[[Max Galler]]"},"stdtitle":{"wt":"Ground"},"stadium":{"wt":"[[Landhof]], [[Basel]]"},"league":{"wt":"1. Liga Group 3"},"league result":{"wt":"Winners"},"league2":{"wt":"1. Liga play-off"},"league2 result":{"wt":"Winners"},"cup1":{"wt":"[[Swiss Cup]]"},"cup1 result":{"wt":"Round 4"},"league topscorer":{"wt":"[[August Ibach]] (19)"},"season topscorer":{"wt":"[[August Ibach]] (20)"},"highest attendance":{"wt":"2,000 on 31 March 1940
vs [[FC Aarau|Aarau]]"},"lowest attendance":{"wt":"500 on 18 February 1940
vs [[FC Concordia Basel|Concordia Basel]]
and on 23 June 1940
vs [[FC Solothurn|Solothurn]]"},"average attendance":{"wt":"1,266"},"prevseason":{"wt":"[[1938–39 FC Basel season|1938–39]]"},"nextseason":{"wt":"[[1940–41 FC Basel season|1940–41]]"}},"i":0}}]}" id="mwAg">FC Basel 1939–40 football season
1939–40 season | |
---|---|
Chairman | ![]() |
First team coach | ![]() Max Galler |
Ground | Landhof, Basel |
1. Liga Group 3 | Winners |
1. Liga play-off | Winners |
Swiss Cup | Round 4 |
Top goalscorer | League: August Ibach (19) All: August Ibach (20) |
Highest home attendance | 2,000 on 31 March 1940 vs Aarau |
Lowest home attendance | 500 on 18 February 1940 vs Concordia Basel and on 23 June 1940 vs Solothurn |
Average home league attendance | 1,266 |
The FC Basel 1939–40 season was the forty-seventh season since the club's foundation on 15 November 1893. FC Basel played their home games in the Landhof in the district Wettstein in Kleinbasel. Albert Besse was the club's new chairman. He took over from Emil Junker at the AGM on 15 July 1939. Due to the outbreak the Second World War on 1 September 1939 the start of the Swiss football championship was postponed until 22 October. The 1. Liga was postponed until December and it was completely reorganised for this season.
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 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.
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. [1]
Due to the outbreak of World War II on 1 September 1939 the start of the Swiss football championship was postponed until 22 October and the 1. Liga postponed until December. The 1939–40 Nationalliga was played as "Championnat Suisse de Mobilisation". The 12 teams of the top-tier competed the improvised championship as in the years before. However, the 24 clubs that competed in the 1. Liga were re-organised. This season they were divided into five regional groups (as opposed to two in previous years), this was done to reduce travelling times. There were six teams in group 1 (West), five teams in group 2 (North-West), group 3 (Central) and group 4 (North-East), but only three in group 5 (South). The teams in group 1 played a double round-robin to decide their league position. The teams in the groups 2, 3 and 4 played three round-robins and the teams in group 5 played four round-robins. Two points were awarded for a win and one point was awarded for a draw. The five group winners then contested a play-off round to decide the championship. This consisted of: a two legged semi-final for the two west group winners, a three team round-robin semi-final for the other groups and then there was to be a two legged-final for the title of 1. Liga champions. There was to be no promotion and no relegation. [2]
After being relegated last season for the first time in the club's history, Basel played this season in the newly reorganized 1.Liga. They were allocated to group 3 (Central) together with Solothurn, Aarau and the two local clubs Concordia Basel and FC Birsfelden.
Player-manager Fernand Jaccard had left the club after the relegation season to join FC Locarno. The former players Walter Dietrich and Max Galler took over as team co-managers. Basel played a good season, in total including test matches they played 29 games, winning 22, drawing three and suffering four defeats. In total they scored 98 goals conceding 50. [3]
After winning their four test games in October and their first Swiss Cup in November , Basel started the season well in December winning the first seven matches straight-off before suffering their first defeat at the beginning of April. At the end of the group stage Basel had won nine games drawn two and were defeated just once and with 20 points were five points above second placed Aarau. Basel advanced to the play-off stage. In the semi-final they won the round-robin against group four winners SC Brühl St. Gallen and group five winners AC Bellinzona. Basel became 1. Liga champions winning the best of three final against Fribourg. [4] August Ibach was team top league goal scorer with 19 goals, Fritz Schmidlin, Hermann Suter and Werner Wenk each scored five times.
