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.

FC Basel
1939–40 season
ChairmanSwitzerland Albert Besse
First team coachSwitzerland Walter Dietrich
Max Galler
GroundLandhof, Basel
1. Liga Group 3Winners
1. Liga play-offWinners
Swiss CupRound 4
Top goalscorerLeague: August Ibach (19)
All: August Ibach (20)
Highest home attendance2,000 on 31 March 1940
vs Aarau
Lowest home attendance500 on 18 February 1940
vs Concordia Basel
and on 23 June 1940
vs Solothurn
Average home league attendance1,266

Overview

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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

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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.

No. Pos. Nation Player
GK   SUI Kurt Imhof
GK   SUI Paul Wechlin
DF   SUI Henri Bernard
DF   SUI Louis Favre
DF   SUI Ernst Grauer
MF   SUI Ernst Hufschmid
DF   SUI René Champod
DF   SUI Alexander Ebner
DF   SUI Heinz Elsässer
DF   SUI Hauenstein
DF   SUI Fritz Huggenberger
MF   SUI August Ibach
MF   FRG Andreas Kränzlin
MF   SUI Albert Mohler
No. Pos. Nation Player
MF   SUI Fritz Schmidlin (I)
MF   SUI Walter Schmidlin (II)
MF   SUI Guglielmo Spadini
MF   SUI Hans Studer
MF   SUI Werner Wenk
FW   SUI Max Bosshard
FW    Henri Brinks
FW    Karl Doppler
FW   SUI Alfred Jaeck
FW   SUI Kurrus
FW   SUI Fritz Lanz
FW   SUI Alex Mathys
FW   SUI Hermann Suter
FW   SUI Walter Zürrer
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.

No. Pos. Nation Player
GK   SUI Eugène de Kalbermatten
GK   SUI Fritz Glaser
DF   SUI Robert Büchi
DF   SUI Heinrich Diethelm
MF   SUI Fernand Jaccard
MF   FRG Franz Sattler
No. Pos. Nation Player
MF   SUI Eduard Zuber
FW   SUI Eduard Buser
FW   SUI Maurice Dubosson
FW   SUI Eduard Irniger
FW   SUI Othmar Saner
FW   SUI René Schaller

Results

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Legend

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  Win   Draw   Loss   Postponed

Friendly matches

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Pre-season

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1 October 1939 Pre-season Basel   3–2   FC Polizei Basel Landhof, Basel
Ibach   (1:0)
 
 
Summary   (1:1) Dill
 
8 October 1939 Pre-season Basel   4–1   Nordstern Basel Landhof, Basel
15:00 Ibach   20' (1:1)
  (2:1)
Grauer   77' (3:1)
Ibach   (pen. 4:1)
Summary   5' (0:1) Giger Attendance: 1,200
Referee:   H. Neumann Basel
15 October 1939 Pre-season FC Olten   2–3   Basel Kleinholz, Olten
Kiefer   45' (1:3)
Vogel   86' (pen. 2:3)
Summary   26' (0:1) Ibach
  35' (0:2) Ibach
  (0:3) Ibach
Attendance: 700
Referee:   Grütter Olten
22 October 1939 Pre-season Aarau   2–3   Basel Stadion Brügglifeld, Aarau
Berner   (1:2)
Wüest   (2:3)
Summary   26' (0:1) Ibach
  36' (0:2) Bosshard
  (1:3) Brinks
Referee:   Siegrist Olten

Winter break and mid-season

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28 January 1940 Winter break Basel   4–6   Military Rifle Corps. Landhof, Basel
        Summary             Attendance: 400
Referee:   Kettler Basel
23 March 1940 Mid-season Basel   5–2   Basel Military Team Landhof, Basel
Ibach   (3x)
Mathys   (1x)
Schmidlin (I)   (1x)
Summary   (2x) Hellstern Attendance: 500
Referee:     Häring Basel
24 March 1940 Mid-season Blue Stars Zürich   2–5   Basel Letzigrund, Zürich
15:00 Kuster   15' (1:0)
Meister   (2:0)
Summary   (1:1) Mathys
  (2:2) Mathys
  (2:3) Ibach
  (2:4) Ibach
  (2:5) Wenk
Attendance: 400
Referee:   Huber Zürich
6 April 1940 Mid-season Basel   7–1   Fighter Pilot Corps. Landhof, Basel
16:00               Summary   Attendance: 200
Referee:  

