2017–18 Swiss Super League

The 2017–18 Swiss Super League (referred to as the Raiffeisen Super League for sponsoring reasons) was the 121st season of top-tier competitive football in Switzerland and the 15th under its current name and format. Basel were the defending champions. Young Boys won the title on 28 April 2018 after a 2–1 win against Luzern, with four games to spare. It was their first league title in 32 years, having last won the league in the 1985–1986 season, and their 12th league title overall. They also ended Basel's run of eight consecutive titles.

Swiss Super League

Season	2017–18
Dates	22 July 2017 – 19 May 2018
Champions	Young Boys 12th title
Relegated	Lausanne-Sport
Champions League	Young Boys Basel
Europa League	Luzern Zürich St. Gallen
Matches played	180
Goals scored	541 (3.01 per match)
Top goalscorer	Albian Ajeti (17 goals)[1]
Biggest home win	Young Boys 6–1 St. Gallen Sion 7–2 Thun Basel 6–1 Thun
Biggest away win	Grasshopper 0–4 Young Boys Young Boys 0–4 Thun Lugano 0–4 Basel Zürich 0–4 Grasshopper St. Gallen 0–4 Lausanne-Sport
Highest scoring	Sion 7–2 Thun[2]
Longest winning run	Young Boys (8 games)
Longest unbeaten run	Young Boys (16 games)
Longest winless run	Luzern (9 games)
Longest losing run	St. Gallen (7 games)
Highest attendance	32,456 Basel 1–1 Young Boys[2] (5 November 2017)
Total attendance	2,012,599[3]
Average attendance	11,181[3]
← 2016–17 2018–19 →

A total of 10 teams competed in the league: the 9 best teams from the 2016–17 season and the 2016–17 Swiss Challenge League champion Zürich. The season started on the weekend of 22–23 July 2017 and ended on 19 May 2018 with a break between 17 December 2017 and 2 February 2018.^[4]

This season saw the introduction of changes in the way Swiss clubs may qualify for European competition; per new UEFA rules, the champions of the Swiss Super League now qualifies for the Champions League play-off round (previously directly to the Champions League group stage) and the runners-up now qualifies for the Champions League second qualifying round (previously to the third qualifying round). Qualification to Europa League spots for the third- and fourth-placed team remain unchanged.^[5]

Teams

Stadia and locations

Basel

Grasshopper

Lausanne

Lugano

Luzern

Sion

St. Gallen

Thun

Young Boys

FC Zürich

Location of the 2017–18 Swiss Super League teams

Club	Location	Stadium	Capacity
Basel	Basel	St. Jakob-Park	37,994[6]
Grasshopper	Zürich	Letzigrund	26,104[7]
Lausanne	Lausanne	Pontaise	8,500[8]
Lugano	Lugano	Stadio Cornaredo	6,390[9]
Luzern	Lucerne	Swissporarena	16,490[10]
Sion	Sion	Stade Tourbillon	14,283[11]
St. Gallen	St. Gallen	kybunpark	19,456[12]
Thun	Thun	Stockhorn Arena	10,014[12]
Young Boys	Bern	Stade de Suisse	31,789[13]
FC Zürich	Zürich	Letzigrund	26,104

Personnel and kits

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Basel	Raphaël Wicky	Marek Suchý	Adidas	Novartis
Grasshopper	Thorsten Fink	Trent Sainsbury	Puma	Fromm
Lausanne-Sport	Alex Weaver	Alain Rochat	Adidas	Banque cantonale vaudoise
Lugano	Guillermo Abascal	Jonathan Sabbatini	Acerbis	AIL
Luzern	Gerardo Seoane	Claudio Lustenberger	Adidas	Otto's
Sion	Maurizio Jacobacci	Kevin Fickentscher	Erreà	AFX Group
St. Gallen	Boro Kuzmanović (caretaker)	Nzuzi Toko	Jako	St.Galler Kantonalbank
Thun	Marc Schneider	Dennis Hediger	Nike	Panorama Center, Schneider Software AG
Young Boys	Adi Hütter	Steve von Bergen	Nike	Obi
Zürich	Ludovic Magnin	Victor Pálsson	Nike

