2003–04 Swiss 1. Liga

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1. Liga
Season2003–04
ChampionsGroup 1:
Étoile Carouge
Group 2:
Young Fellows Juventus
Group 3:
Locarno
PromotedYoung Fellows Juventus
Baulmes
RelegatedGroup 1:
FC Sierre
Vevey Sports
Group 2:
FC Colombier
Group 3:
SC Zofingen
SV Schaffhausen
Matches playedonce 210 and twice 240
plus 12 play-offs
plus 2 play-outs
total 704

The 2003–04 Swiss 1. Liga was the 72nd season of this league since its creation in 1931 and, at this time, 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, not just the U-21 teams of the professional clubs.

Format[edit]

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 two promotion slots. The U-21 teams were not eligible for promotion and could not compete the play-offs. The two last placed teams in each group were to be relegated to the 2. Liga Interregional.

In advance of this season, FC Sion had been denied a licence by the Swiss Football Association (ASF-SFV) for the 2003–04 Challenge League and were, therefore, demoted to the amateur level. The club contested this in the courts and on 29 October 2003 the court decided how to settle this matter. Due to the settlement decision, the ASF-SFV were forced to withdraw the club from this division and to admit them to the Challenge League, the next highest tier. From this moment, group 1 continued with just 15 teams and all results of the matches with Sion were voided. Due to this decision only five teams from this level were then to be relegated, to re-increase the competition back to the original 48 teams.

Group 1[edit]

Teams[edit]

Club Canton Stadium Capacity
FC Baulmes Vaud Stade Sous-Ville 2,500
FC Bex Vaud Relais 2,000
FC Echallens Vaud Sportplatz 3 Sapins 2,000
Étoile Carouge FC Geneva Stade de la Fontenette 3,690
CS Chênois Geneva Stade des Trois-Chêne 8,000
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 Naters Valais Sportanlage Stapfen 3,000
FC Sion Valais Stade de Tourbillon 20,200
FC Stade Lausanne Ouchy Vaud Centre sportif de Vidy 1,000
FC Stade Nyonnais Vaud Stade de Colovray 7,200
Servette U-21 Geneva Stade de Genève 30,084
FC Sierre[1] Valais Complexe Ecossia 2,000
Vevey Sports Vaud Stade de Copet 4,000

Final league table[edit]

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Étoile Carouge FC 28 21 4 3 58 18 +40 67 Play-off to Challenge League
2 FC Baulmes 28 19 2 7 63 32 +31 59
3 ES FC Malley 28 16 8 4 67 40 +27 56
4 FC Martigny-Sports 28 15 8 5 52 25 +27 53
5 CS Chênois 28 14 4 10 54 51 +3 46
6 Servette U-21 28 10 5 13 36 45 −9 35
7 FC Fribourg 28 9 8 11 42 53 −11 35
8 FC Naters 28 9 8 11 35 49 −14 35
9 FC Stade Lausanne Ouchy 28 9 7 12 40 36 +4 34
10 Grand-Lancy FC 28 10 3 15 36 51 −15 33
11 FC Echallens 28 8 7 13 45 51 −6 31
12 FC Stade Nyonnais 28 6 13 9 30 40 −10 31
13 FC Bex 28 9 4 15 34 53 −19 31
14 Vevey Sports 28 5 5 18 35 57 −22 20 Play-out against relegation
15 FC Sierre 28 5 4 19 37 63 −26 19 Relegation to 2. Liga Interregional
16 FC Sion 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 FC Sion were admitted to the Challenge League on 29 October 2003
Source: Erste Liga official website
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference within the league or play-off for qualifiers.

Group 2[edit]

Teams[edit]

Club Canton Stadium Capacity
FC Altstetten[2] Zürich Buchlern 1,000
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
SC Dornach Solothurn Gigersloch 2,500
Grasshopper Club U-21 Zürich GC/Campus Niederhasli 2,000
FC Grenchen Solothurn Stadium Brühl 15,100
FC Münsingen Bern Sportanlage Sandreutenen 1,400
FC Red Star Zürich Zürich Allmend Brunau 2,000
FC Seefeld Zürich[3] Zürich Sportanlage Lengg 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
Young Boys U-21 Bern Allmend Bern 2,000
SC YF Juventus Zürich Utogrund 2,850
Zürich U-21 Zürich Sportplatz Heerenschürli 1,120

Final group table[edit]

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 SC Young Fellows Juventus 30 18 8 4 66 34 +32 62 Play-off to Challenge League
2 Basel U-21 30 18 5 7 70 46 +24 59 Not eligible to Play-offs
3 FC Wangen bei Olten 30 16 6 8 58 41 +17 54 Play-off to Challenge League
4 FC Biel-Bienne 30 14 8 8 52 34 +18 50
5 FC Red Star Zürich 30 14 6 10 55 48 +7 48
6 FC Solothurn 30 14 6 10 47 49 −2 48
7 Zürich U-21 30 13 7 10 46 40 +6 46
8 FC Grenchen 30 13 6 11 50 49 +1 45
9 SC Dornach 30 13 5 12 55 62 −7 44
10 Grasshopper Club U-21 30 11 9 10 49 43 +6 42
11 FC Münsingen 30 11 7 12 36 38 −2 40
12 FC Serrières 30 10 7 13 35 41 −6 37
13 Young Boys U-21 30 8 8 14 55 49 +6 32
14 FC Seefeld Zürich 30 9 3 18 45 60 −15 30
15 FC Altstetten 30 3 8 19 25 69 −44 17 Play-out against relegation
16 FC Colombier 30 4 3 23 24 65 −41 15 Relegation to 2. Liga Interregional
Source: Erste Liga official website
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference within the league or play-off for qualifiers.

