After just over a month since finishing the 2014/15 campaign the 2015/16 campaign gets underway this upcoming weekend. If you are new to Swiss football the league contains 10 teams playing each other 4 times across July into May, 2 times at home and the same away. Last season saw Basel record their sixth straight title as they reaffirm their dominance of Swiss football, while Aarau were relegated back to the Challenge League (2nd division) after 2 seasons in the top flight. Replacing in Aarau in the Super League are Lugano from the Italian speaking part of Switzerland who are returning to the top flight after a 13 year absence. Basel The reigning champions of the league have little left to prove domestically as they go in search of their seventh straight league title and their 19th overall. However if Basel are to achieve another league success they will have to do it with a new manager after Paulo Sousa decided to move on to pastures new at the end of last season, despite only spending the one season with the Swiss club. The new man taking the helm at the club is Urs Fischer who arrives with a good reputation in Swiss football having turned Thun (the club he arrives from) into top 4 contenders. Grasshopper After what the club would have perceived to be a poor campaign last season, Grasshopper’s will be looking to bounce back to the heights of two seasons ago where they finished runners-up in the league to Basel. However the club from Zurich have struggled to keep hold of players recently as well as struggling to obtain a licence to play in the league (won on appeal on both occasions). With a number of coming and goings last summer the team found it hard to gel but with limited disruption in the closed season, Grasshoppers may be able to re-establish themselves in the Swiss elite again. Their cause may be helped after bringing in vastly experienced Swedish midfielder Kim Kallstrom into the ranks. My overriding opinion is that should Grasshoppers hit the ground running then a 4th place European spot may be the least they get. Lugano After 13 years out the Super League, Lugano will be looking to fight against the odds and survive in the division. The club may also feel added pressure to do well given that its 5 years since there was a team representing the Italian part of Switzerland in the top flight (Bellinzona 10/11).If Lugano show the same spirit which saw them achieve promotion then I’m sure this season can be a successful one. After Lugano’s league win there was joyous scenes in the town and the club will need that atmosphere to help lift the team over the line in the bigger games this season. I have a feeling they may just stay. Luzern Markus Babbel’s men go into this campaign having narrowly missed out on a place in the upcoming season’s Europa League. However it is worth taking into account that it was still a good position for Luzern as they were fighting a relegation battle until Babbel took over the reins last October and revived their fortunes. This season Luzern should be targeting a top half finish given the stature of the club and under Babbel’s stewardship this is a realistic proposition. Sion The only team in the league that currently represents the French speaking part of Switzerland, Sion are a team that garners mixed opinion. They are also not shy of controversy having experienced transfer bans and a point deduction over recent years. However it’s not been all doom and gloom for Sion over recent years having won the Swiss Cup as well as finishing runner-up to Basel in last season’s competition. Sion do have quality within their ranks but have failed to live up to expectations over recent years, however with the club managing to keep hold of Moussa Konate the club have someone who could hit 20+ goals if given sufficient service. Could be the leagues surprise packages. St Gallen St Gallen will be wanting to bounce back from their second half of the season showing last season that saw the side drop out of the European places into mid-table obscurity, they did however recover in their remaining few games but still missed out on the Europa League. This has me questioning their ability as you do not quite know what team is going to turn up on the day of games, with a dysfunctional one appearing to turn up for half of last season which ultimately put pay to any European football. Jeff Saibene does have decent squad at his disposal with players like former Lyon man Yannis Tafer who can chip in with the odd goals, but St Gallen will need more than just the odd goal to stand a chance this season. Possibly relegation contenders. Thun This season sees a new era ushered in at the Bernese Oberland club as successful manager Urs Fisher leaves the club as he takes up the top job in Swiss football at Basel. His replacement is former Wohlen manager Ciriaco Sforza who guided his club to a 2nd place finish last season (technically 3rd but Servette got demoted at the end of the season) behind eventual champions Lugano. Sforza comes to the club with a wealth of experience having managed Grasshopper in the Super League for a 3 year period up until 2012 as well as having a playing career in Germany with Kaiserslautern and Bayern Munich. Thun will be looking to be competing for European places again this season along with the attractive football that Sforza’s predecessor implemented. Vaduz Vaduz are the only team in the league that are not from Switzerland as they come from one of the countries neighbours due to Liechtenstein not having a professional league in place. Last season saw Vaduz return to the flight after a 5 year absence and stave of relegation in their second to last game with results going their way as Aarau failed to win. I’m predicting another tough season for Vaduz given the limited resources within the club and the inability to attract high calibre players. However another 9th place finish will satisfy the hierarchy this season but will need to rely on the former Manchester United player (although he never made an appearance and creative midfielder Markus Neumayr for them to be able to achieve this. Young Boys After finishing runners-up to Basel last season Uli Forte’s men will be targeting taking the crown from their league rivals and claim their first title since 1985-86 season. The club from the capital are most likely to be Basel’s closest challengers along with Zurich this season given the reasonable strength of their team which includes an attack spearheaded by former Paris Saint-Germain striker Guillaume Hoarau. The former French international was in prolific form last year season scoring 15 in 22 appearances. Along with Hoarau’s presence in the team they also have wingers Renato Steffen and Alexander Gonzalez, both of whom add plenty of creativity to the side. Zurich
Zurich secured 3rd place last year having recovered from a mid-season stutter to overtake Thun on the final day of the season and achieved the opportunity to play Europa League football this upcoming season. As briefly mentioned above Zurich like Young Boys will be Basel’s main challengers for the league this season, with Urs Meier’s being the only club apart from Basel to have won the league in the league in the past 10 years. The reason I believe Zurich will be up there come the end of the season is the foundations the club has in place with virtually a key player in every position including a deadly attack of Mario Gavranović and Yassine Chikhaoui who if they play to their full potential could be the best forward line in the league.
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Last weekend saw Basel claim their sixth successive title, first under Paulo Sousa, after a 0-0 draw at home to 2nd place Young Boys. It would be fair to say the Swiss league has become rather predictable in recent years mainly due to Basel’s dominance, with Zurich being the last team to win the league back in 2009. However it’s not all bad as Switzerland has produced a number of quality players who have earned moves to other countries, most notably Germany, as well as the race for the remaining European competition spots going down to the final games of the season. The top flight currently has 10 teams who battle it out while the second tier, also professional has 10 teams. The league underwent change to this current format at the end of the 2002/03 season having previously 12 teams and until the 2012/13 season there was a relegation/promotion play-off spot which consisted of 9th place in the Super League playing Challenge League runners-up for a place in the top tier. The play-off did give the league some added excitement but now only 1 team comes up and 1 goes down. The reason for writing this is that I feel that the league can and should embrace change given the quality of the league has improved a lot over recent years, especially when you take into account the performances by a number of teams, most notably Basel in the Champions League and Europa League. It appears the league is fast becoming a tired format with all 10 teams playing each other 4 times per season (equalling 36 games in total), which some may argue gives teams consistent revenue playing 18 home games and a number of big teams (Basel and Young Boys). However others, including fans of the league within Switzerland are getting rather bored as there are very few games that give the league excitement. I would propose expanding the league to between 14-16 teams as I think the Country despite its small size can operate successfully with it. By doing this the league in my opinion would enhance its brand reputation over a few seasons meaning more popularity globally and as a result would receive substantial sponsorship deals benefiting both the league as a whole and individual clubs. The expansion would be worth considering now due to the amount of new stadiums built within the last five or so years as well as other clubs commitment to build or upgrade their current stadiums. Below is a list of teams with recently built or planned stadiums Team Stadium Capacity Year built/projected Biel-Bienne Stades des Bienne 6,000 2015 Lausanne Sport Stade de Tuilère 12,000 2019 (projected) Luzern Swissporarena 16,800 2011 Schaffhausen FCS Park 10,000 ??? St Gallen AFG Arena 19,694 2008 Thun Arena Thun (Stockhorn Arena) 10,000 2011 Wil IGP Arena 6,900 Expansion Winterthur Schützenwiese 8,000 Expansion Zurich/Grasshopper Hardrum 20,000/22,000 ??? (Vote later this year) In conclusion the expanding league would see improved competition all areas of the league with potentially a title race consisting of 3 clubs, instead of the usual 1 or 2 horse race. The race for the remaining European places may involve 5 teams fighting it out for about 2 places, while a number of teams would settle for mid table obscurity. Regarding the battle at the bottom there could be a scrap involving up to 7 teams trying to stay into the league.
However for these changes to take place all teams need to be in agreement first and foremost and the fans (season ticket holders/database ticket purchases) should be consulted through a survey. Realistically there needs to be a big increase in TV revenue to allow all teams to compete in the league (obviously won’t be all challenging at the top) and financial rules, possibly more stringent to the ones currently, need to be in place to stop teams going bankrupt. Personally this would be a massive step forward for Swiss football, a league that’s gradually growing, but the question is will we ever see it given the authorities seem to be satisfied with the status-quo. Comment below to get your views heard. |