The 2011–12 Swiss Challenge League was the ninth season of the Swiss Challenge League, the second tier of the Swiss football league pyramid. It began on 22 July 2011[1] and ended on 23 May 2012. The champions of this season, St. Gallen, earned promotion to the 2012–13 Super League. The runners-up Aarau lost the promotion/relegation playoff against the 9th-placed team of the 2011–12 Super League, FC Sion. The bottom five teams, Stade Nyonnais, Étoile Carouge, Delémont, Kriens and Brühl were all relegated to partly form the newly created 1. Liga Promotion.
| Season | 2011–12 |
|---|---|
| Champions | St. Gallen |
| Promoted | St. Gallen |
| Relegated | Stade Nyonnais Étoile Carouge Delémont Kriens Brühl |
| Matches played | 240 |
| Goals scored | 713 (2.97 per match) |
| Top goalscorer | Armando Sadiku (19) |
| Biggest home win | Aarau 7–0 Biel-Bienne |
| Biggest away win | Brühl 0–6 Locarno |
| Highest scoring | Kriens 7–1 Brühl / Biel-Bienne 3–5 Vaduz |
← 2010–11 2012–13 → | |
Teams
edit2010–11 Challenge League champions FC Lausanne-Sport were promoted to the 2011–12 Super League. They were replaced by St. Gallen, who were relegated after finishing the 2010–11 Super League in last place. 2010–11 Challenge League runners-up Servette had to compete in a promotion/relegation playoff against 9th-placed Super League team AC Bellinzona and were promoted (hence exchanging leagues) after winning 3–2 on aggregate.
FC Schaffhausen as 15th-placed team and last-placed Yverdon-Sport FC were relegated after the 2010–11 season. They were replaced by SC Brühl and Étoile Carouge FC, who were promoted from 1. Liga.
League table
edit| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion or relegation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | St. Gallen (C, P) | 30 | 19 | 7 | 4 | 67 | 31 | +36 | 64 | Promoted to 2012–13 Swiss Super League |
| 2 | Aarau | 30 | 18 | 5 | 7 | 64 | 34 | +30 | 59 | Qualification for Promotion play-off |
| 3 | Bellinzona | 30 | 18 | 5 | 7 | 49 | 21 | +28 | 59 | |
| 4 | Winterthur | 30 | 15 | 8 | 7 | 44 | 29 | +15 | 53 | |
| 5 | Lugano | 30 | 14 | 7 | 9 | 44 | 38 | +6 | 49 | |
| 6 | Wil | 30 | 12 | 10 | 8 | 59 | 41 | +18 | 46 | |
| 7 | Chiasso | 30 | 11 | 12 | 7 | 34 | 23 | +11 | 45 | |
| 8 | Vaduz | 30 | 13 | 6 | 11 | 54 | 45 | +9 | 45 | |
| 9 | Locarno | 30 | 12 | 9 | 9 | 47 | 44 | +3 | 45 | |
| 10 | Biel-Bienne | 30 | 12 | 7 | 11 | 55 | 54 | +1 | 43 | |
| 11 | Wohlen | 30 | 9 | 9 | 12 | 39 | 44 | −5 | 36 | |
| 12 | Stade Nyonnais (R) | 30 | 8 | 10 | 12 | 41 | 49 | −8 | 34 | Relegation to 2012–13 1. Liga Promotion |
| 13 | Étoile Carouge (R) | 30 | 8 | 6 | 16 | 25 | 56 | −31 | 30 | |
| 14 | Delémont (R) | 30 | 4 | 8 | 18 | 24 | 60 | −36 | 20 | |
| 15 | Kriens (R) | 30 | 4 | 5 | 21 | 37 | 66 | −29 | 17 | |
| 16 | Brühl (R) | 30 | 4 | 4 | 22 | 30 | 78 | −48 | 16 |
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated
Results
editTeams played each other twice over the course of the season, home and away, for a total of 30 matches per team.
Relegation play-offs
editThe ninth-placed team in the 2011–12 Swiss Super League, Sion, played a two-legged play-off against the Challenge League runners-up, Aarau, for a spot in the 2012–13 Super League.
Sion won 2–1 on aggregate.
Top scorers
edit| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Armando Sadiku
|
Locarno | 19 |
| 2 |  Shkëlzen Gashi
|
Aarau | 17 |
| Moreno Merenda
|
Vaduz | 17 | |
| Igor Tadić
|
Kriens | 17 | |
| 5 |  Adis Jahović
|
Wil | 16 |
| 6 |  Ezequiel Scarione
|
St. Gallen | 15 |
| 7 | Alessandro Ciarrocchi
|
Bellinzona | 14 |
 Odirlei de Souza Gaspar
|
Wohlen | 14 | |
 Giuseppe Morello
|
Biel-Bienne | 14 | |
| 10 |  Džengis Čavušević
|
Wil | 13 |
| 11 |  Frédéric Besseyre
|
Stade Nyonnais | 11 |
| Remo Staubli
|
Aarau | 11 | |
| 13 |  Franck Etoundi
|
St. Gallen | 10 |
| Gastón Magnetti
|
Bellinzona | 10 | |
| Marco Mathys
|
St. Gallen | 10 |
- Updated 4 July 2012
- Source Soccerway
References
edit- ^ "Challenge League – Results and fixtures". Soccerway. Retrieved 5 July 2012.
External links
edit- (in German and French) Swiss Challenge League
- Soccerway