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of departure	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Basel	Urs Fischer	End of contract	3 June 2017[14]	Pre-season	Raphaël Wicky	3 June 2017[15]
Thun	Mauro Lustrinelli	End of interim	3 June 2017		Marc Schneider	3 June 2017[16]
Lugano	Paolo Tramezzani	Mutual consent	7 June 2017[17]		Pierluigi Tami	12 June 2017[18]
Sion	Sébastien Fournier		15 June 2017		Paolo Tramezzani	15 June 2017[19]
Grasshopper	Carlos Bernegger	Sacked	24 August 2017	9th	Murat Yakin	28 August 2017[20]
Sion	Paolo Tramezzani		22 October 2017[21]	7th	Gabri	24 October 2017[22]
Luzern	Markus Babbel		5 January 2018[23]	9th	Gerardo Seoane	9 January 2018[24]
Sion	Gabri		6 February 2018[25]	10th	Maurizio Jacobacci	12 February 2018[25]
Zürich	Uli Forte		20 February 2018[26]	3rd	Ludovic Magnin	20 February 2018[26]
Lugano	Pierluigi Tami		9 April 2018[27]	9th	Guillermo Abascal	10 April 2018[28]
Grasshopper	Murat Yakin		10 April 2018[29]	6th	Mathias Walther (caretaker)	10 April 2018[30]
Lausanne-Sport	Fabio Celestini		19 April 2018[31]	10th	Ilija Borenovic (caretaker)	20 April 2018[32]
Grasshopper	Mathias Walther (caretaker)	End of interim	23 April 2018[33]	7th	Thorsten Fink	23 April 2018[33]
St. Gallen	Giorgio Contini	Sacked	24 April 2018[34]	4th	Boro Kuzmanović (caretaker)	24 April 2018[34]
Lausanne-Sport	Ilija Borenovic (caretaker)	End of interim	11 May 2018[35]	10th	Alex Weaver	11 May 2018[35]

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Young Boys (C)	36	26	6	4	84	41	+43	84	Qualification for the Champions League play-off round
2	Basel	36	20	9	7	72	36	+36	69	Qualification for the Champions League second qualifying round
3	Luzern	36	15	9	12	51	51	0	54	Qualification for the Europa League third qualifying round
4	Zürich	36	12	13	11	50	44	+6	49	Qualification for the Europa League group stage[a]
5	St. Gallen	36	14	3	19	52	72	−20	45	Qualification for the Europa League second qualifying round
6	Sion	36	11	9	16	53	56	−3	42
7	Thun	36	12	6	18	53	68	−15	42
8	Lugano	36	12	6	18	38	55	−17	42
9	Grasshopper	36	10	9	17	43	52	−9	39
10	Lausanne-Sport (R)	36	9	8	19	46	67	−21	35	Relegation to Swiss Challenge League

Source: Swiss Super League
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored; 4) Head-to-head goal difference; 5) Away goals scored; 6) Draw.^[36]
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Zürich qualified for the Europa League group stage by winning the 2017–18 Swiss Cup.

Positions by round

Team ╲ Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36
Young Boys	1	1	1	2	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Basel	9	5	4	3	3	3	3	4	4	3	3	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Luzern	3	6	6	4	4	4	4	6	7	8	9	9	10	8	9	10	9	8	9	9	7	6	6	6	5	4	4	4	4	4	3	3	3	3	3	3
Zürich	2	2	3	1	1	1	2	2	3	2	2	3	3	3	4	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	4	4	4	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	4	4	4
St. Gallen	6	4	2	5	5	6	5	3	2	4	4	4	4	4	5	4	4	5	4	5	6	5	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	4	4	4	5	5	5
Sion	4	3	5	6	6	7	7	5	6	6	7	7	8	9	10	7	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	9	10	10	10	9	9	9	9	9	9	7	6
Thun	8	8	10	8	7	8	9	8	9	7	8	8	7	7	8	9	8	7	8	8	9	9	9	9	10	9	9	7	7	7	6	8	6	7	9	7
Lugano	7	9	7	7	8	5	6	9	10	10	10	10	9	10	7	8	7	9	7	7	4	4	5	5	6	7	8	9	8	6	8	7	8	6	6	8
Grasshopper Club Zürich	10	10	9	10	9	9	8	7	5	5	5	5	5	5	3	5	5	4	6	4	5	7	7	7	7	6	6	6	6	8	7	6	7	8	8	9
Lausanne-Sport	5	7	8	9	10	10	10	10	8	9	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	5	6	8	8	8	8	8	8	7	8	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10

	2018–19 UEFA Champions League play-off round
	2018–19 Champions League second qualifying round
	2018–19 Europa League third qualifying round
	2018–19 Europa League second qualifying round
	Relegation to 2018–19 Swiss Challenge League

Source: Swiss Football League

Note: If a team wins the Swiss Cup, they will qualify for the Europa League group stage, unless they have already qualified for the Champions League through league position. In this case, the Europa League group stage berth will be given to the third-placed team, and both Europa League qualifying round spots will be moved one step down, to 4th and 5th respectively.

