2018–19 Swiss Challenge League

The 2018–19 Swiss Challenge League (referred to as the Brack.ch Challenge League for sponsoring reasons) was the 16th season of the Swiss Challenge League, the second tier of competitive football in Switzerland, under its current name. The season started on 20 July 2018 and ended on 26 May 2019.^[1] The winter break was scheduled between 16 December 2018 and 1 February 2019.

Swiss Challenge League

Season	2018–19
Champions	Servette
Promoted	Servette
Relegated	Rapperswil-Jona
Europa League	Vaduz
Matches played	170
Goals scored	496 (2.92 per match)
Highest scoring	Servette 5–3 Rapperswil-Jona
← 2017–18 2019–20 → All statistics correct as of 16 May 2019.

Participating teams

A total of 10 teams participated in the league. 2017–18 Swiss Challenge League champions Neuchâtel Xamax were promoted to the 2018–19 Swiss Super League. They were replaced by FC Lausanne-Sport, who got relegated after finishing last-placed in the 2017–18 Swiss Super League. FC Wohlen was relegated after finishing 10th. They were replaced by SC Kriens, who won promotion from the 2017–18 Swiss Promotion League.

Stadia and locations

Aarau

Chiasso

Kriens

Lausanne

Rapperswil-Jona

Schaffhausen

Servette

Vaduz

Wil

Winterthur

Locations of clubs in the 2018–19 Challenge League

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity
FC Aarau	Aarau	Stadion Brügglifeld	8,000
FC Chiasso	Chiasso	Stadio Comunale Riva IV	5,000
SC Kriens	Kriens	Stadion Kleinfeld	5,360
FC Lausanne-Sport	Lausanne	Stade olympique de la Pontaise	15,850
FC Rapperswil-Jona	Rapperswil-Jona	Stadion Grünfeld	2,500
Servette FC	Geneva	Stade de Genève	30,084
FC Schaffhausen	Schaffhausen	LIPO Park Schaffhausen	8,200
FC Vaduz	Vaduz	Rheinpark Stadion	7,584
FC Wil 1900	Wil	IGP Arena	6,958
FC Winterthur	Winterthur	Schützenwiese	8,550

Personnel

Team	Manager
Aarau	Patrick Rahmen
Chiasso	Alessandro Mangiarratti (1ª-13ª) Andrea Manzo (14ª-)
Kriens	Bruno Berner
Lausanne	Giorgio Contini
Rapperswil-Jona	Urs Meier
Schaffhausen	Boris Smiljanić
Servette	Alain Geiger
Vaduz	Mario Frick
Wil	Konrad Fünfstück
Winterthur	Ralf Loose

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Servette (C, P)	36	24	7	5	90	37	+53	79	Promotion to 2019–20 Swiss Super League
2	Aarau	36	19	7	10	63	46	+17	64	Qualification for the promotion/relegation play-offs
3	Lausanne	36	16	15	5	64	36	+28	63
4	Winterthur	36	16	8	12	57	51	+6	56
5	Wil	36	10	12	14	33	47	−14	42
6	Vaduz[a]	36	11	9	16	48	70	−22	42	Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round
7	Schaffhausen	36	10	9	17	43	62	−19	39
8	Kriens	36	7	15	14	46	58	−12	36
9	Chiasso	36	9	9	18	43	67	−24	36
10	Rapperswil-Jona (R)	36	10	5	21	47	59	−12	35	Relegation to 2019–20 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.^[2]
(C) Champions; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Vaduz qualified for the 2019–20 UEFA Europa League as winners of the 2018–19 Liechtenstein Cup.

Results

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

Promotion play-offs

Ninth placed team of 2018–19 Swiss Super League, Xamax, faced Aarau, the runner-up of 2018–19 Swiss Challenge League.

First leg

30 May 2019 (2019-05-30)

20:00

Xamax	0–4	Aarau
	Report	Maierhofer 22' Taşar 34', 69' Mišić 45+2'

Stade de la Maladière, Neuchâtel

Attendance: 12,000

Referee: Stephan Klossner

Second leg

2 June 2019 (2019-06-02)

17:00

Aarau	0–4 (a.e.t.)	Xamax
	Report	Dié 20' Ošs 29' Ademi 38' Tréand 72'
Penalties
Zverotić Jäckle Bürgy Mišić Karanović	4–5	Veloso Tréand Corbaz Ademi Dié

Stadion Brügglifeld, Aarau

Attendance: 7,526

Referee: Adrien Jaccottet

Neuchâtel Xamax won on penalties after drawing 4–4 on aggregate and will stay in the Swiss Super League.