The following is the summary of the Swiss National League in the 1941–42 football season. This was the 45th season of top-tier and the 44th season of second-tier football in Switzerland.

Overview

Preamble

In Switzerland during the

second world war World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, 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. The Swiss Football Association (ASF/SFV) took advantage of this situation and expanded. It now had 14 member clubs that played in the top-tier, which was two more than in the previous season. The second-tier now had 25 members, which was one more than last season, and these teams were divided into two regional groups, as opposed to three groups as previously. However, in 1941, the "Lex Zumbühl", named after the Football Association's president, formally banned professional football players. In addition to this, the number of foreign players allowed to play was reduced from three to one per team.

Format

The 14 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. There had been no relegation last season, therefore this season the Nationalliga was contested by all 12 teams from the 1940–41 Nationalliga and the two newly promoted

FC Zürich Fussballclub Zürich, commonly abbreviated to FC Zürich or simply FCZ, is a professional football club based in Zurich, Switzerland. The club was founded in 1896 and has won the Swiss Super League thirteen times and the Swiss Cup ten times. ...

and

Cantonal Neuchâtel The 26 cantons of Switzerland are the member states of the Swiss Confederation. The nucleus of the Swiss Confederacy in the form of the first three confederate allies used to be referred to as the . Two important periods in the development of ...

. The first placed team at the end of the season would become Swiss champions and the last placed team would be relegated to the 1942–43 1. Liga. The 14-team league, in which the Swiss champion was determined in 13 home and away rounds, was to prove to be the ideal solution, at least for the next three decades. This format was to remain the valid formula until 1976.

Nationalliga

The league season began with the first matchday on 31 August 1941 and was concluded with the last round on 28 June 1942. However, there was one outstanding match which was played on 12 July.

Teams, locations

Final league table

Results

Championship play-off

However, the first championship under the new system was not decided after the 26th matchday. Because Grasshopper Club and

Grenchen Grenchen () is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Lebern (district), Lebern in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Solothurn (canton), Solothurn in Switzerland. It is located at the foot of the Jura mountains betwee ...

ended the regular season level on points in joint first position a championship deciding match was required. The play-off took place on 19 July 1942 at the

Wankdorf Stadium Wankdorf Stadium (, ) was a football stadium in Bern, Switzerland, and the home of Swiss club BSC Young Boys. Built in 1925, it hosted the finals of the 1954 FIFA World Cup, the 1960–61 European Cup, and the 1988–89 European Cup Winners' C ...

Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...

. The game ended with a goalless draw after extra time, thus a replay became necessary. The replay was held on 26 July at the Rankhof in

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

. The championship had neither been decided after the 26th matchday nor after two extra rounds. The replay in Basel also ended in a draw after 120 minutes. Since practices such as penalty shootouts or the "golden goal" were still unknown at the time, the title was awarded to the Grasshopper Club on the basis of the better goal average in the regular season. As GC had already won the Swiss Cup two months earlier, on 25 May, the team won the domestic

Double Double, The Double or Dubble may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Multiplication by 2 * Double precision, a floating-point representation of numbers that is typically 64 bits in length * A double number of the form x+yj, where j^2=+1 * A ...

in this season. This was the clubs tenth league title and their third Double to this date.

Topscorers

1. Liga

Group West

Group East

Promotion play-off

The two group winners played a two legged tie for the title of 1. Liga champions and for promotion to the

1942–43 Nationalliga The following is the summary of the Swiss National League in the 1942–43 football season. This was the 46th season of top-tier football in Switzerland. Overview Preamble In Switzerland during the second world war, sport became an integral par ...

. The games were played 21 and 28 June 1942.

won the championship title and were promoted to the top-tier.

remained in the division for the next season.

Relegation play-out

The two second last placed teams from each group played a two legged tie to decide the third and last relegation slot. The games were played on 12 and 19 July 1942. The game Dopolavoro–Schaffhausen was nullified due to an ineligible player in the Dopolavoro team. The game was not awarded 0-3 (forfeit) but replayed on 26 July. Dopolavoro won and remained in the division for the next season.

Schaffhausen Schaffhausen (; ; ; ; ), historically known in English as Shaffhouse, is a list of towns in Switzerland, town with historic roots, a municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in northern Switzerland, and the capital of the canton of Schaffh ...

were relegated to 2. Liga.

Further in Swiss football

* 1941–42 Swiss Cup * 1941–42 Swiss 1. Liga

References

Sources

Switzerland 1941–42 at RSSSF
{{DEFAULTSORT:1941–42 Nationalliga Swiss Football League seasons

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

1941–42 in Swiss football