| Founded | 1898; 127 years ago (1898) asSwiss Serie A[1] 1933; 92 years ago (1933) asNationalliga A[2] |
|---|---|
| Country |  Switzerland |
| Confederation | UEFA |
| Number of clubs | 12 |
| Level on pyramid | 1 |
| Relegation to | Challenge League |
| Domestic cup(s) | Swiss Cup |
| International cup(s) | |
| Current champions | Young Boys (17th title) (2023–24) |
| Most championships | Grasshopper (27 titles)[1] |
| TV partners |
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| Website | sfl.ch |
| Current:2024–25 Swiss Super League | |
TheSuper League (also known as theCredit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a professionalassociation football league inSwitzerland and the highest level of theSwiss football league system. It 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 toUEFA's ranking of league coefficients, which is based upon Swiss team performances in European competitions.[5] The2023–24 season will be the 127th season of the Swiss top-flight, making it thelongest 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 around-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 theirleague coefficient ranking the highest-placed teams will compete inUEFA competitions—again with exception of teams from Liechtenstein, who qualify through theLiechtenstein Cup. The bottom team will be relegated to theChallenge 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 avideo assistant referee.[8]
| 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) | ||
TheSwiss Football Association was founded in 1895, but were initially unable to organize an annual competition, citing the teams' travel costs. Thefirst unofficial championship, competed for theRuinart Cup, was organized byGenevan newspaperLa Suisse sportive as a response in 1897. It was mainly contested by teams from theFrench-speaking area, with the exception ofFC Zürich andGrasshopper Club Zürich, the latter of which eventually won the tournament.[9] The inaugural official championship was therefore organized for the following season, in1898–99, and won byAnglo-American Club againstOld Boys Basel. It was, however, only competed bySwiss-German teams (with the exception of a team fromNeuchâtel) until 1900, due to a dispute about playing on Sundays.[10][11]
Teams from thecanton of Zürich continued to dominate the league until1907–08, with Grasshoppers winning a further three,FC Winterthur winning two, and FC Zürich winning one title. Other champions from that time includedServette,St. Gallen, andYoung Boys, who subsequently also won three in a row from 1908–1911. Over the next decade,FC Aarau, Montriond LS (nowLausanne-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, andFC Lugano.FC Bern was the exception in 1923; however, their championship was denied after the use of an unauthorized player.[12][13]
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 notsuspended during World War II due to Switzerland's neutrality,[16] but the post-war years nevertheless brought change. The1944–45 season saw the separation of the league into the Nationalliga A and B, with the winner of the former declared Swiss champion.[17][18] The1946–47,1947–48,1952–53, and1953–54 seasons saw further maiden victories achieved byFC Biel-Bienne,AC Bellinzona,FC Basel, andFC La-Chaux-de-Fonds, respectively. In 1954, broadcasting rights were sold toSRG SSR for the first time, with the company initially being restricted in showing games on TV.[19][20] For the1956–57 season,jersey numbers were declared mandatory,[21] with Young Boys initiating an unprecedented streak of four titles the same season.[12]
The1966–67 season first saw the emergence of Basel as a dominant team, as they won 7 of the following 14 seasons. Asshirt 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 andNeuchâtel Xamax,FC Luzern, andFC Sion win their first titles in1986–87,1988–89, and1991–92.[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 acquiringMats Magnusson.[25] In1992–93 Aarau won the championship the first time in 79 years, while St. Gallen earned their first title in 97 yearsat the turn of the millennium.[12]
The rebranding of the Nationalliga A into the Super League occurred in 2003, when the league was restructured from 12 to 10 teams for the2003–04 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]
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 new format will be implemented for the2023–24 season, while the transitional2022–23 season will have only the last placed team playing a relegation playoff against the 3rd place of theChallenge League. A change of format for theSwiss Challenge League is not yet clear.
In October 2022, following heavy fan protests, reigning championsFC Zürich officially submitted a request to repeal the decision to introduce the play-off modus.[32] Instead they propose to use the system used in theScottish Premiership. An according fan petition gathered 18,000 signatures (includingnational team starBreel Embolo) in the first day of its publication and Super League heavy-weightsBSC 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:
At the beginning of each season, theSwiss 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 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 the2023-24 Swiss Super League season, alongside the expansion to 12 teams. Due to the expansion, the2022-23 season had no automatic relegation spots and two promotion spots in theSwiss Challenge League. There was, however, a promotion/relegation playoff between 3rd in the Challenge League and 12th in the Super League.
| 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[1]
| Club | Titles |
|---|---|
19 | |
18 | |
11 | |
10 | |
5 | |
3 | |
2 | |
1 | |
All records are since the introduction of the Super League in 2003.[50]
Players initalics are still active. As of 15 December 2020.
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