Swiss Challenge League

Swiss Challenge League

Country	Switzerland
Confederation	UEFA
Founded	1897
Number of teams	10
Level on pyramid	2
Promotion to	Super League
Relegation to	1. Liga Promotion
Domestic cup(s)	Swiss Cup
Current champions	FC Lausanne-Sport (2015–16)
Website	Official Site
2016–17 Season

The Swiss Challenge League or Brack.ch Challenge League is the second highest tier of the Swiss football league system. Ten teams play in the Challenge League. The winners of the league are promoted to the Super League, the bottom team is relegated to the 1. Liga Promotion.

From 2003 to 2012, the second placed team entered a two-legged playoff against the 9th placed team in the Super League, with the winner playing in the higher division next season.

The league was named Nationalliga B until 2003 when it was changed to the "Challenge League."

During 2001–2008 and again from 2009–2013 Liechtenstein's FC Vaduz also played in the Challenge League as Liechtenstein does not have a league of its own.

Participating clubs 2016–17

Team	Venue	Capacity
FC Aarau	Stadion Brügglifeld	8,000
FC Chiasso	Stadio Comunale	11,160
FC Le Mont	Stade Sous-Ville	2,500
Neuchâtel Xamax	Stade de la Maladière	12,000
FC Schaffhausen	Stadion Breite	7,300
Servette FC	Stade de Genève	30,000
FC Wil	Stadion Bergholz	6,958
FC Winterthur	Schützenwiese	8,550
FC Wohlen	Stadion Niedermatten	5,000
FC Zürich	Letzigrund	26,100

Promotion/Relegation from 2015–16 season

FC Zürich was relegated from the Swiss Super League.
FC Lausanne-Sport finished first in the Challenge League and was promoted to the Swiss Super League.
FC Biel-Bienne was relegated from the Challenge League by finishing 10th
Servette FC finished first in the 1. Liga Promotion and was promoted to the Challenge League.