In the Swiss Cup Basel started with a victory in the 2nd principal round away against lower tier SC Zofingen. In the next round they were again drawn away from home against lower tier SC Schöftland. This was won 4–1. In the next round Basel played in the Landhof against Aarau but were defeated and knocked out of the competition. [5]
The following is the list of the Basel first team squad during the season 1939–40. The list includes players that were in the squad the day the season started on 1 October 1939 but subsequently left the club after that date.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Win Draw Loss Postponed
8 October 1939Pre-season | Basel ![]() | 4–1 | ![]() | Landhof, Basel |
15:00 | Ibach ![]() ![]() Grauer ![]() Ibach ![]() | Summary | ![]() | Attendance: 1,200 Referee: ![]() |
28 January 1940Winter break | Basel ![]() | 4–6 | ![]() | Landhof, Basel |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() | Summary | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() | Attendance: 400 Referee: ![]() |
23 March 1940Mid-season | Basel ![]() | 5–2 | ![]() | Landhof, Basel |
Ibach ![]() Mathys ![]() Schmidlin (I) ![]() | Summary | ![]() | Attendance: 500 Referee: ![]() ![]() |
3 December 1939Round 1 | Basel | 5–0 | Solothurn | Landhof, Basel |
14:30 | Ibach ![]() Suter ![]() Brinks ![]() Hufschmid ![]() | Summary | Attendance: 1,800 Referee: ![]() |
10 December 1939Round 2 | Aarau | 2–4 | Basel | Stadion Brügglifeld, Aarau |
Eichenberger ![]() Wüest ![]() | Summary | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() | Attendance: 500 Referee: ![]() |
17 December 1939Round 3 | Concordia Basel | 1–6 | Basel | Landhof, Basel |
![]() | Summary | ![]() ![]() ![]() | Attendance: 2,000 Referee: ![]() |
2 February 1940Round 4 | FC Birsfelden | 0–1 | Basel | Sportplatz, Birsfelden |
14:30 | Summary | ![]() | Attendance: 600 Referee: ![]() |
8 February 1940Round 5 | Basel | 3–2 | Concordia Basel | Landhof, Basel |
10:15 | Ibach ![]() ![]() ![]() | Summary | ![]() ![]() | Attendance: 500 Referee: ![]() |
10 March 1940Round 6 | Basel | 4–1 | FC Birsfelden | Landhof, Basel |
13:40 | Ibach ![]() Mathys ![]() Wenk ![]() | Summary | ![]() | Attendance: 1,000 Referee: ![]() |
31 March 1940Round 7 | Basel | 1–0 | Aarau | Landhof, Basel |
15:00 | Ibach ![]() | Summary | Attendance: 2,000 Referee: ![]() |
3 April 1940Round 8 | Solothurn | 5–2 | Basel | Stadion FC Solothurn, Solothurn |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() | Summary | ![]() ![]() | Attendance: 400 Referee: ![]() |
14 April 1940Round 9 | Aarau | 3–3 | Basel | Stadion Brügglifeld, Aarau |
![]() Stirnemann ![]() Eichenberger ![]() | Summary | ![]() ![]() ![]() | Attendance: 1,500 Referee: ![]() |
28 April 1940Round 10 | Basel | 2–0 | FC Birsfelden | Landhof, Basel |
14:00 | Schmidlin (I) ![]() Ibach ![]() | Summary | Attendance: 1,800 Referee: ![]() |
16 June 1940Round 11 | Concordia Basel | 1–1 | Basel | Landhof, Basel |
17:00 | Leutwyler ![]() | Summary | ![]() | Attendance: 300 Referee: ![]() |
Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Basel | 12 | 9 | 2 | 1 | 38 | 16 | +22 | 20 | Advance to play-off |
2 | Aarau [6] | 12 | 7 | 1 | 4 | 37 | 26 | +11 | 15 | |
3 | Concordia Basel | 12 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 26 | 32 | −6 | 9 | |
4 | Solothurn | 12 | 4 | 0 | 8 | 25 | 35 | −10 | 8 | |
5 | FC Birsfelden | 12 | 4 | 0 | 8 | 14 | 31 | −17 | 8 |
The winners of the groups 1 and 2 played the first semi-final in a two-legged tie. Fribourg won and advanced to the final. The three other group winners played a three team round-robin for the second finalist.
Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | BRÜ | BAS | BEL | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Brühl | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 3 | +2 | 3 | — | 2–2 | — | |
2 | Basel | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 3 | +3 | 3 | — | — | 4–1 | |
3 | Bellinzona | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 7 | −5 | 0 | 1–3 | — | — |
7 July 1940Semi-final | Brühl | 2–2 | Basel | Krontal, St. Gallen |
Dübendorfer ![]() Spengler ![]() | Summary | ![]() ![]() | Attendance: 1,500 Referee: ![]() |
21 July 1940Semi-final | Basel | 4–1 | Bellinzona | Landhof, Basel |
15:00 | Ibach ![]() Jaeck ![]() | Summary | ![]() | Attendance: 1,500 Referee: ![]() |
Due to the equality between the two top placed teams a play-off decider was required.
4 August 19401st Leg | Fribourg | 4–0 | Basel | Stade Universitaire, Freiburg |
Dietrich ![]() Dietrich ![]() Thomet ![]() Cotting ![]() | Summary | Attendance: 700 Referee: ![]() |
11 August 19402nd leg | Basel | 4–2 | Fribourg | Landhof, Basel |
16:00 | Ibach ![]() Schmidlin (I) ![]() Wenk ![]() Ibach ![]() | Summary | ![]() ![]() | Attendance: 2,500 Referee: ![]() |
Due to the egality (one win each) a play-off decider was required.
18 August 1940Replay | Fribourg | 1–2 | Basel | Neufeld, Bern |
Mauroux ![]() | Summary | ![]() ![]() | Attendance: 1,000 Referee: ![]() |
Basel won the 1. Liga championship title, but as explained there was no promotion. [2]
26 November 1939Round 2 | SC Zofingen | 1–6 | Basel | Zofingen |
![]() | Summary | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() | Attendance: 650 |
24 December 1939Round 3 | SC Schöftland | 1–4 | Basel | Schöftland |
![]() | Summary | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() | Attendance: 600 Referee: ![]() |