The 2023–24 Swiss Super League (referred to as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsoring reasons) was the 127th season of top-tier competitive football in Switzerland and the 21st under its current name. It was the first season under its current name featuring twelve teams (increased from ten in previous season) and a new format.[1][2]Young Boys were the defending champions.
Overview
Format
Since rebranding and restructuring the National League A to the Super League, starting with the 2003–04 season, the league had been running under the same format and the same number of teams. This season was thus the first season of the Super League under a new format.[2] It also returned to having twelve teams in the highest Swiss football tier.[1]
The season was divided into two phases:
In the first phase all twelve teams played each other three times each, for a total of 33 matchdays.
Following that, the league was split into two groups of six each, one championship group and one relegation group.
Each team played every other team in their group one time (five matches each), for a total of 38 matchdays.
The championship group played for the title of Swiss Football Champion and qualification for European championships.
The relegation group played against relegation (last place) and qualification for the relegation play-off (second-to-last place).
Points won in the first phase were carried over to the second phase.
Schedule
The Swiss Football League (SFL) released a detailed schedule on 7 December 2022.[3][4] The season began on 22 July 2023 and concluded on 25 May 2024. The league paused for the winter break after matchday 18 on 17 December 2023, and resumed on 20 January 2024. The first phase concluded with matchday 33 on 21 April 2024, and the second phase started two weeks later, on 4 May 2024. The final matchday of the relegation group took place on 21 May 2024, while the championship group held its last matches on 25 May 2024. The two legs of the relegation play-offs were played on 26 and 31 May 2024, respectively.
The fixtures of the first 22 rounds were drawn and published on 21 June 2023,[5] together with the match times for the first eleven rounds.[6] Match times of rounds 12–22 were published on 8 September 2023.[7] Fixtures and match times for the final eleven round of the regular season were published on 20 December 2023.[8] The matches of the final matchday of the regular season were played concurrently on 21 April 2024.
Following the 32nd matchday, the participants of the Championship and Relegation Groups were decided. As a result, the fixtures for the final phase of the season were announced on 18 April 2024,[9] before the final matchday of the regular season.
Teams
Changes
Due to the increased number of teams, no teams were directly relegated at the end of the previous season and two teams were directly promoted from the Challenge League.
Challenge League champions Yverdon-Sport FC,[10] and runners-up FC Lausanne-Sport[11] achieved direct promotion. Stade Lausanne Ouchy beat FC Sion in the promotion/relegation play-off to replace them in the top league of Switzerland.[12] Yverdon Sport had most recently played in the top flight in the 2005–06 season, while Lausanne Sport returned to the Super League after only one season in the second tier being relegated in the 2021–22 season and Lausanne Ouchy play in Super League for the first time in history from this season.
^Stade-Lausanne-Ouchy's home stadium Stade Juan-Antonio-Samaranch in Lausanne can not accommodate SLO for the Super League. SLO will play at the Stade Olympique de la Pontaise in Lausanne.[13]
^Yverdon-Sport played their home games at the Stade de la Maladière in Neuchâtel until the end of September 2023, when changes to make the Stade Municipal Super League ready are completed.[21] They return to their regular home ground on 24 September 2023.[22]
Source: Swiss Football League Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
Matches 34–38
After 33 matches, the league split into two groups of six teams. The top six were grouped into the championship group and the bottom six into the relegation group, with the teams playing every other team in their group once (either at home or away).[2] The exact matches were determined by the position of the teams in the league table at the time of the split.
Source: Swiss Football League Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
Relegation play-off
The relegation play-off was played in a two-legged game between the eleventh placed team of the Super League (5th of the relegation group) and the second placed team of the Challenge League. The two legs of the relegation play-offs were scheduled for 26 and 31 May 2024, respectively.[3]
The winner of the play-off was whichever team scored most in both games (no away goals rule).[45] In case of a tie at the end of the two games, 30 minutes of extra time (two times 15 minutes) were added, followed by a penalty shoot-out, in case the teams were still tied.