FC Basle clinched their first Swiss League title for 22 years with a 3-0 win against Young Boys at The Neufeld on Wednesday.
Cameroon striker Herve Tum scored twice with strike partner George Koumanterakis also on target.
Basle’s victory means they become the first team to wrap up the Swiss championship in April since a new league format was introduced in 1986 aimed at producing closer finishes.
Points gained in the opening 22-match ‘winter season’ are then halved to allow a competitive ‘spring’ finale to the campaign.
Basle, coached by Christian Gross, who was much-maligned during a brief spell in charge of English premier league team Tottenham Hotspur in the 1997-98 season, finished the winter section well clear of their rivals.
Six consecutive wins since have given them an unassailable 13-point lead over second-placed Lugano with three games left.
The season began in humiliating fashion for Basle when they lost their opening game 8-1 at FC Sion, who are now bottom of the division.
Wednesday’s win in Young Boys’s temporary home allowed Basle’s travelling supporters to celebrate a ninth championship.
The next challenge for Gross is to complete a league and cup double as they face Grasshoppers Zurich, one of his former clubs, in the Swiss Cup Final on May 12.
No club has won the double since 1967.
The top ‘National liga’ division will be slimmed down from 16 to 10 teams from next season with clubs playing each other four times over the course of a 36-game campaign.
(C) Reuters Limited 2002.
