2019–20 Swiss Challenge League

The 2019–20 Swiss Challenge League (referred to as the Brack.ch Challenge League for sponsoring reasons) was the 17th season of the Swiss Challenge League, the second tier of competitive football in Switzerland, under its current name. The season started on 20 July 2019 and was scheduled to end on 20 May 2020.^[1] The league was on winter break between 15 December 2019 and 24 January 2020.

Swiss Challenge League

Season	2019–20
Champions	Lausanne
Promoted	Lausanne Vaduz
Relegated	none
Europa League	Vaduz
Matches played	180
Goals scored	595 (3.31 per match)
Top goalscorer	Aldin Turkeš (22 goals)
Biggest home win	Lausanne-Sport 5–0 Lausanne-Ouchy Lausanne-Sport 5–0 Schaffhausen Lausanne-Sport 5–0 Wil Grasshopper 5–0 Aarau
Biggest away win	Winterthur 0–6 Lausanne-Sport Grasshopper 0–6 Winterthur
Highest scoring	Aarau 5–4 Lausanne-Sport
Highest attendance	9'000 (Winterthur 1–1 Grasshopper)
← 2018–19 2020–21 →

On 28 February Swiss Football League postponed all Super and Challenge League matches of matchdays 24, 25 and 26. Postponement came after the Swiss Federal Council banned all major events until 15 March due to the COVID-19 outbreak.^[2] On 13 March Super and Challenge League football was halted at least until the end of April.^[3] The league eventually resumed on 19 June. The last regular games were played on 2 August 2020.

Participating teams

A total of 10 teams participated in the league. 2018–19 Swiss Challenge League champions Servette FC were promoted to the 2019–20 Swiss Super League. They were replaced by Grasshopper Club Zürich, who got relegated after finishing last-placed in the 2018–19 Swiss Super League. Rapperswil-Jona was relegated after finishing 10th. They were replaced by FC Stade Lausanne-Ouchy, who won promotion from the 2018–19 Swiss Promotion League.

Stadia and locations

Aarau

Chiasso

Kriens

Lausanne

Lausanne-Ouchy

Schaffhausen

Vaduz

Wil

Winterthur

Grasshoppers

Locations of clubs in the 2019–20 Challenge League

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity
FC Aarau	Aarau	Stadion Brügglifeld	8,000
FC Chiasso	Chiasso	Stadio Comunale Riva IV	5,000
Grasshopper Club Zürich	Zürich	Letzigrund	26,104
SC Kriens	Kriens	Stadion Kleinfeld	5,360
FC Lausanne-Sport	Lausanne	Stade olympique de la Pontaise	15,850
FC Schaffhausen	Schaffhausen	LIPO Park Schaffhausen	8,200
FC Stade Lausanne-Ouchy	Nyon[a]	Centre Sportif de Colovray	7,200
FC Vaduz	Vaduz	Rheinpark Stadion	7,584
FC Wil 1900	Wil	IGP Arena	6,958
FC Winterthur	Winterthur	Schützenwiese	8,550

1. Stade-Lausanne-Ouchy's home stadium Stade Juan-Antonio-Samaranch in Lausanne can not accommodate SLO for the Challenge League. SLO will play at the Centre sportif de Colovray in Nyon.^[4]

Personnel

Team	Manager
Aarau	Stephan Keller
Chiasso	Alessandro Mangiarratti (1ª-13ª) Andrea Manzo (14ª-) Alessandro Lupi (24ª-)
Grasshoper	Zoltán Kádár
Kriens	Bruno Berner
Lausanne	Giorgio Contini
Lausanne-Ochy	Urs Meier Stefano Maccoppi
Schaffhausen	Murat Yakin
Vaduz	Mario Frick
Wil	Ciriaco Sforza
Winterthur	Ralf Loose

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Lausanne (C, P)	36	22	7	7	84	36	+48	73	Promotion to 2020–21 Swiss Super League
2	Vaduz[a] (O, P)	36	18	10	8	78	53	+25	64	Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round and for the promotion/relegation play-offs
3	Grasshopper	36	17	10	9	69	52	+17	61
4	Winterthur	36	15	10	11	56	58	−2	55
5	Kriens	36	16	6	14	58	59	−1	54
6	Wil	36	14	7	15	60	61	−1	49
7	Lausanne-Ouchy	36	11	9	16	47	64	−17	42
8	Aarau	36	10	11	15	65	80	−15	41
9	Schaffhausen	36	6	14	16	34	62	−28	32
10	Chiasso	36	5	8	23	44	70	−26	23

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.^[5]
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (P) Promoted
Notes:

1. Vaduz were selected to play in the 2020–21 UEFA Europa League by the Liechtenstein Football Association.

Results

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

Third and Fourth Round Home \ Away AAR CHI GCZ KRI LAS SLO SHA VAD WIL WIN Aarau — 2–2 2–2 4–4 5–4 1–3 1–2 1–2 4–1 2–3 Chiasso 1–3 — 1–1 2–4 0–2 3–1 1–1 1–2 2–0 0–2 Grasshopper 5–0 2–1 — 0–1 3–1 4–0 5–3 1–2 4–1 0–6 Kriens 4–1 4–1 4–4 — 0–3 2–2 3–0 2–1 2–0 0–0 Lausanne 1–0 2–1 1–0 2–0 — 0–0 1–0 1–1 5–3 1–2 Lausanne-Ouchy 0–2 2–1 4–1 2–0 0–4 — 1–1 1–1 1–2 2–2 Schaffhausen 2–4 2–1 0–3 0–0 0–0 2–2 — 2–2 2–3 1–0 Vaduz 1–1 0–0 2–3 4–2 2–1 5–1 3–1 — 2–1 4–1 Wil 3–1 1–1 3–2 2–0 1–1 1–2 0–0 1–2 — 3–1 Winterthur 5–2 3–2 1–1 4–0 0–4 1–0 1–0 1–4 2–2 — Source: Swiss Challenge League (in German) Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Promotion play-offs

The ninth-placed team of 2019–20 Swiss Super League, Thun, played against the runners-up of 2019–20 Swiss Challenge League, Vaduz.

First leg

Vaduz	2–0	Thun
Cicek 45+3' Sutter 58'	Report

7 August 2020

18:15

Rheinpark Stadion, Vaduz

Referee: Alain Bieri

Second leg

Thun	4–3	Vaduz
Stillhart 41' Bertone 47' Munsy 87' Rapp 90+4'	Report	Coulibaly 19, 51' Cicek 69'

10 August 2020

18:15

Stockhorn Arena, Thun

Referee: Adrien Jaccottet

Vaduz won 5–4 on aggregate and promoted to the Swiss Super League.