Results

First and Second Round Home \ Away BAS GRA LS LUG LUZ SIO StG THU YB ZUR Basel — 3–2 1–2 1–1 3–1 5–1 3–0 2–1 1–1 1–0 Grasshopper 0–0 — 2–0 0–1 1–1 3–2 2–0 2–0 0–4 0–2 Lausanne-Sport 1–4 1–1 — 2–3 3–1 0–1 3–3 1–3 2–1 1–1 Lugano 0–4 0–3 1–2 — 1–0 1–2 0–1 4–1 1–2 0–0 Luzern 1–4 2–2 2–3 1–0 — 2–1 3–0 2–2 0–1 1–1 Sion 1–1 3–0 1–1 2–2 1–1 — 1–2 2–3 0–1 1–1 St. Gallen 2–1 3–1 0–4 0–2 0–2 2–0 — 3–0 2–2 1–3 Thun 0–3 2–2 5–2 1–1 2–0 0–1 1–2 — 3–1 1–3 Young Boys 2–0 1–1 3–0 3–0 4–1 5–1 6–1 0–4 — 2–1 Zürich 0–0 0–4 2–0 3–0 1–2 2–0 1–1 2–1 0–0 — Source: Swiss Super League (in German) Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Third and Fourth Round Home \ Away BAS GRA LS LUG LUZ SIO StG THU YB ZUR Basel — 1–0 2–1 0–1 2–2 1–0 0–2 6–1 5–1 3–0 Grasshopper 0–2 — 0–0 4–3 1–2 0–2 1–2 0–2 1–2 1–0 Lausanne-Sport 1–1 0–1 — 2–1 0–1 0–2 1–4 0–3[a] 1–4 5–1 Lugano 0–1 1–0 2–0 — 1–2 1–0 2–1 1–1 2–4 1–1 Luzern 1–0 1–1 2–1 2–0 — 0–1 3–1 2–1 2–4 2–1 Sion 2–2 1–3 3–1 0–1 1–1 — 3–2 7–2 0–1 1–1 St. Gallen 2–4 2–1 0–3 3–0 2–3 3–2 — 0–1 2–4 1–2 Thun 0–2 2–1 0–0 0–2 1–0 1–4 1–2 — 2–2 0–1 Young Boys 2–2 3–1 4–1 3–1 2–1 1–0 2–0 3–1 — 1–0 Zürich 4–1 1–1 1–1 3–0 1–1 3–3 4–0 2–4 1–2 — Source: Swiss Super League (in German) Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win. Notes: The game was in fact abandoned after about 70 minutes of play while the score was 0–2, due to violent behavior from some Lausanne fans. The discipline commission subsequently ruled that Lausanne lost the game by forfeit and awarded a 0–3 final score in favor of Thun.[37][38]

Season statistics

Top goalscorers Rank Player Club Goals[1] 1 Albian Ajeti1 Basel (14) / St. Gallen (3) 17 2 Guillaume Hoarau Young Boys 15 3 Jean-Pierre Nsame Young Boys 13 Marvin Spielmann Thun 5 Michael Frey Zürich 12 Roger Assalé Young Boys 7 Ricky van Wolfswinkel Basel 11 Pascal Schürpf Luzern Simone Rapp2 Lausanne-Sport (2) / Thun (9) Miralem Sulejmani Young Boys Mohamed Elyounoussi Basel Christian Fassnacht Young Boys 1Ajeti played 7 games for St. Gallen then signed for Basel.[39][40] 2Rapp played 18 games for Thun then signed for Lausanne.[41][42]

Top assists Rank Player Club Assists[43] 1 Matteo Tosetti Thun 16 2 Samuele Campo Basel (7) / Lausanne-Sport (8) 15 3 Mohamed Elyounoussi Basel 14 4 Davide Mariani Lugano 10 5 Christian Schneuwly Luzern 9 Miralem Sulejmani Young Boys Francesco Margiotta Lausanne-Sport Roger Assalé Young Boys 8 Luca Zuffi Basel 8

Hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date
Simone Rapp	Thun	Lausanne-Sport	3–1 (A)	28 October 2017
Kenan Kodro	Grasshopper	Lugano	4–3 (H)	21 April 2018
Michael Frey	Zürich	Sion	3–3 (H)	29 April 2018
Matheus Cunha	Sion	Thun	4–1 (A)	19 May 2018

(H) – Home; (A) – Away

Awards

Annual awards

Award[44]	Winner	Club
Player of the Season	Michael Lang	Basel
Young Player of the Season	Dimitri Oberlin	Basel
Coach of the Season	Murat Yakin	Grasshopper
Goal of the Season	Jean-Pierre Nsame	Young Boys

Team of the Year[44]
Goalkeeper	Tomáš Vaclík (Basel)
Defence	Michel Lang (Basel)			Jordan Lotomba (Young Boys)			Manuel Akanji (Basel)			Kevin Mbabu (Young Boys)
Midfield	Mohamed Elyounoussi (Basel)			Sekou Sanogo (Young Boys)			Renato Steffen (Basel)			Miralem Sulejmani (Young Boys)
Attack	Simone Rapp (Thun)						Roger Assalé (Young Boys)

Attendance

Team	Played	Total	Average
Basel	18	465,426	25,859
Young Boys	18	395,512	21,973
St. Gallen	18	227,043	12,614
Zürich	18	193,073	10,726
Luzern	18	180,925	10,051
Sion	18	178,600	9,922
Grasshopper	18	126,300	7,017
Thun	18	106,335	5,908
Lausanne-Sport	18	71,931	3,996
Lugano	18	67,454	3,747
League total	180	2,012,599	11,181

Source:^[3]