2002–03 Swiss 1. Liga

The 2002–03 Swiss 1. Liga was the 71st season of this league since its creation in 1931 and it was the third tier of the Swiss football league system. The 1. Liga was also the highest level of amateur football, even though there was an ever-increasing number of clubs in this league that played with professional or semi-professional players in their ranks and this not just in the U-21 teams of the professional clubs.

1. Liga
Season2002–03
ChampionsGroup 1:
Meyrin
Group 2:
Young Fellows Juventus
Group 3:
Malcantone
PromotedMeyrin
Malcantone
Chiasso
Bulle
La Chaux-de-Fonds
RelegatedGroup 2:
Aarau U-21
Group 3:
Rapperswil-Jona
Matches played3 times 240
plus 12 play-offs
plus 1 play-out

Format

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There were 48 teams in this division this season, including seven U-21 teams, which were the eldest youth teams of the professional clubs in the Super League and the Challenge League. The 1. Liga was divided into three regional groups, each with 16 teams. Within each group, the teams would play a double round-robin to decide their positions in the league. The three group winners and the three runners-up, together with the two best third placed teams, then contested a play-off for the four promotion slots. The U-21 teams were not eligible for promotion and could not compete the play-offs. The last placed teams in each group were to contest a play-out to decide relegation, two teams would be relegated to the 2. Liga Interregional.

Group 1

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Teams

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Club Canton Stadium Capacity
FC Baulmes Vaud Stade Sous-Ville 2,500
FC Bex Vaud Relais 2,000
FC Bulle Fribourg Stade de Bouleyres 7,000
FC Echallens Vaud Sportplatz 3 Sapins 2,000
CS Chênois Geneva Stade des Trois-Chêne 8,000
Étoile Carouge FC Geneva Stade de la Fontenette 3,690
FC Fribourg Fribourg Stade Universitaire 9,000
Grand-Lancy FC Geneva Stade de Marignac 1,500
ES FC Malley Vaud Centre Sportif de la Tuilière 1,500
FC Martigny-Sports Valais Stade d'Octodure 2,500
FC Meyrin Geneva Stade des Arbères 9,000
FC Naters Valais Sportanlage Stapfen 3,000
Servette U-21 Geneva Stade de la Fontenette or
Stade de Frontenex
3,690
4,000
FC Stade Lausanne Ouchy Vaud Centre sportif de Vidy 1,000
FC Stade Nyonnais Vaud Stade de Colovray 7,200
Vevey Sports Vaud Stade de Copet 4,000

Final league table

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 FC Meyrin 30 22 5 3 79 25 +54 71 Play-off to Challenge League
2 FC Bulle 30 17 4 9 58 46 +12 55
3 Servette U-21 30 16 4 10 52 34 +18 52
4 Étoile Carouge FC 30 14 7 9 57 41 +16 49
5 FC Echallens 30 14 7 9 57 42 +15 49
6 ES FC Malley 30 14 3 13 58 52 +6 45
7 FC Martigny-Sports 30 12 5 13 53 54 −1 41
8 FC Bex 30 11 7 12 62 46 +16 40
9 FC Naters 30 11 7 12 45 52 −7 40
10 FC Fribourg 30 10 9 11 51 55 −4 39
11 FC Stade Lausanne Ouchy 30 10 6 14 38 48 −10 36
12 FC Baulmes 30 9 8 13 37 50 −13 35
13 CS Chênois 30 9 6 15 38 52 −14 33
14 Grand-Lancy FC 30 9 6 15 38 64 −26 33
15 Vevey Sports 30 8 5 17 40 68 −28 29
16 FC Stade Nyonnais 30 7 5 18 31 65 −34 26 Play-out against relegation
Source: Erste Liga official website
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference within the league or play-off for qualifiers.

