1939–40 Nationalliga

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

Final league table

This season there was no relegation.

Results

Topscorers

Further in Swiss football

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

References

Sources

• Switzerland 1939–40 at RSSSF

seasons in Switzerland

References

1. Koller, Christian. (2009). "Vierzigerjahre (1940 bis 1949): Die Kriegsmeisterschaften". Zurich Open Repository and Archive.
2. Erste Liga (SFV). (2022). "Statistik der Ersten Liga über Aufstieg und Abstieg ab Saison 1931/32 bis 2022". Erste Liga, Abteilung des SFV.
3. Reichmuth, Daniel. (2024). "Servette Rangliste 1939/40". super-servette-ch.
4. (red) BSC Young Boys AG. (2024). "YB Saison 1939/40". BSC Young Boys AG.