2011–12 Swiss Super League

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]

Swiss Super League
Season2011–12
ChampionsBasel
15th title
RelegatedNeuchâtel Xamax
Champions LeagueBasel
Europa LeagueLuzern
Young Boys
Servette
Matches played162
Goals scored405 (2.5 per match)
Top goalscorerAlexander Frei (24 goals)
Biggest home winZürich 6–0 Grasshopper
Basel 6–0 Lausanne
Biggest away winServette 0–4 Basel
Sion 0–4 Servette
Highest scoringBasel 6–3 Grasshopper

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.

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 Geneva. 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.

Stadia and locations
Location of teams in the 2011–12 Swiss Super League
Club Location Stadium Capacity
FC BaselBaselSt. Jakob-Park38,512
Grasshopper Club ZürichZurichLetzigrund23,605
FC Lausanne-SportLausanneStade Olympique de la Pontaise15,850
FC LuzernLucerneSwissporarena17,500
Neuchâtel XamaxNeuchâtelStade de la Maladière12,000
Servette FCGenevaStade de Genève30,084
FC SionSionStade Tourbillon16,500
FC ThunThunArena Thun10,000
Young BoysBernWankdorf31,783
FC ZürichZürichLetzigrund23,605

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 UEFA Champions League Second qualifying round
2 Luzern 34 14 12 8 46 32 +14 54 Qualification to UEFA Europa League Play-off round[lower-alpha 1]
3 Young Boys 34 13 12 9 52 38 +14 51 Qualification to UEFA Europa League Second qualifying round[lower-alpha 1]
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 Club Zürich 34 7 5 22 32 66 −34 26
9 Sion (O) 34 15 8 11 40 35 +5 17[lower-alpha 2] Qualification to Relegation play-offs
10 Neuchâtel Xamax (D) 18 7 5 6 22 22 0 26[lower-alpha 3] Demotion to the 2. Liga interregional
Source: RSSSF
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champion; (D) Disqualified; (O) Play-off winner.
Notes:
  1. 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.
  2. Sion were deducted 36 points for fielding ineligible players.[3]
  3. 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.[4] The first-half results of the club will be kept while any matches in spring involving Xamax were cancelled.[5]

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.

Sion2–0Aarau
Winter  58', 81' Report
Attendance: 10,800
Aarau1–0Sion
Gashi  55' Report
Attendance: 8,800
Referee: Patrick Graf

Sion won 2–1 on aggregate.

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.[5]

Top goalscorers
Rank Player Club Goals[6]
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

References
  1. "Datenplan 2011/12" (PDF). Swiss Football League. Archived (PDF) from the original on 26 May 2011. Retrieved 26 May 2011.
  2. "UEFA Country Ranking 2011". Bert Kassies. Retrieved 14 April 2011.
  3. "FC Sion 15-point penalty ends Man Utd hopes of European reprieve". BBC News. 30 December 2011. Retrieved 30 December 2011.
  4. "Disziplinarkommission entzieht NE Xamax die Lizenz". Official website (in German). Swiss Football League. Retrieved 19 January 2012.
  5. "Resultate / Ranglisten - Axpo Super League". Official website (in German). Swiss Football League. Retrieved 19 January 2012.
  6. Swiss Football League goalscorers list
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