Swiss men's association football top division
Football league
The
Super League
(known as the
Credit Suisse Super League
for sponsorship reasons) is a Swiss professional league in the top tier of the
Swiss football league system
and has been played in its current format since the 2003–04 season.
[3]
[4]
As of March 2024, the Swiss Super League is ranked 12th in Europe according to
UEFA
's ranking of league coefficients, which is based upon Swiss team performances in European competitions.
[5]
The
2023?24 season
will be the 127th season of the Swiss top-flight, making it the
longest continuously running top-flight national league
.
Overview
[
edit
]
The Super League is played over 36 rounds from the end of July to May, with a winter break from mid-December to the first week of February. Each team plays each other four times, twice at home and twice away, in a
round-robin
.
As teams from both Switzerland and Liechtenstein participate in the Swiss football leagues, only a Swiss club finishing in first place will be crowned champion?should a team from Liechtenstein win, this honor will go to the highest-placed Swiss team.
[6]
Relative to their
league coefficient ranking
the highest-placed teams will compete in
UEFA competitions
?again with exception of teams from Liechtenstein, who qualify through the
Liechtenstein Cup
. The bottom team will be relegated to the
Challenge League
and replaced by the respective champion for the next season. The club finishing in 9th place will compete against the second-placed team of the Challenge League in a relegation play-off over two games, home and away, for a spot in the succeeding tournament.
[7]
Matches in the Super League employ the use of a
video assistant referee
.
[8]
History
[
edit
]
Previous names
Years
|
German
|
French
|
Italian
|
1897
|
Coupe Ruinart
(unofficial)
|
1898?1929
|
Serie A
|
1930?1931
|
1. Liga
|
1e Ligue
|
Prima Lega
|
1931?1933
|
Nationalliga
|
Ligue Nationale
|
Lega Nazionale
|
1933?1934
|
Challenge National
|
1934?1944
|
Nationalliga
|
Ligue Nationale
|
Lega Nazionale
|
1944?2003
|
Nationalliga A
|
Ligue Nationale A
|
Lega Nazionale A
|
2003?
present
|
Super League
axpo
Super League
(2003?2012)
Raiffeisen
Super League
(2012?2021)
Credit Suisse
Super League
(2021?present)
|
Serie A era
[
edit
]
The
Swiss Football Association
was founded in 1895, but were initially unable to organize an annual competition, citing the teams' travel costs. The
first unofficial championship
, competed for the
Ruinart
Cup
, was organized by
Genevan
newspaper
La Suisse sportive
as a response in 1897. It was mainly contested by teams from the
French-speaking area
, with the exception of
FC Zurich
and
Grasshopper Club Zurich
, the latter of which eventually won the tournament.
[9]
The inaugural official championship was therefore organized for the following season, in
1898?99
, and won by
Anglo-American Club
against
Old Boys Basel.
It was, however, only competed by
Swiss-German
teams (with the exception of a team from
Neuchatel
) until 1900, due to a dispute about playing on Sundays.
[10]
[11]
Teams from the
canton of Zurich
continued to dominate the league until
1907?08
, with Grasshoppers winning a further three,
FC Winterthur
winning two, and FC Zurich winning one title. Other champions from that time included
Servette
,
St. Gallen
, and
Young Boys
, who subsequently also won three in a row from 1908?1911. Over the next decade,
FC Aarau
, Montriond LS (now
Lausanne-Sport
),
SC Bruhl
, and Cantonal Neuchatel FC each won their first title as nobody managed to monopolize the league. During the 1920s and 1930s, championships were achieved almost exclusively by modern Super League regulars, namely Grasshoppers, Servette, Zurich, Young Boys, Lausanne-Sport, and
FC Lugano
.
FC Bern
was the exception in 1923; however, their championship was denied after the use of an unauthorized player.
[12]
[13]
Nationalliga era
[
edit
]
The league was reformed into the Nationalliga in 1931 and initially changed from three regional groups to two groups with 9 teams each.
