The top eight teams within six points of each other: The balance in the top Swiss league is unprecedented. A look at the last championship races also shows this.
01.03.2025, 15:00
SDA
"The championship race has restarted," was the headline of the Keystone-SDA news agency after the 25th round of last season. Servette had just beaten Young Boys 1-0 away from home and moved to within four points of the Bernese. Nevertheless, there was hardly any excitement. Geneva were too unstable and were overtaken by Lugano in the end, while YB easily secured the title without convincing.
A year later, the starting position promises to be much more exciting. No team can pull away at the top, which is also reflected in the points haul. 42 points for the leaders and the leading quartet after 25 rounds is by far the lowest figure since the Super League was introduced in 2003. Before that, 48 points (2005, 2014, 2020) was the lowest yield. At the other end of the scale, 66 points (2017, 2019) is the best result.
The word "championship race" has rarely been used since 2003 anyway. In the last ten years alone, the gap between the first and second-placed teams after 25 rounds has been between 15 and 21 points seven times. This meant that it was already clear at this point who would become champion. Otherwise, it was usually just two teams battling it out at the top.
2019/20 season: young St. Gallen players surprise
Five years ago, the league leaders after 25 rounds were for once not YB, Basel or Zurich, but St. Gallen. Coach Peter Zeidler and his young guns shake up the league. Midfielder Lukas Görtler, who joined the eastern Swiss side this season, is one of the older players at the age of 25 who regularly feature in the starting line-up. Cedric Itten (19 goals) and Ermedin Demirovic (14) are at the forefront, while Silvan Hefti, Leonidas Stergiou and Miro Muheim defend at the back. None of the five players is older than 22 at the start of the season.
However, it was not enough for the coup. After defeats in rounds 32 and 33, the team from eastern Switzerland had to let Young Boys go. The Bernese did not show any weakness in the final spurt, ending up eight points ahead and celebrating their third title in a row.
2012/13 season: Strong GC under Forte
The former serial champions from Basel, with players such as Yann Sommer, Fabian Schär, Valentin Stocker, Mohamed Salah, Marco Streller and Alex Frei in the squad and Murat Yakin as coach, are challenged to the end in the 2012/13 season. The challengers come from Zurich and are led by the then new coach Uli Forte. After 25 rounds, the Grasshoppers are just three points behind their supposedly overpowering opponents from the Rhine.
Until the end of the season, the two teams were practically in lockstep, but thanks to the clearly better goal difference, FCB no longer had to worry in the final round despite only having a three-point lead. GC, on the other hand, wins the cup final against Basel on penalties and wins its only title since 2003. Among the celebrated top performers are goalkeeper Roman Bürki, Stéphane Grichting, Veroljub Salatic, Steven Zuber, Shkelzen Gashi and Izet Hajrovic.
Seasons 2010/11, 06/07 and 05/06: The Basel-FCZ decisions
After 25 rounds of the 2010/11 season, FC Basel have a seemingly comfortable seven-point lead over FC Zurich. However, FCZ, coached by Urs Fischer, subsequently started a race to catch up, overtaking Basel on matchday 31 and maintaining the lead in the table two rounds later thanks to a 2-2 draw in the direct duel. The Zurich side, for whom Admir Mehmedi and Alexandre Alphonse have each scored ten goals this season, stumbled in their next match against city rivals GC. In the end, they remain one point behind FCB.
The close decisions in 2007 and 2006 ended more satisfactorily from Zurich's point of view. In 2007, FCZ left nothing to chance against Grasshoppers in the final round, holding on to a one-point lead over Basel with a 2-0 victory and celebrating their second championship title in a row.
The previous year's title win is remembered as the "disgrace of Basel" due to the pitch storm in St. Jakob Park. Iulian Filipescu's goal to make it 2-1 in the 93rd minute not only ensured that Basel lost at home for the first time in 59 unbeaten games, but above all that Zurich won its first league title since 1981 thanks to its superior goal difference.
2009/10 and 07/08 seasons: The YB-Basel finalissima
Basel has better experiences in the finalissima with YB. The 2009/10 season is particularly memorable because FCB were already 13 points behind the Bernese side after eight rounds following a completely disastrous start to the season. After 25 rounds, the gap is down to four points and the teams go into the last round of the season level on points. YB seem to have the advantage thanks to their home game, but Basel win 2-0 thanks to goals from Valentin Stocker and Scott Chipperfield and clinch the title. YB, who have led the table for a total of 31 rounds since matchday 3, come away empty-handed. The word "Veryoungboysen" is on everyone's lips.
Two years earlier, the Bernese had already lost the direct duel in the final round. Stocker also scored in 2008 and, together with Marco Streller, secured a 2:0 home win for Basel. YB had to wait until 2018 for the championship title, but then won it in six out of seven seasons and usually with a large gap to the first runner-up.
