2024–25 Challenge League (Switzerland)

The 2024–25 Swiss Challenge League (referred to as the Dieci Challenge League for sponsoring reasons) is the 127th season of the second tier of competitive football in Switzerland and the 22nd season under its current name.

Swiss Challenge League

Season	2024–25
Dates	19 July 2024 – 23 May 2025
Champions	Thun (2nd title)
Promoted	Thun
Relegated	Schaffhausen
UEFA Conference League	Vaduz
Matches played	180
Top goalscorer	Oscar Correia (9 goals)
Biggest home win	7–0 Étoile Carouge–Bellinzona (5 Apr '25)
Biggest away win	1–6 Nyon–Thun (1 Nov '24)
Highest scoring	6–2 SLO–Nyon (8 Nov '24) Xamax–Schaffhausen (31 Mar '25)
← 2023–24 2025–26 → All statistics correct as of 5 December 2023.

Schedule

The Swiss Football League (SFL) released a detailed schedule on 5 December 2023.^[1][2] The season will begin on 19 July 2024 and conclude on 23 May 2025. The league will go on winter break after matchday 18 on 15 December 2024 and resume on 24 January 2025. The final matchday of the relegation group will take place on, while the championship group will hold its last matches. The two legs of the promotion play-offs are scheduled for 27 and 30 May 2025, while the relegation play-off will be held on 26 and 29 May 2025.

Teams

On May 11 2024, Étoile Carouge returned to the Challenge League after a 12 year absence.^[3] On May 15, 2024, FC Stade Lausanne-Ouchy, relegated from the Super League, returned to the second series after a one year absence.^[4] They replace last season's Challenge League champions FC Sion, who returned to the top flight after a 1 year absence, and FC Baden, who were relegated to the Swiss Promotion League after just one season in the Challenge League.^[5]

Team changes

Promoted from 2023–24 Swiss Promotion League	Relegated from 2023–24 Swiss Super League
Étoile Carouge	FC Stade Lausanne Ouchy

Stadia and locations

Aarau

Bellinzona

Étoile Carouge

Xamax

Schaffhausen

Lausanne Ouchy

Nyon

Thun

Vaduz

Wil

Locations of clubs in the 2024-25 Swiss Challenge League teams

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity	Ref
FC Aarau	Aarau	Stadion Brügglifeld	8,000	[6]
AC Bellinzona	Bellinzona	Stadio Comunale	5,000	[7]
Étoile Carouge FC	Carouge	Stade de la Fontenette	3,600	[8]
FC Stade Lausanne-Ouchy	Lausanne	Stade Olympique[a]	15,850	[10]
FC Stade Nyonnais	Nyon	Stade de Colovray	7,200	[11]
FC Schaffhausen	Schaffhausen	FCS Arena	8,200	[12]
FC Thun	Thun	Stockhorn Arena	10,014	[13]
FC Vaduz	Vaduz	Rheinpark Stadion	7,584	[14]
FC Wil 1900	Wil	Lidl Arena	6,958	[15]
Neuchâtel Xamax FCS	Neuchâtel	Stade de la Maladière	11,997	[16]

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 Stade Olympique de la Pontaise in Lausanne.^[9]

No. of teams	Cantons	Team(s)
2
	Vaud	Nyon, Lausanne Ouchy
1
	Aargau	Aarau
	Bern	Thun
	Liechtenstein	Vaduz
	Schaffhausen	Schaffhausen
	St. Gallen	Wil
	Geneva	Étoile Carouge
	Neuchâtel	Xamax
	Ticino	Bellinzona

Personnel and kits

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Aarau	Brunello Iacopetta	Olivier Jäckle	gpard	Credit Suisse
Bellinzona	Giuseppe Sannino	Dragan Mihajlović	Acerbis
Étoile Carouge	Adrian Ursea	Aurélien Chappuis	SB Sport	Raiffeisen
Lausanne Ouchy	Dalibor Stevanović	Rayan Kadima	14fourteen	gerofinance
Schaffhausen	Hakan Yakin	Ermir Lenjani	Puma	Methabau
Nyon	Andrea Binotto	Quentin Gaillard	Adidas
Thun	Mauro Lustrinelli	Marco Bürki	Macron	Schneider Software AG
Vaduz	Marc Schneider	Benjamin Büchel	Puma	MBPI
Wil	Marco Hämmerli	Kastrijot Ndau	Adidas	Weber und Partner AG LIKA Group AG
Xamax	Anthony Braizat	Kenan Fatkič	Puma	groupe e

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of departure	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment	Ref.
Schaffhausen	Christian Wimmer	End of contract	19 May 2024	Pre-season	Ciriaco Sforza	15 June 2024	[17][18]
Aarau	Ranko Jakovljević (interim)	End of interim period	20 May 2024		Brunello Iacopetta	20 May 2024	[19]
Wil	Brunello Iacopetta	Mutual consent	24 May 2024		Marco Hämmerli	24 May 2024	[20]
Lausanne Ouchy	Ricardo Dionísio		25 September 2024	9th	Dalibor Stevanović	25 September 2024	[21]
Xamax	Uli Forte		24 December 2024	6th	Anthony Braizat	24 December 2024	[22][23]
Nyon	Christophe Caschili	Termination	16 December 2024	8th	Andrea Binotto	2 January 2025	[24]
Schaffhausen	Ciriaco Sforza		4 March 2025	10th	Hakan Yakin	4 March 2025	[25]
Bellinzona	Manuel Benavente		18 March 2025	9th	Giuseppe Sannino	20 March 2025	[26][27]

