2012–13 Swiss Challenge League

The 2012–13 Swiss Challenge League was the tenth season of the Swiss Challenge League, the second tier of the Swiss football league pyramid. It began on 14 July 2012^[2] and ended on 2 June 2013.

Swiss Challenge League

Season	2012–13
Champions	Aarau
Promoted	Aarau
Relegated	Bellinzona
Matches played	180
Goals scored	523 (2.91 per match)
Top goalscorer	Armando Sadiku (20 goals)
Biggest home win	Bellinzona 8–0 Wil
Biggest away win	Locarno 0–5 Winterthur
Highest scoring	Vaduz 5–3 Aarau Aarau 5–3 Wohlen Bellinzona 8–0 Wil Locarno 2–6 Bellinzona
Longest winning run	6 games Aarau
Longest unbeaten run	14 games Bellinzona
Longest winless run	10 games Lugano
Longest losing run	7 games Locarno
Highest attendance	6,100 Aarau 3–3 Wohlen
Lowest attendance	203 Biel-Bienne 7–0 Wohlen
Average attendance	1,454[1]
← 2011–12 2013–14 →

Teams

2011–12 Challenge League champions St. Gallen were promoted to the 2012–13 Super League. They weren't replaced by another team due to Neuchâtel Xamax being demoted to the 4th tier of Swiss football for financial irregularities. 2011–12 Challenge League runners-up Aarau had to compete in a promotion/relegation playoff against 9th-placed Super League team Sion and remained in the Challenge League after losing 3–1 on aggregate.

The bottom five teams – Stade Nyonnais, Étoile Carouge, Delémont, Kriens and Brühl – were relegated to the newly formed 1. Liga Promotion with no teams replaced them due to the Challenge League reducing from 16 to 10 teams.

Aarau

Biel/Bienne

Chiasso

Bellinzona

Locarno

Lugano

Vaduz

Wil

Winterthur

Wohlen

Locations of the 2012–13 Challenge League clubs

Club	City	Stadium	2011–12 season
FC Aarau	Aarau, Aargau	Stadion Brügglifeld	2nd in Challenge League
AC Bellinzona	Bellinzona, Ticino	Stadio Comunale	3rd in Challenge League
FC Biel/Bienne	Biel/Bienne, Bern	Gurzelen Stadion	10th in Challenge League
FC Chiasso	Chiasso, Ticino	Stadio Comunale	7th in Challenge League
FC Locarno	Locarno, Ticino	Stadio del Lido	9th in Challenge League
FC Lugano	Lugano, Ticino	Cornaredo Stadium	5th in Challenge League
FC Vaduz	Vaduz, Liechtenstein	Rheinpark Stadion	8th in Challenge League
FC Wil 1900	Wil, St. Gallen	Stadion Bergholz	6th in Challenge League
FC Winterthur	Winterthur, Zürich	Stadion Schützenwiese	4th in Challenge League
FC Wohlen	Wohlen, Aargau	Stadion Niedermatten	11th in Challenge League

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Aarau (C)	36	24	6	6	76	40	+36	78	Promotion to 2013–14 Swiss Super League
2	Bellinzona (D, R)	36	21	8	7	62	37	+25	64	Relegation to 2013–14 1. Liga Promotion[a]
3	Winterthur	36	19	5	12	61	43	+18	62
4	Wil	36	15	6	15	59	65	−6	51
5	Biel-Bienne	36	13	8	15	59	59	0	47
6	Chiasso	36	13	8	15	42	51	−9	47
7	Lugano	36	11	11	14	52	50	+2	44
8	Wohlen	36	9	12	15	39	58	−19	39
9	Vaduz	36	10	7	19	41	52	−11	37	Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round
10	Locarno	36	5	9	22	32	68	−36	24

Source: Swiss Challenge League (in German)
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions; (D) Disqualified; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Due to financial irregularities, AC Bellinzona was discounted seven points and were ultimately relegated at the end of the season. FC Locarno was thus not relegated in spite of their last-place finish.

Results

Teams played each other four times (twice home and twice away) over the course of the season, home and away, for a total of 36 matches per team.