History

Nationalliga B Era

Season	League Winner	Promoted from playoffs/Promoted as runners up	Teams Relegated
1960-61	FC Lugano	FC Schaffhausen	Neuchâtel Xamax Nordstern Basel
1961-62	FC Chiasso	FC Sion	FC Martigny-Sports FC Yverdon-Sports
1962-63	FC Schaffhausen	Neuchâtel Xamax	FC Bodio FC Fribourg
1963-64	FC Lugano	AC Bellinzona	Etoile Carouge FC FC Vevey-Sports 05
1964-65	Urania Genève Sport	Young Fellows Zürich	FC Bern FC Schaffhausen
1965-66	FC Winterthur	FC Moutier	FC Porrentruy Neuchâtel Xamax
1966-67	FC Luzern	AC Bellinzona	Le Locle-Sports Blue Stars Zürich
1967-68	FC Winterthur	FC St.Gallen	FC Moutier FC Bern
1968-69	FC Wettingen	FC Fribourg	FC Baden FC Solothurn
1969-70	FC Sion	FC Luzern	FC Thun FC Langenthal
1970-71	FC St.Gallen	FC Grenchen	Young Fellows Zürich Urania Genève Sport
1971-72	FC Chiasso	FC Fribourg	FC Monthey US Gambarogno
1972-73	Neuchâtel Xamax	CS Chênois	SC Brühl SC Buochs
1973-74	FC Luzern	FC Vevey-Sports 05	Young Fellows Zürich FC Tössfeld
1974-75	FC Biel-Bienne	FC La Chaux-de-Fonds	FC Giubiasco Mendrisiostar
1975-76	AC Bellinzona	-	FC Martigny-Sports FC Wettingen
1976-77	Étoile Carouge FC	Young Fellows Zürich	Mendrisiostar FC Raron
1977-78	Nordstern Basel	FC Chiasso	FC Gossau FC Bulle
1978-79	FC La Chaux-de-Fonds	FC Luzern FC Lugano	Étoile Carouge FC Young Fellows Zürich
1979-80	AC Bellinzona	Nordstern Basel	FC Raron FC Baden
1980-81	FC Vevey-Sports 05	FC Aarau FC Bulle	SC Kriens
1981-82	FC Winterthur	FC Wettingen	Aurore Bienne FC Altstätten FC Frauenfeld
1982-83	FC La Chaux-de-Fonds	FC Chiasso	FC Bern FC Ibach FC Rüti ZH
1983-84	SC Zug	FC Winterthur	FC Fribourg FC Nordstern Basel FC Red Star Zürich
1984-85	FC Grenchen	FC Baden	Mendrisiostar FC Yverdon-Sports FC Monthey
1985-86	FC Locarno	AC Bellinzona	FC Zug FC Laufen Le Locle Sports
1986-87	FC Grenchen	None	SC Kriens
1987-88	Étoile Carouge FC (West) FC Lugano (East)	FC Wettingen FC Lugano	FC Solothurn FC Vevey-Sports 05 FC Wangen bei Olten
1988-89	FC Yverdon-Sports (West) FC Basel (East)	FC Zürich	FC Biel-Bienne Renens FC Urania-Genève-Sport
1989-90	FC Fribourg (West) FC Baden (East)	FC Zürich	FC Brüttisellen FC Martigny-Sports FC Zug
1990-91	FC Yverdon-Sports (West) FC Locarno (South & East)	None	CS Chênois SC Burgdorf FC Montreux-Sports
1991-92	FC Basel (West) FC Schaffhausen (South & East)	FC Chiasso	ES Malley SC Zug FC Glarus
1992-93	FC Yverdon-Sports (West) FC Luzern (East)	FC Luzern SC Kriens FC Yverdon-Sports	FC Wettingen FC Châtel-St-Denis FC Brüttisellen SC Bümpliz FC Emmenbrücke FC Chur FC La Chaux-de-Fonds
1993-94	Étoile Carouge FC (West) FC Schaffhausen (East)	FC Basel FC St. Gallen	BSC Old Boys FC Bulle Urania Genève Sport FC Chiasso FC Monthey FC Sursee FC Fribourg
1994-95	FC Yverdon-Sports (West) SC Kriens (East)	None	AC Bellinzona FC Grenchen
1995-96	SC Kriens	None	FC Chiasso FC Naters
1996-97	Étoile Carouge FC	Étoile Carouge FC SC Kriens	FC Gossau FC Meyrin
1997-98	BSC Young Boys	FC Lugano BSC Young Boys	FC Winterthur SV Schaffhausen
1998-99	FC Wil	SR Delémont FC Yverdon-Sports	FC Locarno FC Chiasso
1999-00	AC Bellinzona	FC Sion	Stade Nyonnais FC Schaffhausen
2000-01	BSC Young Boys	BSC Young Boys	FC Wangen bei Olten FC Solothurn
2001-02	FC Wil 1900	FC Wil 1900 FC Thun	FC Locarno Étoile Carouge FC
2002-03	FC Vaduz	None	FC Lugano¹ FC Lausanne-Sport¹ FC Sion¹

¹ FC Lugano and FC Lausanne-Sport went bankrupt which meant that no team was relegated due to their league position. FC Sion were not awarded a license for the 2003-04 season resulted in an extra team being promoted.

