The Swiss football league system , is a series of interconnected leagues for association football clubs in Switzerland , with seven teams from Liechtenstein , and one each from exclaves of Germany and Italy, also competing. The system has a hierarchical format with promotion and relegation between leagues at different levels, allowing even the smallest club the possibility of ultimately rising to the very top of the system. The first two levels of the system are collectively called Swiss Football League .
22-740: 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. 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. The 2023–24 season will be
44-529: A change in leadership in 2017, however, they were dethroned by Young Boys, who won the next four straight championships. In April 2022, another proposal by the SFL committee to increase the league size to 12 was announced. 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
66-465: A request to repeal the decision to introduce the play-off modus. 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. This triggered a renewed vote by
88-420: 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. The 1980s and 1990s saw Grasshoppers dominate and Neuchâtel Xamax , FC Luzern , and FC Sion win their first titles in 1986–87 , 1988–89 , and 1991–92 . In 1985, the number of foreigners on
110-402: A row from 1908–1911. Over the next decade, FC Aarau , Montriond LS (now Lausanne-Sport ), SC Brühl , and Cantonal Neuchâtel 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, Zürich, Young Boys, Lausanne-Sport, and FC Lugano . FC Bern
132-544: A team was increased from one to two, promptly leading to a new transfer record of 1.3 million francs with Servette acquiring Mats Magnusson . 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 . The rebranding of the Nationalliga A into the Super League occurred in 2003, when the league was restructured from 12 to 10 teams for
154-452: 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. 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
176-598: 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. Matches in the Super League employ the use of a video assistant referee . The Swiss Football Association was founded in 1895, but were initially unable to organize an annual competition, citing
198-516: The Swiss Challenge League . There was, however, a promotion/relegation playoff between 3rd in the Challenge League and 12th in the Super League. Last updated: 22 May 2022 Source: RSSSF All records are since the introduction of the Super League in 2003. Players in italics are still active. As of 15 December 2020. Swiss football league system Liechtenstein does not have its own national league, therefore its teams compete in
220-489: The Swiss Football Association 'predicts' the likely positions of each club in order to produce a fixture schedule that ensures the best possible chance of all clubs playing each other twice at home and twice away. This is known as the league 'seeding' and is based on clubs' performance in the previous season. If the clubs do not finish in the half where they are predicted to finish, then anomalies can be created in
242-460: The 127th season of the Swiss top-flight, making it the longest continuously running top-flight national league . 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
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#1732856140846264-541: 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, 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. The details of the final playoff stage
286-531: 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. 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
308-408: The Swiss leagues; see List of association football clubs playing in the league of another country . 4 1st League Classic 48 clubs divided into 3 groups 5 2nd League Interregional 64 clubs divided into 4 groups Up until and including the 2022–23 Swiss Super League the pyramid was set up as follows: 1944%E2%80%9345 Nationalliga A Statistics of Swiss Super League in
330-530: The first time, with the company initially being restricted in showing games on TV. For the 1956–57 season , jersey numbers were declared mandatory, with Young Boys initiating an unprecedented streak of four titles the same season. 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
352-405: The fixture list. Clubs sometimes play another three times at home and once away (or vice versa), or a club can end up playing 20 home (or away) games in a season These "Scottish Model" format changes were implemented for the 2023-24 Swiss Super League season , alongside the expansion to 12 teams. Due to the expansion, the 2022-23 season had no automatic relegation spots and two promotion spots in
374-562: 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 Neuchâtel ) until 1900, due to a dispute about playing on Sundays. Teams from the canton of Zürich continued to dominate the league until 1907–08 , with Grasshoppers winning a further three, FC Winterthur winning two, and FC Zürich winning one title. Other champions from that time included Servette , St. Gallen , and Young Boys , who subsequently also won three in
396-399: 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. 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: At the beginning of each season,
418-531: 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 Zürich and Grasshopper Club Zürich , the latter of which eventually won the tournament. The inaugural official championship was therefore organized for
440-408: Was also finalized: The new format will be implemented for the 2023–24 season , while the transitional 2022–23 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 Zürich officially submitted
462-509: Was not suspended during World War II due to Switzerland's neutrality, 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. 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
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#1732856140846484-421: Was the exception in 1923; however, their championship was denied after the use of an unauthorized player. The league was reformed into the Nationalliga in 1931 and initially changed from three regional groups to two groups with 9 teams each. 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
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