[14]
[15]
The league composition thereafter varied on several occasions, ranging from 12 to 16 teams competing in a single group. Contrary to its neighboring countries, national football was not
suspended during World War II
due to Switzerland's neutrality,
[16]
but the post-war years nevertheless brought change. The
1944?45 season
saw the separation of the league into the Nationalliga A and B, with the winner of the former declared Swiss champion.
[17]
[18]
The
1946?47
,
1947?48
,
1952?53
, and
1953?54 seasons
saw further maiden victories achieved by
FC Biel-Bienne
,
AC Bellinzona
,
FC Basel
, and
FC La-Chaux-de-Fonds
, respectively. In 1954, broadcasting rights were sold to
SRG SSR
for the first time, with the company initially being restricted in showing games on TV.
[19]
[20]
For the
1956?57 season
,
jersey numbers
were declared mandatory,
[21]
with Young Boys initiating an unprecedented streak of four titles the same season.
[12]
The
1966?67 season
first saw the emergence of Basel as a dominant team, as they won 7 of the following 14 seasons. As
shirt sponsors
first appeared by 1976, the SRG SSR refused to broadcast teams that wore advertisements on their kits. As a result, the broadcaster and the league reached a compromise, where the former would only show sponsors in reports lasting a maximum of 6 minutes, and teams would be obligated to wear neutral jerseys for longer appearances.
[22]
[23]
The 1980s and 1990s saw Grasshoppers dominate and
Neuchatel Xamax
,
FC Luzern
, and
FC Sion
win their first titles in
1986?87
,
1988?89
, and
1991?92
.
[12]
In 1985, the number of foreigners on a team was increased from one to two,
[24]
promptly leading to a new transfer record of 1.3 million francs with Servette acquiring
Mats Magnusson
.
[25]
In
1992?93
Aarau won the championship the first time in 79 years, while St. Gallen earned their first title in 97 years
at the turn of the millennium
.
[12]
Super League era
[
edit
]
The rebranding of the Nationalliga A into the Super League occurred in 2003, when the league was restructured from 12 to 10 teams for the
2003?04 season
, simplifying the format by removing the relegation playoff round. A return to 12 teams was discussed on multiple occasions in 2009 and 2018, but ultimately rejected, among others due to reservations about the early relegation battle.
[26]
[27]
This new era initially proved to be one of domination for Basel, as 11 of the first 14 seasons were won by them, including a record-breaking streak of 8 championships between 2009 and 2017. After a change in leadership in 2017,
[28]
however, they were dethroned by Young Boys, who won the next four straight championships.
[12]
Format Change
[
edit
]
In April 2022, another proposal by the SFL committee to increase the league size to 12 was announced.
[29]
The proposal includes three stages: an initial round-robin qualifying stage with all 12 teams (22 rounds); an intermediary stage, with two groups (1st-6th placed in the Championship and 7-12th placed in the Qualification Group) of six teams each (10 rounds); the format of the third and final playoff phase is still to be determined. Despite pushback from fans and a general negative response from club officials,
[30]
the proposal to increase the league size as well as the proposed format change were approved by the general assembly of the Swiss Football League on 20 May 2022.
[31]
The details of the final playoff stage was also finalized:
- The first and second placed teams of the Championship Group will play a
best of three
Championship Final. The first placed team has home advantage in the first and third game.
- The 3rd-6th placed teams of the Championship Group and the 1st-4th placed teams of the Qualification Group (eight teams total) will play a three round playoff for the remaining spots in international championships. The playoff will be carried out according to the European model, with home and away games except in the final match. Teams are seeded according to their placement.
- The 5th placed team of the Qualification Group will play a relegation playoff against the second placed team of the Challenge League. The last placed team is relegated directly.
The new format will be implemented for the
2023?24 season
, while the transitional
2022?23 season
season will have only the last placed team playing a relegation playoff against the 3rd place of the
Challenge League
. A change of format for the
Swiss Challenge League
is not yet clear.
In October 2022, following heavy fan protests, reigning champions
FC Zurich
officially submitted a request to repeal the decision to introduce the play-off modus.
[32]
Instead they propose to use the system used in the
Scottish Premiership
. An according fan petition gathered 18,000 signatures (including
national team
star
Breel Embolo
) in the first day of its publication and Super League heavy-weights
BSC Young Boys
officially supported the motion immediately.
