The top group ended as suspected: the bottom three clubs took it easy, Basel more than any other team. They sunk to 6th place after winning 2 matches, tying one, and losing 7. Young Boys did not care much either – they won only one match in the final round and scored the least number of goals – 5. Basel on the other hand scored 18! St. Gallen ended 4th, as disinterested as Basel and Young Boys.
Grasshopper finished third, just as they were in the first stage – slightly better than the lower clubs, slightly worse than the best two, 3 points ahead of St. Gallen, 6 points behind the silver medalists.
Perhaps more was expected from the 1977-78 champions, but they were not yet the really strongest team in Switzerland. National team players are usual indication of strength in a country with small pool of talent: Grasshopper had fewer national team players than the competition and not really big stars. Raimondo Ponte was perhaps the most promising name, added to Sulser and Egli… third place was seemingly the best they can do.
FC Zurich was a bit difficult to measure. They were perhaps the strongest Swiss club of the 1970s and the one which started hopes for a renaissance after playing well in the European club tournaments, but it was clear they reached their peak in 1975-76. No Swiss club was really able to keep big talent and the stars were leaving to play abroad one after another. Yet, it was not a club falling into a crisis. Zurich were the best in the league during the first stage, building a lead of 2 points. It was clear they were going for the title. But they hardly added more strength in the second phase – at best, they looked the same as in the first stage. At the same time Servette really stepped on the pedals… Zurich ended second after losing 1/3 of their final decisive games. They did not even challenge Servette… finishing 6 points behind.
FC Zurich got two important additions before the season – the famous coach Zlatko Cajkovski arrived from AEK (Athens) and Jurica Jerkovic from Hajduk (Split). Jerkovic was voted the best foreign player of the season, but his excellent form was not enough. Nor was the vast experience of Cajkovski – the teams lost steam when it mattered most. With Botteron, Risi, Grob, it was still one of the best Swiss teams, but not exactly a winner.
Clearly divided into two tournaments season invites scrutiny: FC Zurich won the first phase and it looked like that at least two teams would compete for the title, if not the whole six of the final stage. Servette trailed by two points in the opening part. They lost one more game than FC Zurich. It was impossible to predict the final outcome – to a point, it was like entirely new championship, to a point erasing all efforts done during 22 matches, to a point all that mattered were the last ten games. To a point, only the spring matches mattered. Which made five teams looking like fools… only one club was precisely trained to reach the peak of their form in the spring. Servette. They were overwhelming. They won every match they played in the final stage – 10 wins! Scored 23 goals, allowing only 5. They had no rival – FC Zurich lost three matches and finished with 13 points. 7 less than Servette. By rules every team opened the final campaign carrying half of the points they had in the first tournament – this already reduced the lead of FC Zurich from 2 points to one… practically equal start, after which Servette was not even challenged. Total supremacy.
It was the 14th title for the popular club, but the first since 1962 – a big relief, executed in grand manner , but it was not all. Servette was one of the consistently well performing Swiss clubs during the 1970s and finally their time had come. First they won the Swiss Cup in 1977-78, now they did better. And reached the cup final again.
Young Boys (Bern) also reached the final.
The old Young Boys mainly settled to mid-table existence, but occasionally had a good run. Since their means were modest, all depended largely on one player. They had the star Odermatt at the end of his career a few years back – and it was enough for a good season. Now they had another veteran:
Kudi Muller joined the club in 1977. 30-years old, he was already fading, but still a strong addition to otherwise anonymous squad. His presence was not enough for impressive season in the league, but cup format was more suitable and Young Boys reached the final. And had a chance of winning a trophy. The final ended undecided – 1-1 after overtime. The replay was a bit too much for Young Boys – they fought, but at the end the classier opponent won – 3-2. Servette got the Cup for a second consecutive year.
The selection for the final, from left: Gérald Coutaz, Guy Dutoit, Yves Mauron, Jean-Claude Milani, Gianfranco Seramondi, Jean-Luc Martin, Hanspeter Weber, Hansjörg “Joko” Pfister, Umberto Barberis, Piet Hamberg, Marc Schnyder, Jean-Yves Valentini, Franz Peterhans, Lucio Bizzini, Claude “Didi” Andrey, Serge Trinchero, Karl Engel, Gilbert Guyot.
A double! Great triumph for Servette, which looked like establishing a period of dominance. The team was ripe and, at the moment, much better than any other in Switzerland – Basel already aged and was trying to build a new team; FC Zurich was reaching the point of crisis – aging or departing stars, without much new blood. Grasshopper appeared a bit plain and unfinished. Servette was just right : the current Swiss stars were here – Pfister, Barberis, Guyot, Engel, Weber, plus up and coming talent like Seramondi and well respected players like Bizzini. The team was boosted by the presence of Martin Chivers the previous year, which ended with winning the cup. Now the English veteran star was gone, but the squad was very strong. The foreign addition was not bad – Piet Hamberg was unknown Dutch player, acquired from FC Utrecht, but Dutch players were dependable representatives of the most advanced modern football. The striker played well – well enough to attract the interest of Ajax, where he went to play in 1980. Perhaps the real honour should be atributed to the coach. Peter Pazmandy, born 1938, was the apparent maker of the team – a relatively unknown name, able to outdo the bulk of foreign coaches working with Swiss clubs (Zlatko Cajkovski – FC Zurich, the German Helmuth Johannsen – Grasshopper, Miroslav Blazevic – Lausanne-Sports, Timo Konietzka, also German – Young Boys). Pazmandy was not a Swiss too – at least not by birth. Back in 1956 a 20-years player of Vasas (Budapest) run away from supressed Hungary like many of his compatriots, including footballers. He settled and played in Switzerland and after retirement became a coach. Hungarians made good coaches and he was not exception: he lead Servette to glory – winning the cup in 1978 and now a double. It really looked like Pazmandy made a team going to dominate Swiss football – and the era seemingly already began. The final run of 10 wins in the second stage of the championship was more than impressive – he future belonged to Geneva. So were the signs in the spring of 1979. Signs happened to be false ones, but for the moment it was excellent: a double, crowning two very strong seasons.