2017–18 Swiss Challenge League

The 2017–18 Swiss Challenge League (referred to as the Brack.ch Challenge League for sponsoring reasons) is the 15th season of the Swiss Challenge League, the second tier of competitive football in Switzerland, under its current name. The season started on 21 July 2017 and is scheduled to end on 21 May 2018.^[1] The winter break began on 11 December 2017 and the league resumed on 2 February 2018.

Swiss Challenge League

Season	2017–18
Champions	Neuchatel Xamax
Promoted	Neuchatel Xamax
Relegated	Wohlen
Europa League	Vaduz
Matches played	360
Goals scored	86 (0.24 per match)
Biggest home win	Schaffhausen 6–0 Rapperswil-Jona (24 July 2017)
Biggest away win	Wohlen 1–4 Schaffhausen (31 July 2017)
Highest scoring	Schaffhausen 6–0 Rapperswil-Jona (24 July 2017)
Longest winning run	Schaffhausen (6 games)
Longest unbeaten run	Neuchâtel Xamax (21 games)
Longest winless run	Aarau (6 games)
Longest losing run	Wohlen (4 games)
← 2016–17 2018–19 → All statistics correct as of 21 July 2018.

Participating teams

A total of 10 teams participate in the league. 2016–17 Swiss Challenge League champions Zürich were promoted to the 2017–18 Swiss Super League. They were replaced by FC Vaduz, who got relegated after finishing last-placed in the 2016–17 Swiss Super League. Le Mont was relegated after failing to renew their licence. They were replaced by Rapperswil-Jona, who won promotion from the 2016–17 Swiss Promotion League.

Stadia and locations

Aarau

Chiasso

Neuchâtel Xamax

Rapperswil-Jona

Schaffhausen

Servette

Vaduz

Wil

Winterthur

Wohlen

Locations of clubs in the 2017–18 Challenge League

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity
Aarau	Aarau	Stadion Brügglifeld	8,000
Chiasso	Chiasso	Stadio Comunale Riva IV	5,000
Neuchâtel Xamax	Neuchâtel	Stade de la Maladière	12,000
Rapperswil-Jona	Rapperswil-Jona	Stadion Grünfeld	2,500
Servette	Geneva	Stade de Genève	30,084
Schaffhausen	Schaffhausen	Stadion Breite LIPO Park Schaffhausen	4,200 8,200
Vaduz	Vaduz	Rheinpark Stadion	7,584
Wil	Wil	IGP Arena	6,958
Winterthur	Winterthur	Schützenwiese	8,550
Wohlen	Wohlen	Stadion Niedermatten	3,624

Personnel

Team	Manager
Aarau	Stephan Keller (caretaker)
Chiasso	Baldassarre Raineri
Neuchâtel Xamax	Michel Decastel
Rapperswil-Jona	Urs Meier
Schaffhausen	Boris Smiljanić
Servette	Bojan Dimic
Vaduz	Roland Vrabec
Wil	Konrad Fünfstück
Winterthur	Livio Bordoli
Wohlen	Ranko Jakovljević

Managerial changes

Club	Name	Manner of departure	Date of departure	Position in table	Replacement	Date of appointment
Wil	Maurizio Jacobacci	Resign	4 June 2017[2]	Pre-season	Konrad Fünfstück	18 June 2017[3]
Aarau	Marco Schällibaum	Mutual Consent	6 June 2017[4]		Marinko Jurendic	7 June 2017[5]
Chiasso	Baldo Raineri	Sacked	6 June 2017[6]		Guillermo Abascal	12 June 2017[7]
Wohlen	Francesco Gabriele	Mutual Consent	15 June 2017		Ranko Jakovljević	15 June 2017[8]
Schaffhausen	Murat Yakin	Signed by Grasshopper	28 August 2017	1st	Boris Smiljanić	28 August 2017[9]
Winterthur	Umberto Romano	Sacked	3 January 2018	9th	Livio Bordoli	3 January 2018[10]
Servette	Meho Kodro		3 March 2018[11]	5th	Bojan Dimic	3 March 2018
Aarau	Marinko Jurendic		21 March 2018[12]	6th	Stephan Keller (interim)	22 March 2018
Chiasso	Guillermo Abascal		3 April 2018[13]	8th	Baldassarre Raineri	3 April 2018

