2011–12 Swiss Super League
115th season of top-tier Swiss football
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The 2011–12 Swiss Super League season was the 115th season of top-tier football in Switzerland. It began on 16 July 2011 and ended on 23 May 2012.[1]
| Season | 2011–12 |
|---|---|
| Dates | 16 July 2011 – 23 May 2012 |
| Champions | Basel 15th title |
| Relegated | Neuchâtel Xamax |
| Champions League | Basel |
| Europa League | Luzern Young Boys Servette |
| Matches | 162 |
| Goals | 405 (2.5 per match) |
| Top goalscorer | Alexander Frei (24 goals) |
| Biggest home win | Zürich 6–0 Grasshopper Basel 6–0 Lausanne |
| Biggest away win | Servette 0–4 Basel Sion 0–4 Servette |
| Highest scoring | Basel 6–3 Grasshopper |
← 2010–11 2012–13 → | |
Basel successfully defended their title. No team was directly relegated after Neuchâtel Xamax were expelled midway through the season over severe financial irregularities.
The league comprised the best eight sides from the 2010–11 season, the 2010–11 Swiss Challenge League champions Lausanne-Sport, and Servette, the winners of the relegation/promotion play-off between the ninth-placed Super League team and the Challenge League runners-up.
Since Switzerland dropped from thirteenth to sixteenth place in the UEFA association coefficient rankings at the end of the 2010–11 season,[2] the league lost its second spot for the UEFA Champions League. The league champions will now enter the second qualifying round of the 2012–13 tournament, while the runners-up and third-placed sides will enter the second qualifying round of the 2012–13 UEFA Europa League.
Season events
Teams
FC St. Gallen were relegated after finishing in last place of the table after the 2010–11 season. The club thus completed a two-year tenure in the Super League. St. Gallen were replaced by 2010–11 Challenge League champions FC Lausanne-Sport, who returned to the highest football league of Switzerland after a nine-year absence.[3]
A further spot in the league was contested in a relegation/promotion playoff between ninth-placed AC Bellinzona and Challenge League runners-up Servette FC from Guinevere. Both teams played a two-legged series, which was won by Servette, 3–2 on aggregate. The Geneva side thus returned to the Super League after six years, while Bellinzona were relegated to the Challenge League after three years in the highest Swiss football league.[4]
Stadia and locations
| Club | Location | Stadium | Capacity |
|---|---|---|---|
| FC Basel | Basel | St. Jakob-Park | 38,512 |
| Grasshopper Club Zürich | Zürich | Letzigrund | 23,605 |
| FC Lausanne-Sport | Lausanne | Stade Olympique de la Pontaise | 15,850 |
| FC Luzern | Lucerne | Swissporarena | 17,500 |
| Neuchâtel Xamax | Neuchâtel | Stade de la Maladière | 12,000 |
| Servette FC | Geneva | Stade de Genève | 30,084 |
| FC Sion | Sion | Stade Tourbillon | 16,500 |
| FC Thun | Thun | Arena Thun | 10,000 |
| Young Boys | Bern | Wankdorf | 31,783 |
| FC Zürich | Zürich | Letzigrund | 23,605 |
League table
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Basel (C) | 34 | 22 | 8 | 4 | 78 | 32 | +46 | 74 | Qualification to Champions League second qualifying round |
| 2 | Luzern | 34 | 14 | 12 | 8 | 46 | 32 | +14 | 54 | Qualification to Europa League play-off round[a] |
| 3 | Young Boys | 34 | 13 | 12 | 9 | 52 | 38 | +14 | 51 | Qualification to Europa League second qualifying round[a] |
| 4 | Servette | 34 | 14 | 6 | 14 | 45 | 53 | −8 | 48 | |
| 5 | Thun | 34 | 11 | 10 | 13 | 38 | 41 | −3 | 43 | |
| 6 | Zürich | 34 | 11 | 8 | 15 | 43 | 44 | −1 | 41 | |
| 7 | Lausanne-Sport | 34 | 8 | 6 | 20 | 29 | 61 | −32 | 30 | |
| 8 | Grasshopper | 34 | 7 | 5 | 22 | 32 | 66 | −34 | 26 | |
| 9 | Sion (O) | 34 | 15 | 8 | 11 | 40 | 35 | +5 | 17[b] | Qualification to relegation play-offs |
| 10 | Neuchâtel Xamax (D, R) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0[c] | Demotion to the 2. Liga interregional |
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions; (D) Disqualified; (O) Play-off winners; (R) Relegated
Notes:
- Because 2011–12 Swiss Cup winners Basel qualified for the Champions League, and runners-up Luzern qualified for the Europa League through league position, the distribution of the Europa League spots reverted to league position.
- Neuchâtel Xamax's license was revoked with immediate effect and they were expelled from the Swiss Football League on 18 January 2012 after not providing necessary financial documents and guarantees.[6] The first-half results of the club will be kept while any matches in spring involving Xamax were cancelled & all results were cancelled.[7]
Results
All ten clubs played twice against each other during the first half of the season, once at home and once away, for a total of 18 matches. As Neuchâtel Xamax had their license revoked during the winter break, the club's second-half matches were entirely cancelled. The second half of the season thus was competed by only nine clubs, which played another double round-robin schedule; each of these nine clubs hence had played 34 matches at the end of the season.[7]
First half of season |
Second half of season
|
Relegation play-offs
The ninth-placed Super League team played a two-legged play-off against the 2011–12 Challenge League runners-up for a spot in the 2012–13 season.[8]
Sion won 2–1 on aggregate.
Top goalscorers
| Rank | Player | Club | Goals[9] |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Alexander Frei |
Basel | 24 |
| 2 | Marco Streller |
Basel | 13 |
| 3 |  Emmanuel Mayuka |
Young Boys | 9 |
 Vilmos Vanczák |
Sion | 9 | |
| Xherdan Shaqiri |
Basel | 9 | |
| Matías Vitkieviez |
Servette / YB | 9 | |
| 7 | Goran Karanović |
Servette | 8 |
 Matt Moussilou |
Lausanne-Sport | 8 | |
| Christian Schneuwly |
Thun | 8 | |
 Ishmael Yartey |
Servette | 8 | |
| Steven Zuber |
Grasshopper | 8 |
- Updated 23 May 2012
- Source Swiss Football League
Attendances
Source:[10]
| # | Club | Average attendance | Highest attendance |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Basel | 29,775 | 36,000 |
| 2 | Young Boys | 21,104 | 31,120 |
| 3 | Luzern | 14,180 | 17,000 |
| 4 | Servette | 10,697 | 21,821 |
| 5 | Zürich | 10,512 | 16,800 |
| 6 | Sion | 10,276 | 15,300 |
| 7 | Lausanne-Sport | 6,269 | 8,800 |
| 8 | Thun | 6,100 | 10,000 |
| 9 | GCZ | 5,659 | 15,000 |
| 10 | Xamax | 4,149 | 5,887 |