Group 2

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Teams

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Club Canton Stadium Capacity
FC Altstetten[1] Zürich Buchlern 1,000
Aarau U-21 Aargau Stadion Brügglifeld 9,240
Basel U-21 Basel-City Stadion Rankhof or
Leichtathletik-Stadion St. Jakob
7,000
4,000
FC Biel-Bienne Bern Stadion Gurzelen 15,000
FC Colombier Neuchâtel Stade des Chézards 2,500
Grasshopper Club U-21 Zürich GC/Campus Niederhasli 2,000
FC Grenchen Solothurn Stadium Brühl 15,100
FC La Chaux-de-Fonds Neuchâtel Centre Sportif de la Charrière 12,700
FC Münsingen Bern Sportanlage Sandreutenen 1,400
SV Schaffhausen Schaffhausen Sportplatz Bühl 1,000
FC Serrières Neuchâtel Pierre-à-Bot 1,700
FC Solothurn Solothurn Stadion FC Solothurn 6,750
FC Wangen bei Olten Solothurn Sportplatz Chrüzmatt 3,000
SC YF Juventus Zürich Utogrund 2,850
SC Zofingen Aargau Sportanlagen Trinermatten 2,000
Zürich U-21 Zürich Sportplatz Heerenschürli 1,120

Final league table

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 SC Young Fellows Juventus 30 18 7 5 58 33 +25 61 Play-off to Challenge League
2 FC Wangen bei Olten 30 16 8 6 61 33 +28 56
3 FC La Chaux-de-Fonds 30 15 11 4 46 27 +19 56
4 FC Solothurn 30 15 6 9 51 31 +20 51
5 Basel U-21 30 12 12 6 66 44 +22 48
6 FC Biel-Bienne 30 12 12 6 50 34 +16 48
7 SV Schaffhausen 30 12 6 12 39 36 +3 42
8 Grasshopper Club U-21 30 12 6 12 55 55 0 42
9 Zürich U-21 30 10 10 10 54 40 +14 40
10 FC Colombier 30 9 12 9 43 43 0 39
11 FC Serrières 30 9 11 10 35 38 −3 38
12 FC Grenchen 30 9 9 12 65 59 +6 36
13 FC Altstetten 30 7 14 9 37 50 −13 35
14 FC Münsingen 30 5 9 16 33 55 −22 24
15 SC Zofingen 30 3 8 19 31 83 −52 17
16 Aarau U-21 30 4 3 23 23 86 −63 15 Withdrew from play-out, relegated
Source: Erste Liga official website
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference within the league or play-off for qualifiers.

Group 3

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Teams

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Club Canton Stadium Capacity
GC Biaschesi Ticino Campo Sportivo "Al Vallone" 2,850
SC Buochs Nidwalden Stadion Seefeld 5,000
FC Chiasso Ticino Stadio Comunale Riva IV 4,000
FC Chur 97 Grisons Ringstrasse 2,820
FC Frauenfeld Thurgau Kleine Allmend 6,370
FC Gossau St. Gallen Sportanlage Buechenwald 3,500
FC Kreuzlingen Thurgau Sportplatz Hafenareal 1,200
FC Locarno Locarno, Ticino Stadio comunale Lido 5,000
Luzern U-21 Lucerne Stadion Allmend or
Allmend Süd
15,000
2,000
FC Malcantone Agno Ticino Cornaredo Stadium 6,330
FC Mendrisio Ticino Centro Sportivo Comunale 4,000
FC Rapperswil-Jona St. Gallen Stadion Grünfeld 2,500
FC Schötz Lucerne Sportplatz Wissenhusen 1,750
St. Gallen U-21 St. Gallen Espenmoos 11,000
FC Tuggen Schwyz Linthstrasse 2,800
Zug 94 Zug Herti Allmend Stadion 6,000

