2002–03 Nationalliga A

Nationalliga A

Season	2002–03
Champions	Grasshopper Club 27th title
Relegated	Luzern Delémont
Champions League	Grasshopper Club
UEFA Cup	Basel Neuchâtel Xamax Young Boys
Top goalscorer	Richard Núñez (27 goals)
← 2001–02 2003–04 →

The 2002–03 season of the Swiss Nationalliga contained two divisions, each with twelve clubs. The top tier was called Nationalliga A (NLA) (French: Ligue Nationale A, Italian: Lega Nazionale A) and the second tier was named Nationalliga B (NLB).

Overview

The season was divided into two phases. The first of which was the qualification phase, and within the divisions the teams played a double round-robin, one at home and the other away. The divisions were then split. The first eight teams of the NLA then competed in the championship group and played a further double round-robin. The teams in ninth to twelfth position competed with the top four teams of the NLB in a promotion/relegation group to decide which two teams would play top tier next season. The top tier was to be reduced from twelve to ten clubs, the second tier was to increased to 16 teams. The other eight teams of the second tier competed in a play-out against relegation to the 1. Liga. Originally two teams were to be relegated.

This was to be the last season that the Swiss championship would be competed in this format. For the next season the Nationalliga would be renamed to Swiss Football League and the championships were subsequently renamed as Super League and Challenge League.

Nationalliga A

Qualification phase

Table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	BP	Pts	Qualification
1	Grasshopper Club	22	15	4	3	58	26	+32	0	49	Advance to championship round halved points (rounded up) as bonus
2	Basel	22	14	5	3	57	25	+32	0	47
3	Thun	22	9	4	9	33	33	0	0	31
4	Wil	22	8	7	7	43	45	−2	0	31
5	Zürich	22	9	4	9	35	37	−2	0	31
6	Xamax	22	8	7	7	30	33	−3	0	31
7	Young Boys	22	8	6	8	41	41	0	0	30
8	Servette	22	8	5	9	45	37	+8	0	29
9	Luzern	22	7	5	10	31	38	−7	−2	24	Continue to promotion/relegation round
10	St. Gallen	22	6	6	10	31	48	−17	0	24
11	SR Delémont	22	6	2	14	24	44	−20	0	20
12	Aarau	22	5	3	14	19	40	−21	0	18

Source: RSSSF
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
FC Luzern 2 points deducted for irregularities in license application, therefore total points: 24

Results

Home \ Away	AAR	BAS	DEL	GCZ	LUZ	NX	SER	STG	THU	WIL	YB	ZÜR
Aarau		0–1	3–0	2–3	1–2	2–0	0–3	1–1	2–0	0–0	1–1	3–1
Basel	4–0		1–0	1–2	2–3	1–1	4–2	6–0	3–0	7–1	2–1	5–3
Delémont	2–1	1–2		2–4	2–2	2–1	2–0	6–2	0–1	1–2	2–4	2–2
Grasshoppers	3–0	2–3	3–0		3–2	4–0	2–0	1–1	4–1	4–1	4–0	1–1
Luzern	2–0	1–1	3–0	1–0		0–1	4–3	1–0	1–2	1–1	0–0	1–3
Neuchâtel Xamax	3–1	1–1	0–1	1–5	3–2		2–1	1–0	2–1	1–1	3–1	2–2
Servette	5–0	0–1	5–0	4–3	2–0	1–1		2–0	3–1	1–1	4–4	2–0
St. Gallen	1–0	1–1	3–0	2–3	5–0	0–2	2–2		2–2	2–2	2–1	0–3
Thun	2–0	4–2	0–1	2–2	3–1	1–1	1–0	0–1		3–0	3–4	0–0
Wil	4–0	1–4	2–0	1–1	2–1	2–1	2–2	11–3	1–5		3–2	0–1
Young Boys	1–0	1–1	2–0	0–2	2–2	1–1	4–2	1–2	3–0	4–2		2–1
Zürich	1–2	0–4	1–0	1–2	2–1	3–2	3–1	2–1	0–1	1–3	4–2

Source:
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Championship round

The first eight teams of the qualification then competed in the Championship Round. They took half of the points (rounded up to complete units) gained in the Qualification as bonus with them.

