1939–40 FC Basel season
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.
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 |
Overview
After being relegated last season for the first time in the club's history, Basel played this season in the newly reorganized 1.Liga. 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" due to the war and the 1. Liga divided into five regional zones. There was to be no promotion and no relegation. Basel were allocated to . Liga group 3 (North-West Switzerland) together with Solothurn, Aarau, Concordia Basel and FC Birsfelden. The group was played in three round-robins.
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.[1]
After winning their four test games in October, 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.[2] 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.[3]
Players
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. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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- Players who left the squad
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Results
Legend
Win Draw Loss Postponed
Friendly matches
Pre-season
8 October 1939 Pre-season | Basel | 4 – 1 | Landhof, Basel | |
15:00 | Ibach Grauer Ibach |
Summary | Attendance: 1,200 Referee: |
Winter break and mid-season
28 January 1940 Winter break | Basel | 4 – 6 | Landhof, Basel | |
Summary | Attendance: 400 Referee: |
23 March 1940 Mid-season | Basel | 5 – 2 | Landhof, Basel | |
Ibach Mathys Schmidlin (I) |
Summary | Attendance: 500 Referee: |
1. Liga Group 3
League matches
3 December 1939 Round 1 | Basel | 5 – 0 | Solothurn | Landhof, Basel |
14:30 | Ibach Suter Brinks Hufschmid |
Summary | Attendance: 1,800 Referee: |
10 December 1939 Round 2 | Aarau | 2 – 4 | Basel | Stadion Brügglifeld, Aarau |
Eichenberger Wüest |
Summary | Attendance: 500 Referee: |
17 December 1939 Round 3 | Concordia Basel | 1 – 6 | Basel | Landhof, Basel |
Summary | Attendance: 2,000 Referee: |
2 February 1940 Round 4 | FC Birsfelden | 0 – 1 | Basel | Sportplatz, Birsfelden |
14:30 | Summary | Attendance: 600 Referee: |
8 February 1940 Round 5 | Basel | 3 – 2 | Concordia Basel | Landhof, Basel |
10:15 | Ibach |
Summary | Attendance: 500 Referee: |
10 March 1940 Round 6 | Basel | 4 – 1 | FC Birsfelden | Landhof, Basel |
13:40 | Ibach Mathys Wenk |
Summary | Attendance: 1,000 Referee: |
31 March 1940 Round 7 | Basel | 1 – 0 | Aarau | Landhof, Basel |
15:00 | Ibach |
Summary | Attendance: 2,000 Referee: |
3 April 1940 Round 8 | Solothurn | 5 – 2 | Basel | Stadion FC Solothurn, Solothurn |
Summary | Attendance: 400 Referee: |
14 April 1940 Round 9 | Aarau | 3 – 3 | Basel | Stadion Brügglifeld, Aarau |
Stirnemann Eichenberger |
Summary | Attendance: 1,500 Referee: |
28 April 1940 Round 10 | Basel | 2 – 0 | FC Birsfelden | Landhof, Basel |
14:00 | Schmidlin (I) Ibach |
Summary | Attendance: 1,800 Referee: |
League table
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 | 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 |
Play-offs
Semi-final (as group, three teams)
7 July 1940 Semi-final | Brühl St. Gallen | 2 – 2 | Basel | Krontal, St. Gallen |
Dübendorfer Spengler |
Summary | Attendance: 1,500 Referee: |
21 July 1940 Semi-final | Basel | 4 – 1 | Bellinzona | Landhof, Basel |
15:00 | Ibach Jaeck |
Summary | Attendance: 1,500 Referee: |
28 July 1940 Replay | Basel | 2 – 0 | Brühl St. Gallen | Landhof, Basel |
16:00 | Suter Schmidlin (I) |
Summary | Attendance: 2,500 Referee: |
Final (best of three)
4 August 1940 1st Leg | Fribourg | 4 – 0 | Basel | Stade Universitaire, Freiburg |
Dietrich Dietrich Thomet Cotting |
Summary | Attendance: 700 Referee: |
Swiss Cup
26 November 1939 Round 2 | SC Zofingen | 1 – 6 | Basel | Zofingen |
Summary | Attendance: 650 |
24 December 1939 Round 3 | SC Schöftland | 1 – 4 | Basel | Schöftland |
Summary | Attendance: 600 Referee: |
7 January 1940 Round 4 | Basel | 2 – 4 | Aarau | Landhof, Basel |
14:30 | Ibach |
Summary | Attendance: 1,000 Referee: |
References
- Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv”. "Bilanz Saison 1939/40". Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv”. Retrieved 2019-11-16.
- Erik Garin. "Switzerland league tables 1939/40". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 2019-11-16.
- Erik Garin. "Switzerland 1939/40". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 2019-11-16.
Sources
- Rotblau: Jahrbuch Saison 2014/2015. Publisher: FC Basel Marketing AG. ISBN 978-3-7245-2027-6
- Die ersten 125 Jahre. Publisher: Josef Zindel im Friedrich Reinhardt Verlag, Basel. ISBN 978-3-7245-2305-5
- FCB team 1939–40 at fcb-archiv.ch
- Switzerland 1939–40 by Erik Garin at Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation