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.
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