Group 3[edit]

Teams[edit]

Club Canton Stadium Capacity
GC Biaschesi Ticino Campo Sportivo "Al Vallone" 2,850
SC Buochs Nidwalden Stadion Seefeld 5,000
SC Cham Zug Stadion Eizmoos 1,800
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
Luzern U-21 Lucerne Stadion Allmend or
Allmend Süd
15,000
2,000
FC Locarno Locarno, Ticino Stadio comunale Lido 5,000
FC Mendrisio Ticino Centro Sportivo Comunale 4,000
SV Schaffhausen Schaffhausen Sportplatz Bühl 1,000
FC Schötz Lucerne Sportplatz Wissenhusen 1,750
St. Gallen U-21 St. Gallen Espenmoos 11,000
FC Tuggen Schwyz Linthstrasse 2,800
SC Zofingen Aargau Sportanlagen Trinermatten 2,000
Zug 94 Zug Herti Allmend Stadion 6,000

Final league table[edit]

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 FC Locarno 30 16 10 4 56 28 +28 58 Play-off to Challenge League
2 FC Kreuzlingen 30 14 12 4 49 26 +23 54
3 FC Tuggen 30 13 14 3 58 34 +24 53
4 FC Schötz 30 15 8 7 51 36 +15 53
5 SC Buochs 30 14 11 5 40 28 +12 53
6 FC Mendrisio 30 14 7 9 60 43 +17 49
7 Zug 94 30 13 8 9 42 38 +4 47
8 FC Gossau 30 10 8 12 40 52 −12 38
9 FC Chur 97 30 9 10 11 31 46 −15 37
10 Luzern U-21 30 8 9 13 40 49 −9 33
11 FC Frauenfeld 30 10 3 17 43 60 −17 33
12 St. Gallen U-21 30 7 9 14 37 46 −9 30
13 SC Cham 30 7 9 14 34 48 −14 30
14 GC Biaschesi 30 7 8 15 47 54 −7 29
15 SC Zofingen 30 7 8 15 41 58 −17 29 Relegation to 2. Liga Interregional
16 SV Schaffhausen 30 5 8 17 23 46 −23 23
Source: Erste Liga official website
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference within the league or play-off for qualifiers.

Promotion play-off[edit]

Qualified for the play-offs were the first two teams from group 1; Étoile Carouge and Baulmes, from group 2; Young Fellows Juventus and because Basel U-21 were not eligible to the play-offs, this right was passed down to Wangen b.O.. Then from group 3 the first two teams were Locarno and Kreuzlingen. Because in group 2 the third placed team was already qualified in this situation, the two best third best teams were Malley from group 1 and Tuggen from group 3 and they also advanced to the play-off stage.

Qualification round[edit]

Team 1  Score  Team 2
Tuggen 3–1 Étoile Carouge
Étoile Carouge 3–2 Tuggen

Tuggen win 5–4 on aggregate and continue to the finals.

Team 1  Score  Team 2
Malley 1–0 YFJ
YFJ 0–3 Malley

Young Fellows Juventus win 3–1 on aggregate and continue to the finals.

Team 1  Score  Team 2
Wangen b.O. 1–1 Locarno
Locarno 0–0 Wangen b.O.

1–1 on aggregate, Locarno win on away goals and continue to the finals.

Team 1  Score  Team 2
Kreuzlingen 1–2 Baulmes
Baulmes 3–2 Kreuzlingen

Baulmes win 5–3 on aggregate and continue to the finals.

Final round[edit]

Team 1  Score  Team 2
Tuggen 3–2 YFJ
YFJ 3–0 Tuggen

Young Fellows Juventus win 5–3 on aggregate and are promoted to 2004–05 Challenge League.

Team 1  Score  Team 2
Locarno 1–1 Baulmes
Baulmes 2–1 Locarno

Baulmes win 3–2 on aggregate and are promoted to 2004–05 Challenge League.

Relegation play-out[edit]

Team 1  Score  Team 2
Altstetten 1–0 Vevey Sports
Vevey Sports 2–2 Altstetten

Altstetten win 3–2 on aggregate and remain in the division. Vevey Sports is relegated to 2. Liga Interregional.

Summary[edit]

Group 1 champions were Étoile Carouge and runners-up were Baulmes. Carouge failed for promotion during the play-offs, in contrast to Baulmes, who won their finals. Baulmes were declaired as 1. Liga champions. Group 2 champions were [[SC Young Fellows Juventus]|Young Fellows Juventus]], runners-up were Basel U-21 but they were not eligible to the play-offs, this right was passed down to third placed Wangen b.O.. YFJ achieved promotion during the play-offs, but Wangen b.O. failed. Group 3 champions were Locarno and Kreuzlingen were runners-up. Both teams failed in their promotion attempts in the play-off stage.

The remaining teams in the division were to be joined in next season by Lausanne-Sport, FC Alle, FC Langenthal, FC Brugg and FC Herisau as the five 2. Liga Interregional group winners and by Urania Genève Sport, who were the best placed runners-up. They were also joined by SR Delémont who had suffered relegation from the 2003–04 Challenge League.[4]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ (red) (2023). "FC Sierre" (in German). avf-wfv.ch. Retrieved 2023-11-16.
  2. ^ (red) (2023). "FC Altstetten" (in German). fvrz.ch. Retrieved 2023-11-16.
  3. ^ (red) (2023). "FC Seefeld Zürich" (in German). fvrz.ch. Retrieved 2023-11-16.
  4. ^ 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[edit]

Preceded by
2002–03
Seasons in
Swiss 1. Liga
Succeeded by
2004–05