1. Liga Group 3

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League matches

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3 December 1939 Round 1 Basel 5–0 Solothurn Landhof, Basel
14:30 Ibach   (1:0)
Suter   (2:0)
Brinks   (2x)
Hufschmid   (pen. 1x)
Summary Attendance: 1,800
Referee:   Raimondi Bern
10 December 1939 Round 2 Aarau 2–4 Basel Stadion Brügglifeld, Aarau
Eichenberger   (1:2)
Wüest  
Summary   10' (pen. 0:1) Ibach
  (0:2) Suter
  (1:3) Ibach
  (1:4) Bosshard
  65' Ibach
Attendance: 500
Referee:   Iseli Biel/Bienne
17 December 1939 Round 3 Concordia Basel 1–6 Basel Landhof, Basel
  (o.g.) Summary   (3x) Ibach
  (2x) Brinks
  (o.g.)
Attendance: 2,000
Referee:   Gerber Bern
2 February 1940 Round 4 FC Birsfelden 0–1 Basel Sportplatz, Birsfelden
14:30 Summary   35' (0:1) Mathys Attendance: 600
Referee:   Müry Basel
8 February 1940 Round 5 Basel 3–2 Concordia Basel Landhof, Basel
10:15 Ibach   (1:0)
  (2:0)
  (3:0)
Summary   (3:1) Otter
  (3:2) Imhof
Attendance: 500
Referee:   Hans Vogt Schweizerhalle
10 March 1940 Round 6 Basel 4–1 FC Birsfelden Landhof, Basel
13:40 Ibach   (2x)
Mathys   (1x)
Wenk   (1x)
Summary   (1x) Dussy Attendance: 1,000
Referee:   Marti Bern
31 March 1940 Round 7 Basel 1–0 Aarau Landhof, Basel
15:00 Ibach   (1:0) Summary Attendance: 2,000
Referee:   Pusterla (Oerlikon)
3 April 1940 Round 8 Solothurn 5–2 Basel Stadion FC Solothurn, Solothurn
 
 
 
 
 
Summary   (1x) Ibach
  (1x) Mathys
Attendance: 400
Referee:  
14 April 1940 Round 9 Aarau 3–3 Basel Stadion Brügglifeld, Aarau
  (o.g. 1:0)
Stirnemann   (2:2)
Eichenberger   (3:3)
Summary   (1:1) Schmidlin (I)
  (1:2) Karl Doppler
  (2:3) Hermann Suter
Attendance: 1,500
Referee:   Huber Zürich
28 April 1940 Round 10 Basel 2–0 FC Birsfelden Landhof, Basel
14:00 Schmidlin (I)   (1:0)
Ibach   (2:0)
Summary Attendance: 1,800
Referee:   Hans Vogt Schweizerhalle
16 June 1940 Round 11 Concordia Basel 1–1 Basel Landhof, Basel
17:00 Leutwyler   60' (1:0) Summary   75' (1:1) Karl Doppler Attendance: 300
Referee:   Raimondi Bern
23 June 1940 Round 12 Basel 6–1 Solothurn Landhof, Basel
15:00 Wenk   (3x)
Jaeck   (1x)
Schmidlin (I)   (1x)
Mathys   (1x)
Summary   (1x) Steiner Attendance: 500
Referee:   Müry Basel

League table

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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
Source: rsssf.com

Play-offs

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Semi-final (as group, three teams)

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7 July 1940 Semi-final Brühl St. Gallen 2–2 Basel Krontal, St. Gallen
Dübendorfer   (1:1)
Spengler   73' (2:2)
Summary   (0:1) Ibach
  40' (1:2) Lanz
Attendance: 1,500
Referee:   Pusterla (Oerlikon)
21 July 1940 Semi-final Basel 4–1 Bellinzona Landhof, Basel
15:00 Ibach   (3x)
Jaeck   (1x)
Summary   (1x) Chiesi Attendance: 1,500
Referee:   Studer Bern
28 July 1940 Replay Basel 2–0 Brühl St. Gallen Landhof, Basel
16:00 Suter   (1:0)
Schmidlin (I)   (2:0)
Summary Attendance: 2,500
Referee:   A. Sandoz Lausanne

Final (best of three)

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4 August 1940 1st Leg Fribourg 4–0 Basel Stade Universitaire, Freiburg
Dietrich   50' (1:0)
Dietrich   (2:0)
Thomet   (3:0)
Cotting   (4:0)
Summary Attendance: 700
Referee:   Meyer Lausanne
11 August 1940 2nd leg Basel 4–2 Fribourg Landhof, Basel
16:00 Ibach   6' (1:0)
Schmidlin (I)   (2:0)
Wenk   (3:0)
Ibach   (4:0)
Summary   (4:1) Dietrich
  (4:2) Paroz
Attendance: 2,500
Referee:   Jaggi Bern
18 August 1940 3rd Leg Fribourg 1–2 Basel Neufeld, Bern
Mauroux   13' (1:0) Summary   (1:1) Suter
  (1:2) Ibach
Attendance: 1,000
Referee:   Gerber Bern

Swiss Cup

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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
  (pen. 1:3) Summary   (0:1)
  (0:2)
  (0:3)
  (1:4)
Attendance: 600
Referee:   E. Heiniger Bern
7 January 1940 Round 4 Basel 2–4 Aarau Landhof, Basel
14:30 Ibach   (pen.)
  (o.g.)
Summary   (1x) Wüest
  (1x) Fischer
  (2x) Beiner
Attendance: 1,000
Referee:   Hofer Moutier


See also

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References

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  1. ^ Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv”. "Bilanz Saison 1939/40". Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv”. Retrieved 2019-11-16.
  2. ^ Erik Garin. "Switzerland league tables 1939/40". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 2019-11-16.
  3. ^ Erik Garin. "Switzerland 1939/40". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 2019-11-16.

Sources

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