First and Second Round Home \ Away AAR BEL BB CHI LOC LUG VAD WIL WIN WOH Aarau 0–1 4–1 0–0 1–1 3–1 2–1 4–2 3–1 5–3 Bellinzona 1–2 3–2 1–0 2–1 3–1 1–0 2–3 1–5 1–0 Biel-Bienne 5–1 1–2 3–1 1–1 1–1 4–2 3–0 3–2 2–0 Chiasso 0–1 3–2 1–1 1–0 2–1 0–1 2–3 0–1 1–3 Locarno 0–1 0–2 2–2 1–3 0–3 0–1 0–3 0–5 1–0 Lugano 3–3 0–1 4–0 0–0 0–0 3–1 3–1 1–2 4–1 Vaduz 5–3 0–0 2–2 0–0 2–0 1–0 1–2 1–0 5–0 Wil 0–3 0–1 2–0 4–1 3–1 1–1 3–1 4–0 0–1 Winterthur 0–0 1–0 4–1 1–1 2–1 3–1 2–0 2–3 0–1 Wohlen 0–1 0–0 0–0 0–1 0–0 1–1 1–0 3–3 1–1 Source: Swiss Challenge League (in German) Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Third and Fourth Round Home \ Away AAR BEL BB CHI LOC LUG VAD WIL WIN WOH Aarau 0–1 6–0 1–0 3–0 3–2 1–0 2–1 3–1 3–3 Bellinzona 2–2 2–0 1–3 0–0 0–0 0–0 8–0 3–1 2–2 Biel-Bienne 0–2 0–1 5–2 4–0 0–1 2–1 1–2 2–4 7–0 Chiasso 2–1 1–1 2–0 3–1 0–2 2–1 2–2 0–1 0–3 Locarno 0–3 2–6 0–1 1–2 0–3 0–1 2–3 2–1 1–2 Lugano 0–2 4–3 1–2 2–0 1–1 3–3 2–3 0–2 2–0 Vaduz 1–3 1–2 0–0 1–2 0–3 0–1 0–2 1–1 1–2 Wil 0–1 2–3 0–1 0–1 2–2 1–1 2–3 1–0 1–2 Winterthur 1–0 0–2 2–2 3–1 2–3 2–1 2–0 3–0 1–0 Wohlen 1–3 0–1 1–0 2–2 2–2 1–1 1–3 0–0 0–2 Source: Swiss Challenge League (in German) Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Season statistics

Top scorers Rank Player Club Goals[3] 1 Armando Sadiku Lugano 20 2 Davide Callà Aarau 19 3 Luís Pimenta Chiasso 14 4 Patrick Bengondo Winterthur 12 Kristian Kuzmanović Winterthur 12 6 Charles-André Doudin Biel-Bienne 11 Sven Lüscher Winterthur / Aarau 11 Giuseppe Morello Biel-Bienne 11 Drilon Pacarizi Locarno 11 10 Matar Coly Biel-Bienne 9 Stefano Milani Wohlen 9 Landry Mouangue Wil 9

Assists Rank Player Club Assists[4] 1 Markus Neumayr Bellinzona 15 2 Sven Lüscher Winterthur / Aarau 14 3 Davide Callà Aarau 13 4 Charles-André Doudin Biel-Bienne 11 Dante Senger Aarau 11 Alain Schultz Aarau 11 7 Pascal Cerrone Wil 9 Matar Coly Biel-Bienne 9 Steven Ukoh Biel-Bienne 9 10 Carlos da Silva Lugano 8 Martin Steuble Wil 8

Hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date
Matar Coly	Biel-Bienne	Vaduz	4–2[5]	19 August 2012
Adis Jahović	Wil	Chiasso	4–1[5]	19 August 2012
Davide Callà	Aarau	Wohlen	5–3[6]	28 October 2012
Kristian Kuzmanović	Winterthur	Bellinzona	5–1[7]	4 November 2012
Giuseppe Morello	Biel-Bienne	Aarau	5–1	5 November 2012
Landry Mouangue	Wil	Winterthur	4–0[8]	2 December 2012
Silvan Widmer	Aarau	Wohlen	3–1	1 April 2013
Pascal Schürpf	Bellinzona	Wil	8–0	18 April 2013
Sani Emmanuel	Biel-Bienne	Wohlen	7–0	12 May 2013

Scoring

• First goal of the season: Gezim Shalaj for Lugano against Wil (14 July 2012)
• Fastest goal of the season: Mirko Facchinetti for Chiasso against Bellinzona (27 August 2012)
• Largest winning margin: 8 goals
  • Bellinzona 8–0 Wil (18 April 2013)
• Highest scoring game: 8 goals
  • Vaduz 5–3 Aarau (6 August 2012)
  • Aarau 5–3 Wohlen (28 October 2012)
  • Bellinzona 8–0 Wil (18 April 2013)
  • Locarno 2–6 Bellinzona (8 May 2013)
• Most goals scored by a single team: 8 goals
  • Bellinzona 8–0 Wil (18 April 2013)
• Most goals scored by a losing team: 3 goals
  • Vaduz 5–3 Aarau (6 August 2012)
  • Aarau 5–3 Wohlen (28 October 2012)
  • Lugano 4–3 Bellinzona (2 June 2013)

Clean sheets

• Most clean sheets: 15
  • Bellinzona
• Fewest clean sheets: 4
  • Locarno

Discipline

• Most yellow cards (club): 86
  • Chiasso
• Most yellow cards (player): 14
  • Pietro Di Nardo (Biel-Bienne)
• Most red cards (club): 10
  • Chiasso
• Most red cards (player): 2
  • Marko Bašić (Lugano)
  • Igor Djuric (Chiasso)
  • Cha Jong-Hyok (Wil)
  • Charles-André Doudin (Biel-Bienne)
  • Emiliano Dudar (Chiasso)
  • Pavel Pergl (Bellinzona)
  • Mirko Quaresima (Chiasso)