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Neuchâtel Xamax (C, P)	36	26	7	3	82	39	+43	85	Promotion to 2018–19 Swiss Super League
2	Schaffhausen	36	21	1	14	70	51	+19	64
3	Servette	36	17	11	8	56	38	+18	62
4	Vaduz[a]	36	16	11	9	66	50	+16	59	Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round
5	Rapperswil-Jona	36	16	8	12	53	45	+8	56
6	Aarau	36	12	8	16	53	62	−9	44
7	Wil	36	9	12	15	40	50	−10	39
8	Chiasso[b]	36	11	6	19	42	60	−18	36
9	Winterthur	36	7	11	18	45	60	−15	32
10	Wohlen[c] (R)	36	3	9	24	41	93	−52	18	Relegation to 2018-19 Swiss Promotion League

Source: Swiss Challenge League
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored; 4) Head-to-head goal difference; 5) Away goals scored; 6) Draw.^[17]
(C) Champions; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Vaduz qualified for the 2018–19 UEFA Europa League as winners of the 2017–18 Liechtenstein Cup.
2. Chiasso were deducted three points for licence rules violation^[14]
3. Wohlen waived license application and will not continue professional football in the 2018–19 season.^[15][16]

Results

First and Second Round Home \ Away AAR CHI NEU RAP SHA SER VAD WIL WIN WOH Aarau — 3–0 2–0 0–0 1–2 0–0 0–2 2–2 3–3 2–0 Chiasso 1–0 — 0–2 1–0 2–1 1–2 0–1 3–0 1–1 4–0 Neuchâtel Xamax 2–1 4–1 — 2–0 0–1 3–2 3–1 3–1 2–1 4–2 Rapperswil-Jona 2–0 1–1 2–2 — 5–0 0–1 2–0 0–0 3–1 3–2 Schaffhausen 4–1 2–0 1–2 6–0 — 1–2 3–1 2–1 2–0 2–1 Servette 3–0 2–2 1–2 2–1 3–2 — 2–0 1–0 1–1 5–1 Vaduz 4–1 1–0 0–5 2–2 2–0 1–1 — 0–0 2–2 1–1 Wil 1–3 2–3 0–1 1–0 2–3 0–0 0–1 — 0–2 3–1 Winterthur 1–1 1–1 0–1 0–1 0–1 0–2 0–1 2–0 — 1–3 Wohlen 1–1 1–1 1–2 1–2 1–4 0–2 1–0 2–2 3–2 — Source: Swiss Super League (in German) Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Third and Fourth Round Home \ Away AAR CHI NEU RAP SHA SER VAD WIL WIN WOH Aarau — 4–1 2–2 0–1 2–1 1–2 4–1 2–2 2–1 4–2 Chiasso 0–2 — 0–3 0–1 2–0 2–1 1–6 0–1 1–0 3–0 Neuchâtel Xamax 3–1 1–0 — 1–0 1–0 1–1 3–1 6–3 3–3 4–1 Rapperswil-Jona 2–3 3–1 0–1 — 3–1 2–0 1–2 1–1 3–1 2–2 Schaffhausen 3–1 2–1 1–0 2–4 — 0–1 3–3 1–2 3–1 4–0 Servette 4–0 1–1 0–0 0–3 1–4 — 0–1 1–1 4–2 1–1 Vaduz 5–1 5–2 3–3 4–0 2–0 2–1 — 2–2 1–1 5–1 Wil 1–0 1–0 2–3 2–0 0–1 0–2 1–1 — 2–0 1–1 Winterthur 2–0 2–1 4–4 1–1 1–2 1–1 1–0 0–3 — 2–0 Wohlen 1–3 3–4 0–3 1–2 2–5 1–3 2–2 0–0 1–4 — Source: Swiss Super League (in German) Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Season statistics

Top goalscorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Raphaël Nuzzolo	Neuchâtel	26
2	Tunahan Cicek	Schaffhausen	21
3	Hélios Sessolo	Schaffhausen	16
4	Mychell Chagas1	Servette (6) / Rapperswil-Jona (9)	15
5	Marko Dević	Vaduz	13

¹Chagas played 17 games for Rapperswil-Jona then signed for Servette.^[18]