Challenge League Era

The league statistics of the Challenge League area:^[1]^[2]

Year	1st Position	2nd Position	Playoff result	Relegated	Relegated
2003–04	Schaffhausen	Vaduz	Neuchâtel Xamax 2:0 Vaduz Vaduz 2:1 Neuchâtel Xamax Neuchâtel Xamax won 3:2 on aggregate	Delémont¹
2004–05	Yverdon-Sport	Vaduz	Schaffhausen 1:1 Vaduz Vaduz 0:1 Schaffhausen Schaffhausen won 2:1 on aggregate	Baden²	Bulle
2005–06	Luzern	Sion	Sion 0:0 Neuchâtel Xamax Neuchâtel Xamax 0:3 Sion Sion won 3:0 on aggregate	Baden	Meyrin
2006–07	Neuchâtel Xamax	Bellinzona	Bellinzona 1:2 Aarau Aarau 3:1 Bellinzona Aarau won 5:2 on aggregate	Baulmes	YF Juventus
2007–08	Vaduz	Bellinzona	Bellinzona 3:2 St. Gallen St. Gallen 0:2 Bellinzona Bellinzona won 5:2 on aggregate	Delémont³ Kriens³	Chiasso Cham
2008–09	St. Gallen	Lugano	Lugano 1:0 Luzern Luzern 5:0 Lugano Luzern won 5:1 on aggregate	Locarno⁴	Gossau⁴
2009–10	Thun	Lugano	Bellinzona 2:1 Lugano Lugano 0:0 Bellinzona Bellinzona won 2:1 on aggregate	Le Mont	Gossau
2010–11	Lausanne	Servette	Bellinzona 1:0 Servette Servette 3:1 Bellinzona Servette won 3:2 on aggregate	Schaffhausen	Yverdon
2011–12	St. Gallen	Aarau	Sion 3:0 Aarau Aarau 1:0 Sion Sion won 3:1 on aggregate	Nyon Carouge Delémont	Kriens Brühl
2012–13	Aarau	Bellinzona		Locarno⁵
2013–14	Vaduz	Lugano		Locarno
2014–15	Lugano	Servette		Biel/Bienne⁶
2015–16	Lausanne	Wil		Biel/Bienne

¹Sion were admitted to the league on October 29, 2003, after the season had already begun which brought the number of teams in the division to 17.
Only one club was relegated and two were promoted to extend the league to 18 clubs for the 2004–05 season.

²Baden were not relegated due to Servette being demoted to 1. Liga because of financial difficulties.
³Delémont and Kriens were also relegated to due the league being downsized to 16 teams for the 2008–09 season.
⁴Locarno and Gossau were not relegated due to Concordia and La Chaux-de-Fonds being denied professional licenses.
⁵Locarno were not relegated due to Bellinzona being denied professional licenses.
⁵Biel/Bienne were not relegated due to Servette being denied professional licenses.

References

↑ "Schweiz » Challenge League » Siegerliste" [Switzerland: Challenge League » List of champions] (in German). Weltfussball.de. Retrieved 26 May 2016.
↑ "Schweiz » Challenge League 2015/2016 » 36. Spieltag" [Switzerland: Challenge League »2015–16] (in German). Weltfussball.de. Retrieved 26 May 2016.

External links

Swiss Challenge League tables & results at soccerway.com

Second level football leagues of Europe (UEFA)

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Defunct	East Germany Serbia and Montenegro Soviet Union Yugoslavia

Football in Switzerland

Swiss Football Association

National teams

Men	National team U-23 U-21 U-20 U-19 U-18 U-17 U-16 Beach soccer Futsal

Women	National team U-20 U-17

League system

Men	Super League (play-off) Challenge League 1. Liga Promotion 1. Liga Classic 2. Liga Interregional 2. Liga 3. Liga 4. Liga 5. Liga

Women	Nationalliga A Nationalliga B

Domestic cups

Men	Swiss Cup Swiss League Cup Swiss Super Cup (defunct) Uhrencup Cup of the Alps

Women	Swiss Women's Cup

Others

Uhrencup

2016–17 Swiss Challenge League

Aarau Chiasso FC Le Mont Neuchâtel Xamax Servette Schaffhausen Wil Winterthur Wohlen Zürich

Swiss Challenge League seasons

1. Liga era, 1931–1944

Seasons	1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44

Nationalliga B era, 1944–2003

Seasons	1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03

Challenge League era, 2003–present

Seasons	2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17

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