Final league table

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 FC Malcantone Agno 30 16 13 1 53 25 +28 61 Play-off to Challenge League
2 FC Chiasso 30 17 8 5 56 31 +25 59
3 FC Tuggen 30 17 7 6 58 35 +23 58
4 FC Mendrisio 30 13 9 8 48 36 +12 48
5 FC Locarno 30 11 12 7 47 33 +14 45
6 FC Chur 97 30 11 12 7 49 43 +6 45
7 GC Biaschesi 30 12 9 9 40 36 +4 45
8 SC Buochs 30 12 8 10 53 40 +13 44
9 St. Gallen U-21 30 12 6 12 45 48 −3 42
10 FC Kreuzlingen 30 11 4 15 44 52 −8 37
11 Zug 94 30 9 6 15 29 38 −9 33
12 FC Gossau 30 8 7 15 28 53 −25 31
13 Luzern U-21 30 8 6 16 44 53 −9 30
14 FC Schötz 30 7 8 15 38 50 −12 29
15 FC Frauenfeld 30 5 10 15 34 64 −30 25
16 FC Rapperswil-Jona 30 5 7 18 31 60 −29 22 Play-out against relegation
Source: Erste Liga official website
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference within the league or play-off for qualifiers.

Promotion play-off

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Finals

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Team 1  Score  Team 2
Tuggen 2–2 Meyrin
Meyrin 2–0 Tuggen

Meyrin win 4–2 on aggregate and are promoted to 2003–04 Challenge League.

Team 1  Score  Team 2
La Chaux-de-Fonds 1–0 Malcantone
Malcantone 3–1 La Chaux-de-Fonds

Malcantone win 3–2 on aggregate and are promoted to 2003–04 Challenge League.

Team 1  Score  Team 2
Chiasso 1–1 Wangen b.O.
Wangen b.O. 3–1 Chiasso

Chiasso win 4–2 on aggregate and were promoted to 2003–04 Challenge League.

Team 1  Score  Team 2
Bulle 1–1 YFJ
YFJ 1–3 Bulle

Bulle win 4–1 on aggregate and were promoted to 2003–04 Challenge League.

La Chaux-de-Fonds were later also promoted later on the green table by the Swiss Football Association up to the 2003–04 Challenge League following the fact that FC Sion were refused their licence for that division.

Play-out against relegation

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Aarau U-21 withdrew from play-outs and were so relegated directly. The one remaining match was played in a neutral venue, on May 25 in Solothurn.

Team 1  Score  Team 2
Stade Nyonnais 2–2 Rapperswil-Jona

FC Stade Nyonnais win 5–4 in the penalty shoot-out. Rapperswil-Jona were relegated. Stade Nyonnais remain at this level.

Summary

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Group 1 champions were Meyrin, runners-up were Bulle and they both achieved promotion. Group 2 champions were Young Fellows Juventus and runners-up were Wangen b.O. but they both failed in their promotion attempts in the play-offs. Group 3 champions were Malcantone, runners-up Chiasso and both these teams also achieved promotion. Third placed team in group 2 La Chaux-de-Fonds were later also promoted to 2003–04 Challenge League, as best loser, following the fact that FC Sion were refused a licence for that division.

Due to the bankruptcy of FC Lausanne-Sport, who were demoted to the fourth tier, no team from the higher tier would join the 1. Liga. The remaining teams in the division were to be joined in next season by FC Sierre, Young Boys U-21, SC Dornach, FC Seefeld Zürich, FC Red Star Zürich and SC Cham who had all achieved promotion from the 2. Liga Interregional.[2]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ (red) (2023). "FC Altstetten" (in German). fvrz.ch. Retrieved 2023-11-16.
  2. ^ Erste Liga (SFV) (2018). "Statistik der Ersten Liga über Aufstieg und Abstieg ab Saison 1931/32 bis 2018" [First League statistics on promotion and relegation from the 1931/32 season to 2018] (PDF). PDF Seite 15 (in German). Erste Liga, Abteilung des SFV. Retrieved 2023-11-16.

Sources

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Preceded by
2001–02
Seasons in
Swiss 1. Liga
Succeeded by
2003–04