Switzerland I Division

First Division or Nationalliga A. Back to 16 teams and 30 rounds. Five teams were way above the rest of the league. At the lower end nothing really strange happened. FC Chiasso was last and FC Nordstern (Basel) was 15th – and relegated. One of the three newcomers finished 14th with 19 points – FC Bulle. Safe at the moment, although safety came with only 2 points leverage.

Lausanne-Sports finished 13th with 20 points. Standing from left: Urs Bamert, Christian Rytz, Robert Kok, Stéphane Crescenzi, Robert Ley-Ravello, Yves Mauron, Pierre-Albert Tachet.

Middle row: George Suri (Präsident), René Prior (Pfleger), Frankir Séchaye (Torhüter-Trainer), George Favre, Jean Claude Milani, Joseph Varquez, Pierre Milliquet (Pfleger), Richard Dürr (sportl. Direktor)

Sitting: Marcel Parietti, Gérard Castella, Pierre-Albert Chapuisat, Georges Diserens, Charles Hertig (Trainer), Claude Ryf, Didier Cavin, John Dario, M.Batardon

AC Bellinzona – 12th with 21 points. Third row: Mauro Lazzarotto, André Schär, Claudio Tedeschi, Reto Zanolari, Claudio Viel, Claudio Degiovannini, Roberto Leoni,

Middle row: Carlo Lucchini, Guido Rossi, Ivan Parini, Mirko Bullo, Arno Rossini, Marco Rossini, Francesco Monighetti, Alfio Genini, Milovan Beljin (Trainer)

Crouching: Tarcisio Ostini, Sandro Maccini, Mauro Benzoni, Patrizio Cerutti, Giorgio Mellacina, Massimo Faqetti, Roland Weidle.

Vevey-Sports, the second newcomers, did fairly well – 11th with 23 points. Top row: Paul Garbani (Trainer), Claude Michaud, Karl Küng, Jean Francois Henry, Jean-Michel Guillaume, Christian Matthey, Claudio Negroni

Middle row: Roland Frey (Coach), Olivier Tinelli, Bernard Karlen, José Grobet, Rolf Kramer, Dario Bertoliatti, Hans Franz, Paul Rinsoz (Präsident)

Sitting: Enzo Colagioia, Alain Nicolet, Mario Malnati, Yves Debonnaire, Claude Kühne, Franco Marchi, Patrick Lätt.

St. Gallen – 10th with 25 points. Third row: Roger Corminboeuf, Martin Gisinger, Jörg Althaus, Jerzy Gorgon, Beat Rietmann, Peter Hafner, Roman Steinemann

Middle row: Cési Widmer (Masseur), Helmuth Johannsen (Trainer), Rolf Günter, Kurt Bauer, Reto Graf, Roberto Böckli, Markus Brühwiler, Norbert Senn, Gerhard Ritter, Hanspeter Wirth (Ass.-Trainer)

Sitting: Martin Frei, Walter Schlegel, Metin Sengör, Christian Graf, Armin Bischofberger, Zdenek Urban, Paul Friberg.

The only interesting thing about this team is Jerzy Gorgon – the fearsome Polish defender, a hero of 1974 World Cup, helped his new club as best as his aging legs could. A mysterious case… Gorgon was in the Polish squad for the 1978 World Cup in Argentina. After that he disappeared from sight. Much later it came out that he went to – or stayed in – Argentina, where he was ‘unlucky’. There is no evidence he ever played there and may be speculated that he just run away, hoping for a contract. If so, it was rather unusual – Polish players have been permitted to play abroad for years and he was the right age for that. South America was unusual destination for an European players anyway. At last he moved back to Europe and got a contract with St. Gallen in 1980.

FC Luzern – 9th with 27 points.

FC Basel – a weak season: 8th with 28 points.

FC Aarau finished 7th – ahead of FC Basel not even on better goal-difference, but just because they scored more goals. The best placed of the three freshly promoted teams.Third row: Alfred Herberth, Agapios Kataverdis, René Fritsch, Martin Müller, Ernst Schmocker, Heinz Gloor

Middle row: Paul Stehrenberger (techn. Leiter), Rolf Osterwalder, Rudolf Zahner, Armand Da Costa, René Rietmann, Paul Fischli (Trainer)

Sitting: Max Richner, Roger Hegi, Fritz Siegrist, Thomas Tschuppert, Max Zehnder, Ernst Bleiker.

FC Sion was 6th with 31 points. Second row from left: Roger Panchard (Coach), Franco Cucinotta, Jean-Claude Flury, Michel Yerly, Léonard Karlen, Alain Balet, Erwin Schnydrig, Marian Cernicky, Jean-Claude Richard, Olivier Moulin, Jean-Claude Donzé (Trainer)

First row: Fernand Luisier, Jean-Paul Brigger, Georges Bregy, Pierre Pittier, Claude Bitz, Bernard Perrier, Pierre Valentini, Alvaro Lopez.

With them the bulk of the league ended.

Young Boys was 5th with 39 points. A stand alone team, far stronger than most of the league, yet, far weaker than the top four clubs. One could say something was missing… something quite important and without it, Young Boys would not be truly competitive. Third row: Fredy Häner (Therapeut), Jürg Arm, Jörg Schmidlin, Francois Mollard, Martin Brügger, Kurt Feuz

Middle row: Karl-Heinz Fattler (Assistenz-Trainer), Hanspeter Bickel, Rolf Zahnd, Hansruedi Baur, Marcel Flückiger (Sportchef),Bert Theunissen (Trainer)

Sitting: Bernard Brodard, Winfried Berkemeier, Walter Eichenberger, René Müller, Martin Weber, Roland Schönenberger, Jean-Marie Conz, Marco Zbinden, Franz Peterhans, Köbi Brechbühl.

Neuchatel Xamax FC – 4th with 45 points. Rising team, but not yet ready to concur the league. Missed medals by a point, but may be the most promising team this year.

FC Zurih – 3rd with 46 points. Lost silver on worse goal-difference, but maintained its leading position in Swiss football.

Servette (Geneve) clinched silver medals on better goal-difference and also scored most goals this season. Still running high – and the squad tells why. Third row: Valentini, Mustapha, Geiger, Gavillet, Dutoit, Favre, Elia.

Middle row: Coutaz, Pleimelding, Mathez (Ass), Pazmandy (Trainer), Girod (Coach), Zwygart, Bizzini

First row: Radi, Seramondi, Burgener, Guyot, De Choudens, Schnyder, Decastel.

A handful of Swiss stars plus Pleimelding, a French veteran.

But as good as Servette were, Grasshopper was much better – they lost only 2 games, tied 7, and won 21. 72-24 goal-difference. 49 points – 3 more than Servette and FC Zurich. Top row from left: Richard Bauer, Kurt Jara, Renato Hächler, Heinz Hermann, Herbert Hermann, Marco Schällibaum, Charly In-Albon

Middle row: Hans Brunner (Masseur), André Egli, André Fimian, Martin Brunner, Roger Berbig, Jacques Gurtner, Livio Zanetti, Claudio Sulser, Timo Konietzka (Trainer)

Sitting: André Meyer, Roger Wehrli, Hans-Jörg Pfister, André Ladner, Marcel Koller, Gabriel Marchand.

The experienced German coach Timo Konietzka lead them to victory, but he was not to last. The veteran Austrian big star of the 1970s Kurt Jara was perhaps no longer up to Spanish or West German football, but was good enough for Swiss championships. And Grasshopper were champions again – as many times before: their 18th title.