2023–24 Swiss Challenge League

The 2023–24 Swiss Challenge League (referred to as the Dieci Challenge League for sponsoring reasons) is the 126th season of the second tier of competitive football in Switzerland and the 21st season under its current name.

Swiss Challenge League

Season	2023–24
Dates	21 July 2023 – 20 May 2024
Matches played	180
Biggest home win	6–0 THU–BAD (4 Aug '23)
← 2022–23 2024–25 → All statistics correct as of 1 June 2023.

Overview

Teams

Due to the increased number of teams in the Super League, from ten to twelve,^[1] two teams were directly promoted at the end of the last season and no teams were directly relegated, but third and last placed teams advanced to a promotion and relegation play-off, respectively. The remaining six teams were joined by the best placed eligible teams of the 2022–23 Swiss Promotion League, runners-up Stade Nyonnais and third-placed FC Baden, Stade Nyonnais and Baden returned to second tier after 11 and 17 years absence respectively. Last season's last placed team Neuchâtel Xamax FCS remains in the Challenge League as winners of the relegation play-off,^[2] while losers of the promotion play-off FC Sion were relegated to this season of the Challenge League, Sion returned to Challenge League after 17 years in top tier.^[3]

Schedule

The Swiss Football League (SFL) released a detailed schedule on 7 December 2022.^[4][5] The season will begin on 21 July 2023 and conclude on 20 May 2024. As before, the league will go on winter break after matchday 18 on 17 December 2023 and resume on 26 January 2024. Promotion play-offs are scheduled for the week following the final matchday. The two legs of the promotion play-offs are scheduled for 26 and 31 May 2024, respectively.

The fixtures of the first 18 rounds were drawn and published on 21 June 2023,^[6] together with the match times for the first nine rounds.^[7] Matches of European competitors FC Vaduz may be postponed to Sundays in rounds 7, 8, and 9, subject to their performance in the UEFA Europa Conference League qualifying.^[6]

Teams

Stadia and locations

 

 

Aarau

 

Baden

 

Bellinzona

 

Neuchâtel Xamax

 

Schaffhausen

 

Sion

 

Stade Nyonnais

 

Thun

 

Vaduz

 

Wil

class=notpageimage|

Locations of clubs in the 2023–24 Swiss Challenge League teams

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity	Ref
FC Aarau	Aarau	Stadion Brügglifeld	8,000	^[8]
FC Baden	Fislisbach	Esp Stadium	7,000	^[9]
AC Bellinzona	Bellinzona	Stadio Comunale	5,000	^[10]
FC Stade Nyonnais	Nyon	Stade de Colovray	7,200	^[11]
FC Schaffhausen	Schaffhausen	Berformance Arena	8,200	^[12]
FC Sion	Sion	Stade Tourbillon	14,283	^[13]
FC Thun	Thun	Stockhorn Arena	10,014	^[14]
FC Vaduz	Vaduz	Rheinpark Stadion	7,584	^[15]
FC Wil 1900	Wil	Lidl Arena	6,958	^[16]
Neuchâtel Xamax FCS	Neuchâtel	Stade de la Maladière	11,997	^[17]

Personnel and kits

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Aarau	Alex Frei	Olivier Jäckle	gpard	Credit Suisse
Baden	Otto Kirschberger	Luca Ladner	macron	Badener Tagblatt
Bellinzona	Davide Callà	Dragan Mihajlović	Acerbis
Schaffhausen	Sepp Schultz	Serge Müller	Puma	Methabau
Sion	Didier Tholot	Reto Ziegler	Macron	OIKEN
Nyon	Christophe Caschili	Quentin Gaillard	Adidas
Thun	Mauro Lustrinelli	Marco Bürki	Macron	Schneider Software AG
Vaduz	Martin Stocklasa	Benjamin Büchel	Puma	MBPI
Wil	Brunello Iacopetta	Philipp Muntwiler	ERIMA	Weber und Partner AG LIKA Group AG
Xamax	Uli Forte	Liridon Berisha	Puma	groupe e

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of departure	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment	Ref.
Aarau	Boris Smiljanić	Departure	28 May 2023	Pre-season	Alex Frei	12 June 2023	^[18]^[19]
Bellinzona	Fernando Cocimano (interim)	End of interim period	13 June 2023		Sandro Chieffo	13 June 2023	^[20]
Schaffhausen	Selcuk Sasivari (interim)		14 June 2023		Bigi Meier	14 June 2023	^[21]
Sion	Paolo Tramezzani	Departure	15 June 2023		Didier Tholot	15 June 2023	^[22]

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or qualification
1	Thun	11	7	3	1	24	10	+14	24	Promotion to Swiss Super League
2	Sion	11	7	3	1	20	6	+14	24	Advances to promotion play-offs
3	Wil	11	5	1	5	16	16	0	16
4	Vaduz	11	4	3	4	23	16	+7	15
5	Xamax	11	3	5	3	16	14	+2	14
6	Aarau	11	4	2	5	16	17	−1	14
7	Nyon	11	3	4	4	12	12	0	13
8	Bellinzona	11	2	4	5	6	16	−10	10
9	Baden	11	2	4	5	10	24	−14	10
10	Schaffhausen	11	1	5	5	7	19	−12	8	Relegation to Swiss Promotion League