[33]
This triggered a renewed vote by the general assembly.
On 11 November 2022, the new proposal to instead use the "Scottish Model" was approved by the general assembly of the Swiss Football League.
[34]
By the time of the vote, the petition opposing the play-off system had gathered over 60,000 signatures. The increased number of teams was not up for a re-vote, though. The new format is as follows:
- In a first phase all twelve teams play each other three times each, for a total of
33 matchdays
.
- Following that, the league is split into two groups of six each, one "Championship Group" and one "Relegation Group".
- Each team will play every other team in their group one time (five matches each), for a total of
38 matchdays
.
- The Championship Group will play for the title of Swiss Football Champion and qualification to European championships.
- The Relegation Group will play against relegation (last place) and qualification to the relegation play-off (second-to-last place).
- Points won in the first phase are carried over to the second phase.
Current season
[
edit
]
Location of the 2023?24 Swiss Super League teams
Club
|
Location
|
Stadium
|
Capacity
|
Ref
|
FC Basel
|
Basel
|
St. Jakob-Park
|
37,994
|
[35]
|
BSC Young Boys
|
Bern
|
Stadion Wankdorf
|
31,120
|
[36]
|
Grasshopper Club Zurich
|
Zurich
|
Letzigrund
|
26,103
|
[37]
|
FC Lausanne-Sport
|
Lausanne
|
Stade de la Tuiliere
|
12,544
|
[38]
|
FC Stade Lausanne Ouchy
|
Lausanne
|
Stade Olympique de la Pontaise
|
8,500
|
[39]
|
FC Lugano
|
Lugano
|
Stadio Cornaredo
|
6,390
|
[40]
|
FC Luzern
|
Lucerne
|
Swissporarena
|
16,490
|
[41]
|
Servette FC
|
Geneva
|
Stade de Geneve
|
28,833
|
[42]
|
FC St. Gallen
|
St. Gallen
|
Kybunpark
|
19,455
|
[43]
|
FC Winterthur
|
Winterthur
|
Stadion Schutzenwiese
|
8,400
|
[44]
|
Yverdon-Sport FC
|
Yverdon-les-Bains
|
Stade Municipal
|
6,600
|
[45]
|
FC Zurich
|
Zurich
|
Letzigrund
|
26,103
|
[46]
|
Promotion/relegation from 2022?23 season
[
edit
]
Team records
[
edit
]
Champions (Super League Era)
[
edit
]
Performance by club
[
edit
]
Titles
|
Club
|
Last Championship won
|
27
|
|
2003
|
20
|
|
2017
|
17
|
|
1999
|
17
|
|
2024
|
13
|
|
2022
|
7
|
|
1965
|
3
|
|
1964
|
3
|
|
1949
|
3
|
|
1917
|
3
|
|
1993
|
2
|
|
1988
|
2
|
|
2000
|
2
|
|
1997
|
1
|
|
1899
|
1
|
|
1947
|
1
|
|
1989
|
1
|
|
1915
|
1
|
|
1919
|
1
|
|
1948
|
Last updated: 22 May 2022
Source: RSSSF
Performance by club (professional era only)
[
edit
]
Titles
|
Club
|
19
|
|
18
|
|
11
|
|
10
|
|
10
|
|
5
|
|
3
|
|
3
|
|
2
|
|
2
|
|
1
|
|
1
|
|
1
|
|
1
|
|
1
|
|
Player records
[
edit
]
All records are since the introduction of the Super League in 2003.
[47]
Players in
italics
are still active. As of 15 December 2020.
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]
|
---|
2023?24
teams
| |
---|
Former teams
| |
---|
Associated competitions
| |
---|
Seasons
| |
---|
|
---|
Serie A era, 1897?1931
| Seasons
| |
---|
|
Nationalliga era, 1931?1944
| Seasons
| |
---|
|
Nationalliga A era, 1944?2003
| Seasons
| |
---|
|
Super League era, 2003?
present
| Seasons
| |
---|
|
|
---|
Current
| |
---|
Defunct
| |
---|
Liechtenstein
is the only UEFA member association without a national league.
|