Challenge League
Challenge League | |
Full name | Brack.ch Challenge League |
abbreviation | BCL |
Association | Swiss Football Association |
First edition | 1898 |
hierarchy | 2nd league |
Teams | 10 |
master | Lausanne |
Current season | 2019/20 |
Website | www.sfl.ch |
The Brack.ch Challenge League is the second highest division in Swiss football . Brack.ch has been the new title sponsor since the 2013/14 season , after Dosenbach held this position for one season for the first time in 2009 .
history
Earlier names
Former names of the second highest Swiss football league:
- 1898 - 1922 : Series B
- 1922 - 1930 : Promotion series
- 1930 - 1931 : 2nd division
- 1931 - 1944 : 1. Liga
- 1944 - 2003 : National League B
- 2003 - 2008 : Challenge League
- 2008 - 2009 : Dosenbach Challenge League
- 2009 - 2013 : Challenge League
- since 2013 : Brack.ch Challenge League
Number of teams
At the beginning of the Challenge League in the 2003/04 season, 17 teams played in the league. In the following years the league was increased to 18 teams. In the 2008/09 season, the number of teams was reduced to 16 to make the league more attractive.
Reform of the league for the 2012/13 season
The Swiss Football Association and its Swiss Football League department decided on November 12, 2010 to reform the Challenge League, which was confirmed on May 21, 2011.
For the 2012/13 season, the number of teams was reduced from 16 to 10, and the relegated teams played in a new, Swiss-wide third division, which at the time of its introduction was called the 1st League Promotion and is now called the Promotion League .
TV situation
In order to give the Challenge League a higher priority in Swiss football, a package of measures was drawn up in three areas in the 2007/08 season. This includes the technical operation, communication and marketing of the league. For example, for the first time in the history of the second highest Swiss league, football matches were broadcast live on television ( Swiss sports television ) and on the Internet. This was also continued in the 2008/09 season. In 2008, a main sponsor analogous to the Super League was found, which, however, left after only one season. From the 2012/13 season onwards, the pay TV broadcaster Teleclub broadcast one game live in every round (Monday 7.45 p.m.). As of the 2017/18 season , two games will be broadcast live on the pay TV channel Teleclub and on free TV on Teleclub Zoom. The two encounters take place on Friday and Monday at 8 p.m. The highlights of all games are also shown on Teleclub Zoom in the form of the program "All games, all goals".
Game operation / training league
Since the 2013/14 season, the Challenge League clubs have been allowed to use a maximum of four foreigners in their first team at the same time. The number of non-locally trained players on the match card (with a maximum of 18 places) is limited to nine. The total number of players in each club who are eligible to play in the championship (contingent list) is limited to 21 players in the Brack.ch Challenge League, of which a maximum of 9 players who are not locally trained. The locally trained players under the age of 21 do not count towards the mentioned quota and therefore do not have to be listed on the quota list. Players are considered locally trained - regardless of their nationality or age - if they have been registered with a club of the Swiss Football Association (SFV) for three full seasons between the ages of 15 and 21 or for 36 months .
Game mode
With the new name, a modified mode was introduced in 2003 , according to which two teams played a home and away leg within a week and the results were added up as in the UEFA Cup . The winner of this face-to-face encounter also received two points. However, after only one season this innovation was abolished.
In the Challenge League, 10 teams play against each other in the current ( 2019/20 season ). At the end of the season, the first placed will be promoted to the Raiffeisen Super League , the bottom of the table relegated to the Promotion League . The Challenge League is played in the league system and a double round. Each club meets each opponent four times, twice in front of their home crowd, twice away. In total, each club plays 36 games per season.
Teams
The teams' venues in the 2020/21 season |
The following 10 teams will play in the Challenge League in the 2020/21 season :
team | Trainer | Stadion | capacity | Placement season 2019/20 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
FC Aarau | Stephan Keller | Brügglifeld Stadium | 8,000 | 8th. | |
FC Chiasso | Alessandro Lupi | Stadio Comunale Riva IV | 5,000 | 10th, no relegation | |
SC Kriens | Bruno Berner | Kleinfeld Stadium | 5,100 | 4th | |
FC Stade Lausanne-Ouchy | Andrea Binotto | Center sportif de Colovray ( Nyon ) | 4,200 | 7th | |
FC Schaffhausen | Murat Yakin | LIPO Park Schaffhausen | 8,085 | 9. | |
FC Thun | Marc Schneider | Stockhorn Arena | 10,398 | 9. Super League , relegated | |
FC Wil | Ciriaco Sforza | IPG Arena | 6,010 | 6th | |
FC Winterthur | Ralf Loose | Schützenwiese stadium | 9'450 | 5. | |
Grasshopper Club Zurich | João Carlos Pereira | Letzigrund | 26,104 | 3. | |
Neuchâtel Xamax | Stéphane Henchoz | Stade de la Maladière | 12,000 | 10. Super League , relegated |
Promoted to the Super League
year | Climbers | Barrage participant | Barrage result |
---|---|---|---|
2004 | FC Schaffhausen | FC Vaduz | lost (0: 2, 2: 1) against Neuchâtel Xamax |
2005 | Yverdon-Sport FC | FC Vaduz | lost (1: 1, 0: 1) against FC Schaffhausen |
2006 | FC Luzern | FC Sion | promoted (0-0, 3-0) against Neuchâtel Xamax |
2007 | Neuchâtel Xamax | AC Bellinzona | lost (1: 2, 1: 3) against FC Aarau |
2008 | FC Vaduz | AC Bellinzona | promoted (3: 2, 2: 0) against FC St. Gallen |
2009 | FC St. Gallen | FC Lugano | lost (1: 0, 0: 5) against FC Luzern |
2010 | FC Thun | FC Lugano | lost (1: 2, 0: 0) against AC Bellinzona |
2011 | FC Lausanne Sports | Servette FC | promoted (0: 1, 3: 1) against AC Bellinzona |
2012 | FC St. Gallen | FC Aarau | lost (0: 3, 1: 0) against FC Sion |
2013 | FC Aarau | no barrage | |
2014 | FC Vaduz | no barrage | |
2015 | FC Lugano | no barrage | |
2016 | FC Lausanne Sports | no barrage | |
2017 | FC Zurich | no barrage | |
2018 | Neuchâtel Xamax | no barrage | |
2019 | Servette FC | FC Aarau | lost (4: 0, 0: 4 n.v., 4: 5 p. E.) against Neuchâtel Xamax |
2020 | FC Lausanne Sports | FC Vaduz | promoted (2: 0, 3: 4) against FC Thun |
Web links
supporting documents
- ↑ Dosenbach takes over the naming of the Challenge League ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 317 kB)
- ^ Swiss Football League: "Challenge League will be reduced" , media release of May 21, 2011
- ↑ Swiss Football League: Challenge League on the offensive - for the first time a football game from the second highest league on television at the same time , media release from February 12, 2008
- ↑ TV situation from 2017/18 sfl.ch
- ↑ Teleclub Zoom - Teleclub's free TV channel - also via web player. Retrieved August 9, 2017 .
- ↑ REGULATIONS FOR THE GAME OPERATION OF THE SFL ( Memento from August 8, 2014 in the Internet Archive )