Table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	BP	Pts	Qualification
1	Grasshopper Club	14	9	5	0	37	15	+22	25	57	Champions Qualification to Champions League third qualifying round
2	Basel	14	10	2	2	38	17	+21	24	56	Swiss Cup winners Qualification to UEFA Cup first round
3	Neuchâtel Xamax	14	5	4	5	18	17	+1	16	35	Qualification to UEFA Cup qualifying round
4	Young Boys	14	6	1	7	21	29	−8	15	34	Qualification to UEFA Cup qualifying round
5	Zürich	14	4	3	7	20	23	−3	16	31
6	Servette	14	4	4	6	16	26	−10	15	31
7	Thun	14	3	3	8	18	30	−12	16	28	Qualification to Intertoto Cup second round
8	Wil	14	2	4	8	19	30	−11	16	26	Qualification to Intertoto Cup first round

Source: RSSSF
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) Position in the qualification

Results

Home \ Away	BAS	GCZ	NX	SER	THU	WIL	YB	ZÜR
Basel		2–2	3–0	2–0	4–0	3–1	3–0	3–1
Grasshoppers	2–2		2–2	1–1	5–1	4–2	4–0	2–0
Neuchâtel Xamax	3–1	0–1		1–3	1–0	3–0	2–0	2–0
Servette	0–4	0–4	0–0		3–1	1–0	1–1	2–1
Thun	1–4	1–2	2–1	3–1		1–1	4–2	1–2
Wil	4–5	1–3	1–1	1–1	2–2		0–1	1–0
Young Boys	2–0	2–4	3–1	2–1	1–0	3–4		2–1
Zürich	1–2	1–1	1–1	5–2	1–1	2–1	4–2

Source:
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Nationalliga B

Qualification phase

Table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	BP	Pts	Qualification
1	FC Vaduz	22	12	5	5	47	32	+15	0	41	Advance to promotion/relegation group NLA/NLB
2	FC Sion	22	12	3	7	35	27	+8	0	39
3	SC Kriens	22	11	5	6	48	36	+12	0	38
4	FC Lugano	22	12	6	4	36	17	+19	−5	37
5	Yverdon-Sport FC	22	10	6	6	36	21	+15	0	36	Continue to relegation round NLB/1. Liga halved points (rounded up) as bonus
6	FC Schaffhausen	22	8	8	6	30	35	−5	0	32
7	Lausanne-Sport	22	9	3	10	27	32	−5	0	30
8	FC Concordia Basel	22	7	6	9	29	43	−14	0	27
9	AC Bellinzona	22	7	4	11	32	34	−2	0	25
10	FC Baden	22	4	6	12	26	38	−12	0	18
11	FC Wohlen	22	4	4	14	23	42	−19	0	16
12	FC Winterthur	22	4	8	10	24	36	−12	−8	12

Source: RSSSF
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
FC Lugano: 5 points deducted for irregularities in license application.
FC Winterthur: 8 points deducted for irregularities in license application.

Promotion/relegation NLA/NLB

Table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Aarau (O)	12	9	1	2	30	13	+17	28	Qualification to Super League
2	St. Gallen (O)	12	7	3	2	25	9	+16	24
3	Luzern (R)	12	4	4	4	24	22	+2	16	Qualification to Challenge League
4	Vaduz	12	3	4	5	17	23	−6	13
5	Sion	12	3	3	6	14	18	−4	12	Licence refused
6	Delémont (R)	12	3	3	6	13	24	−11	12	Qualification to Challenge League
7	Kriens	12	3	2	7	14	28	−14	11
8	Lugano	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Relegated to 2. Liga

Source: RSSSF
Notes: FC Aarau and FC St. Gallen remained in Super League; no team promoted.
FC Luzern and SR Delémont relegated from Super League to Challenge League.
FC Lugano withdrew, were declared bankrupt and relegated to amateur status.
FC Sion were refused the Licence on the green table and were relegated to amateur status.
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) Position in the qualification
(O) Play-off winners; (R) Relegated

Results

Home \ Away	AAR	DEL	KRI	LUZ	SIO	STG	VAD
Aarau		2–0	1–2	4–2	3–0	1–0	5–1
Delémont	1–2		2–2	3–3	2–1	1–4	2–1
Kriens	1–4	0–1		3–3	3–1	1–0	0–1
Luzern	0–1	5–0	2–1		1–1	1–5	4–0
Sion	3–1	1–0	3–0	0–1		1–1	2–4
St. Gallen	0–0	2–0	6–1	4–2	1–0		1–0
Vaduz	3–6	1–1	4–0	0–0	1–1	1–1

Source:
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Relegation NLB/1. Liga

Table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	BP	Pts	Qualification
1	FC Schaffhausen	14	7	3	4	21	26	−5	16	40	Qualification to Challenge League
2	FC Concordia Basel	14	8	2	4	31	13	+18	14	40
3	FC Baden	14	10	1	3	30	18	+12	9	40
4	Yverdon-Sport FC	14	4	4	6	17	18	−1	18	34
5	FC Wohlen	14	6	2	6	20	22	−2	8	28
6	FC Lausanne-Sport	14	2	5	7	20	33	−13	15	26	Relegated to 2. Liga
7	AC Bellinzona	14	2	5	7	17	22	−5	13	24	Qualification to Challenge League
8	FC Winterthur	14	4	4	6	21	25	−4	6	22

Source: RSSSF
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) Position in the qualification;
FC Lausanne-Sport were declared bankrupt and relegated to amateur status
No team relegated to 1. Liga.

Sources

• RSSSF