Table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion, qualification or relegation
1	Thun (C, P)	36	21	9	6	70	39	+31	72	Promotion to Swiss Super League
2	Aarau (Q)	36	16	13	7	63	45	+18	61	Qualification for promotion play-off
3	Étoile Carouge	36	15	9	12	57	46	+11	54
4	Lausanne Ouchy	36	14	11	11	54	43	+11	53
5	Wil	36	14	11	11	60	55	+5	53
6	Vaduz	36	13	12	11	48	49	−1	51	Qualification for Conference League second qualifying round[a]
7	Bellinzona[b]	36	11	11	14	47	60	−13	44
8	Xamax	36	12	5	19	57	65	−8	41
9	Nyon	36	10	6	20	44	69	−25	36
10	Schaffhausen (R)	36	7	7	22	40	69	−29	25[c]	Relegation to 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) Head-to-head goals scored 6) Away goals scored; 7) Draw.^[31]
(C) Champions; (P) Promoted; (Q) Qualified for the phase indicated; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Vaduz qualified for the Conference League second qualifying round by winning the 2024–25 Liechtenstein Cup.
2. Bellinzona were deducted 3 points on 16 December 2024 (confirmed on 22 January 2025), for failing to report social contribution payments.^[28] This decision was partially overturned by CAS on 25 April 2025 (Bellinzona are still fined SFr 30,000).^[29]
3. Schaffhausen were deducted 3 points on 26 February 2025 (confirmed on 25 March 2025), for failing to report social contribution payments.^[30]

Results

First and second rounds Home \ Away AAR BEL ETC SLO NYO SHA THU VAD WIL XAM Aarau — 1–2 1–0 1–0 1–0 1–2 1–3 0–0 1–1 1–3 Bellinzona 1–4 — 1–1 2–1 1–1 2–1 0–0 1–2 0–3[a] 0–2 Étoile Carouge 2–1 2–2 — 1–1 3–1 1–0 0–2 1–0 3–1 3–1 Lausanne Ouchy 1–1 1–1 5–1 — 6–2 0–1 1–1 2–2 0–0 1–2 Nyon 1–2 2–1 2–4 0–3 — 0–3 1–6 1–1 3–1 2–1 Schaffhausen 0–3 2–1 2–3 0–1 0–1 — 2–2 1–1 0–2 1–2 Thun 1–1 1–2 2–1 1–1 3–0 3–1 — 2–0 0–2 1–0 Vaduz 2–5 2–1 3–2 3–1 0–0 2–2 2–0 — 3–2 2–1 Wil 2–2 0–2 2–1 2–2 0–3 2–2 0–0 0–0 — 4–0 Xamax 1–3 2–2 0–3 3–2 3–2 2–1 2–3 4–1 1–4 — Source: Swiss Football League Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win. Notes: On 12 August 2024, Bellinzona were sanctioned with a 0–3 forfeit loss, as they fielded eight non-locally trained players, instead of the allowed seven, in this match.[32] This decision was confirmed on 17 September 2024, following appeal by Bellinzona.[33]

Third and fourth rounds Home \ Away AAR BEL ETC SLO NYO SHA THU VAD WIL XAM Aarau — 2–1 2–2 2–2 1–1 3–0 1–0 2–2 2–4 2–0 Bellinzona 1–1 — 0–0 0–1 2–1 3–0 3–1 3–1 0–3 3–1 Étoile Carouge 1–3 7–0 — 1–2 2–1 0–2 0–0 3–2 1–1 2–1 Lausanne Ouchy 2–4 1–1 1–0 — 0–1 0–1 3–0 2–0 2–1 0–0 Nyon 1–2 3–0 0–3 3–0 — 0–1 0–2 1–0 0–2 1–3 Schaffhausen 1–1 1–3 0–0 2–3 2–3 — 2–3 1–1 1–3 2–4 Thun 2–1 2–0 1–0 2–1 2–2 3–0 — 3–1 7–0 2–1 Vaduz 0–1 3–1 1–0 0–1 1–1 1–0 3–3 — 1–0 2–1 Wil 2–2 2–2 2–2 0–2 2–1 3–1 2–3 0–3 — 2–0 Xamax 1–1 1–1 1–2 1–2 4–0 6–2 0–2 0–0 2–3 — Source: Swiss Football League Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Promotion play-off

The relegation play-off was played in a two-legged game between the eleventh placed team of the Super League (5th of the relegation group) and the second placed team of the Challenge League. The two legs of the relegation play-offs were scheduled for 27 and 30 May 2025, respectively.^[2] On 28 March 2025, it was decided by draw that the representative of the Super League will host the first match.^[34]

The winner of the play-off was whichever team scored more goals over both games (no away goals rule).^[35] In case of a tie at the end of the two games, 30 minutes of extra time (two times 15 minutes) were added, followed by a penalty shoot-out, in case the teams were still tied.

First leg

27 May 2025 (2025-05-27)

20:30 CEST (UTC+2)

Grasshopper	4–0	Aarau
Young-jun 14' Schürpf 41' Muci 79' Seko 86' (pen.)	Report

Stadio Cornaredo, Lugano^[a]

Attendance: 3,800

Referee: Urs Schnyder

Second leg

30 May 2025 (2025-05-30)

20:30 CEST (UTC+2)

Aarau	1:0	Grasshopper
Obexer 82'	Report

Stadion Brügglifeld, Aarau

1. Grasshoppers's home game will be played in Lugano, due to the Letzigrund being unavailable on the dates of the play-off.^[36]