2012–13 1. Liga Promotion

1. Liga Promotion
Season2012–13
ChampionsFC Schaffhausen
PromotedFC Schaffhausen
RelegatedFC Fribourg
Yverdon-Sport FC
Matches played240
Goals scored806 (3.36 per match)

The 2012–13 season of the 1. Liga Promotion was the initial season of this league, the 3rd division of Swiss Football and is the third level of the football hierarchy in Switzerland, behind the Super League and the Challenge League. The Championship had 16 teams and each team played 30 games. The champions of this division would be promoted and the last two teams would be relegated.

Formation

In the summer of 2012, the Swiss Football Association restructured their league system. The top tier, Super League, remained unchanged. The second tier, Challenge League, was reduced from 16 to 10 teams. A new division was introcuced to become the new third highest tier. Initially introduced as the 1. Liga Promotion, two years later it would be renamed to Promotion League.[1] The existing 1. Liga was subsequently the fourth tier and renamed to 1. Liga Classic. This reconstruction was done to decrease the competitive gap between the two top tiers by converting the second to a purely professional league. The new Promotion League would therefore serve as the semi-professional link to amateur football.[2] The number of U-21 teams, the eldest youth teams of the Super League clubs, permitted in this division was limited to four (until 2022) and they were not eligible to promotion.[3]

Originally, for its maiden season, six teams were to be relegated after the 2011–12 Challenge League season and ten teams would be promoted from the 1. Liga, which was the division immediately below.[4] However, due to the financial crises under club owner Bulat Tschagajew, the club Neuchâtel Xamax declared bankruptcy on 26 January 2012.[5] The club was consequently excluded from the Super League and demoted to the sixth tier. Therefore, only five teams were relegated and eleven were brought up.[6]

Teams

The five teams relegated from the Challenge League were Stade Nyonnais, Carouge, Delémont, Kriens and Brühl. The four youth teams were Basel U-21, Sion U-21, St. Gallen U-21 and Zürich U-21. The other clubs who won promotion from the 1. Liga were Fribourg, Yverdon-Sport, Old Boys, Breitenrain, Tuggen, Schaffhausen and YF Juventus.

Club Canton Stadium Capacity
Basel U-21 Basel-City Stadion Rankhof or
Youth Campus Basel 		7,000
1,000
FC Breitenrain Bern Bern Spitalacker 1,450
SC Brühl St. Gallen Paul-Grüninger-Stadion 4,200
SR Delémont Jura La Blancherie 5,263
Étoile Carouge FC Geneva Stade de la Fontenette 3,690
FC Fribourg Fribourg Stade Universitaire 9,000
SC Kriens Lucerne Stadion Kleinfeld 5,100
BSC Old Boys Basel-City Stadion Schützenmatte 8,000
FC Schaffhausen Schaffhausen Stadion Breite 7,300
Sion U-21 Valais Stade de Tourbillon 20,200
St. Gallen U-21 St. Gallen Espenmoos or
Kybunpark 		3,000
19,264
FC Stade Nyonnais Vaud Stade de Colovray 7,200
FC Tuggen Schwyz Linthstrasse 2,800
SC YF Juventus Zürich Utogrund 2,850
Yverdon-Sport FC Vaud Stade Municipal 6,600
Zürich U-21 Zürich Sportplatz Heerenschürli 1,120

Final league table

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 FC Schaffhausen 30 21 5 4 75 29 +46 68 Promotion to Challenge League
2 Basel U-21 30 21 5 4 81 38 +43 68 Not eligible to promotion
3 SC Young Fellows Juventus 30 20 6 4 75 29 +46 66
4 Sion U-21 30 13 11 6 57 39 +18 50
5 FC Tuggen 30 15 2 13 59 55 +4 47
6 Zürich U-21 30 11 11 8 58 49 +9 44
7 SC Kriens 30 13 5 12 54 49 +5 44
8 SR Delémont 30 10 8 12 40 43 −3 38
9 BSC Old Boys 30 10 7 13 42 48 −6 37
10 FC Stade Nyonnais 30 8 9 13 43 51 −8 33
11 FC Breitenrain Bern 30 8 9 13 40 63 −23 33
12 SC Brühl 30 8 8 14 40 56 −16 32
13 St. Gallen U-21 30 9 5 16 44 61 −17 32
14 Étoile Carouge FC 30 9 5 16 35 54 −19 32
15 FC Fribourg 30 8 7 15 38 57 −19 31 Relegation to 1. Liga Classic
16 Yverdon-Sport FC 30 2 5 23 25 85 −60 11
Source: RSSSF
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored; 4) Head-to-head points; 5) Away goals scored; 6) Draw.

References

  1. ^ (si) (28 October 2013). "Promotion League: Neuer Name" [Promotion League: New name] (in Swiss High German). Walliser Bote [de]. Retrieved 2023-11-16.
  2. ^ "Die Dreiviertelfrage". Walliser Bote [de] (in German). 6 May 2011.
  3. ^ Swiss Football Verband (SFV) (2021). "Der SFV reformiert die Spielklassenstruktur und baut die Nachwuchsförderung weiter aus" [The SFV is reforming the league structure and further expanding the promotion of young talent] (in Swiss High German). SFV. Retrieved 2023-11-16.
  4. ^ "Challenge League wird reduziert". fussball.ch (in German). 12 November 2010.
  5. ^ Reich, Philipp (23 August 2016). "Wie Bulat Tschagajew Xamax in den Abgrund stürzte" [How Bulat Chagayev plunged Xamax into the abyss] (in German). Watson. Retrieved 2023-11-16.
  6. ^ "Swiss club Xamax bankrupt, Chechen owner arrested - - SI.com". Sportsillustrated.cnn.com. Archived from the original on 2013-04-12. Retrieved 2012-01-27.

Sources