Updated to match(es) played on 20 October 2023. Source: Swiss Challenge League
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored; 4) Head-to-head goal difference; 5) Head-to-head goals scored 6) Away goals scored; 7) Draw.^[23]

Results

First and second rounds Home \ Away AAR BAD BEL NYO SHA SIO THU VAD WIL XAM Aarau — 1–0 1–2 0–2 3–2 2–3 Baden — 1–1 2–0 1–1 0–4 2–3 0–5 Bellinzona 1–3 — 1–0 0–0 0–3 0–4 0–2 Nyon 1–1 — 2–1 1–2 2–0 1–1 Schaffhausen 1–1 0–0 — 1–1 0–1 1–0 1–3 Sion 1–0 1–1 1–0 — 2–3 3–0 Thun 2–0 6–0 1–1 — 3–1 1–1 Vaduz 2–2 2–1 6–0 0–2 1–1 — 1–1 Wil 0–2 0–0 0–3 3–2 — 2–0 Xamax 1–2 1–1 1–1 3–0 0–3 4–0 — Updated to match(es) played on 22 October 2023. Source: Swiss Football League Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Third and fourth rounds Home \ Away AAR BAD BEL NYO FCS SIO THU VAD WIL XAM Aarau — Baden — Bellinzona — Nyon — Schaffhausen — Sion — Thun — Vaduz — Wil — Xamax — Updated to match(es) played on 30 June 2023. Source: Swiss Football League Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Play-offs

Winner of the play-off is whichever teams scores most in both games (no away goals rule).^[24] In case of a tie at the end of the two games, 30 minutes of extra time (two times 15 minutes) are added, followed by a penalty shoot-out, in case the teams are still tied.

Promotion play-offs

The promotion play-offs will be played in a two-legged match between the eleventh placed team of the Super League and the second placed team of the Challenge League. The two legs of the play-offs are scheduled for 26 and 31 May 2024, respectively.^[4]

References

1. . Swiss Football League. 20 May 2022. Archived from the original on 31 May 2022. Retrieved 2 June 2023.
2. "Xamax hält sich in der Challenge League – Nuzzolo sagt «Adieu»". SRF. 3 June 2023.
3. "Lausanne-Ouchy schickt Sion in die Zweitklassigkeit". SRF. 6 June 2023.
4. "SFL veröffentlicht Datenplan der Saison 2023/24" (in German). Swiss Football League. 7 December 2022. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
5. "Rahmenterminplan 2023/2024" [Calendar 2023/2024] (PDF). Swiss Football League. 7 December 2022. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
6. "SFL veröffentlicht die Spielpläne für die Saison 2023/24" (in German). Swiss Football League. 21 June 2023. Retrieved 22 June 2023.
7. "Spielplan / Calendrier 2023/24" (PDF) (in German). Swiss Football League. 21 June 2023. Retrieved 22 June 2023.
8. "FC Aarau". Swiss Football League. Retrieved 24 July 2023.
9. "FC Baden". Swiss Football League. Retrieved 24 July 2023.
10. "AC Bellinzona". Swiss Football League. Retrieved 24 July 2023.
11. "FC Stade Nyonnais". Swiss Football League. Retrieved 24 July 2023.
12. "FC Schaffhausen". Swiss Football League. Retrieved 24 July 2023.
13. "FC Sion". Swiss Football League. Retrieved 24 July 2023.
14. "FC Thun". Swiss Football League. Retrieved 24 July 2023.
15. "FC Vaduz". Swiss Football League. Retrieved 24 July 2023.
16. "FC Wil 1900". Swiss Football League. Retrieved 24 July 2023.
17. "Neuchâtel Xamax FCS". Swiss Football League. Retrieved 24 July 2023.
18. "Cheftrainer Smiljanic verlässt den FC Aarau". fcaarau.ch (in Swiss High German). FC Aarau. 28 May 2023. Retrieved 2 June 2023.
19. "Alex Frei wird neuer Cheftrainer des FC Aarau". fcaarau.ch (in Swiss High German). FC Aarau. 12 June 2023. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
20. "Conduzione tecnica stagione 23/24" [Technical Leadership Season 23/24]. acbellinzona.ch (in Italian). AC Bellinzona. 20 May 2023. Retrieved 20 May 2023.
21. "André 'Bigi' Meier wird Cheftrainer beim FC Schaffhausen". fcschaffhausen.ch (in German). FC Schaffhausen. 14 June 2023. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
22. "Didier Tholot retrouve le FC Sion !". fcsion.ch (in Swiss French). FC Sion. 15 June 2023. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
23. "Reglement für den Spielbetrieb der SFL" (PDF) (in Swiss High German). Swiss Football League. 1 July 2023. Retrieved 14 August 2023.
24. "Die wichtigsten Infos zu den Barrage-Spielen CSSL vs. DCL". Swiss Football League. 29 May 2023.

External links

• Official website (in German and French)
• Soccerway