against teams from neighbouring countries, was closed for some time. The general mobilisation brought regular championship operations to a standstill, and in its place an improvised mobilisation championship was held without automatic promotion or relegation. In some cases the games could not be played or were postponed because the clubs did not have enough players available.

### Format

At this time, the Swiss Football Association (ASF/SFV) had 12 member clubs in the top-tier and 24 clubs in the second-tier. The 12 top-tier teams played a double round-robin to decide their league table positions. Two points were awarded for a win and one point was awarded for a draw. The team in first place at the end of the season was awarded the Swiss championship title. As explained, this season there was no relegation from the Nationalliga, due to the special circumstances of the war championship. Due to the outbreak the Second World War the start of the championship was postponed. The first matchday was on 22 October 1939 and the season was concluded with the last two rounds which took place on 13 and 14 July 1940. To this date there were two unplayed postponed matches, these were rescheduled and played on 21 July. This seasons 1. Liga was postponed until December and it was completely re-organised for this season.

## Nationalliga
### Teams, locations

| Team | Based in | Canton | Stadium | Capacity |
| FC Biel-Bienne | Biel/Bienne | Bern | Stadion Gurzelen | 5,500 |
| 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 | 12,700 |
| FC Lausanne-Sport | Lausanne | Vaud | Pontaise | 30,000 |
| FC Lugano | Lugano | Ticino | Cornaredo Stadium | 6,330 |
| FC Luzern | Lucerne | Lucerne | Stadion Allmend | 25,000 |
| FC Nordstern Basel | Basel | Basel-Stadt | Rankhof | 7,600 |
| Servette FC | Geneva | Geneva | Stade des Charmilles | 27,000 |
| FC St. Gallen | St. Gallen | St. Gallen | Espenmoos | 11,000 |
| Young Boys | Bern | Bern | Wankdorf Stadium | 56,000 |
| FC Young Fellows | Zürich | Zürich | Utogrund | 2,850 |

### Final league table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Servette | 22 | 19 | 3 | 0 | 64 | 14 | +50 | 41 | Swiss champions |
| 2 | Grenchen | 22 | 11 | 6 | 5 | 45 | 24 | +21 | 28 | |
| 3 | Grasshopper Club | 22 | 10 | 6 | 6 | 45 | 30 | +15 | 26 | Swiss Cup winners |
| 4 | Lausanne-Sport | 22 | 10 | 5 | 7 | 40 | 26 | +14 | 25 | |
| 5 | Young Boys | 22 | 11 | 3 | 8 | 37 | 27 | +10 | 25 | |
| 6 | Lugano | 22 | 12 | 1 | 9 | 46 | 38 | +8 | 25 | |
| 7 | La Chaux-de-Fonds | 22 | 10 | 2 | 10 | 41 | 35 | +6 | 22 | |
| 8 | Luzern | 22 | 9 | 2 | 11 | 39 | 43 | −4 | 20 | |
| 9 | Nordstern Basel | 22 | 7 | 3 | 12 | 30 | 40 | −10 | 17 | |
| 10 | St. Gallen | 22 | 5 | 3 | 14 | 27 | 63 | −36 | 13 | |
| 11 | Young Fellows Zürich | 22 | 4 | 4 | 14 | 30 | 53 | −23 | 12 | |
| 12 | Biel-Bienne | 22 | 3 | 4 | 15 | 19 | 70 | −51 | 10 | |
This season there was no relegation.

### Results

| Home \ Away | BB | CDF | GCZ | GRE | LS | LUG | LUZ | NOR | SER | STG | YB | YFZ |
| Biel-Bienne | | 0–4 | 2–8 | 1–1 | 0–4 | 1–5 | 2–2 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 3–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 |
| La Chaux-de-Fonds | 6–0 | | 1–4 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 4–3 | 3–0 | 4–1 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 2–0 | 4–2 |
| Grasshopper Club | 2–1 | 4–1 | | 0–3 | 0–0 | 3–3 | 4–1 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 4–2 | 2–0 | 5–0 |
| Grenchen | 3–0 | 3–0 | 2–1 | | 0–0 | 4–1 | 3–4 | 2–1 | 2–3 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 6–1 |
| Lausanne-Sports | 3–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 2–2 | | 1–0 | 4–2 | 3–0 | 0–4 | 4–0 | 1–0 | 7–3 |
| Lugano | – | 4–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | | 2–1 | 0–2 | 2–3 | 3–0 | 5–1 | 4–1 |
| Luzern | 2–3 | 3–1 | 1–2 | 0–3 | 2–1 | 2–0 | | 3–2 | 1–1 | 5–2 | 3–0 | 3–0 |
| Nordstern | 4–0 | 0–0 | 2–2 | 2–1 | 1–3 | 0–2 | 2–1 | | 0–2 | 8–2 | 0–1 | 1–3 |
| Servette | 7–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 7–0 | 4–0 | 4–0 | | 2–1 | 6–3 | 3–1 |
| St. Gallen | 6–2 | 1–3 | 1–1 | 3–2 | 2–1 | 3–2 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 0–4 | | 0–2 | 1–1 |
| Young Boys | 3–0 | 3–1 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 4–1 | 3–0 | 4–0 | 1–4 | 6–0 | | 0–0 |
| Young Fellows | 4–0 | 1–3 | 0–1 | 2–2 | 1–4 | 0–2 | 2–1 | 2–3 | 1–2 | 3–0 | 1–1 | |
* ↑ By decision of the sports judge, without result but as if it had been played: 0 points for both teams.

### Topscorers

| Rank | Player | Goals | Club |
| 1. | Georges Aeby | 22 | Servette |
| 2. | Fritz Wagner | 15 | La Chaux-de-Fonds |
| 3. | Paul Aeby | 14 | Grenchen |

## Further in Swiss football

* 1939–40 Swiss Cup
* 1939–40 Swiss 1. Liga