The NLA season kicks off on Wednesday with Kriens-Luzern against Wacker Thun and promoted RTV Basel against GC Amicitia Zurich.
Who is the top favorite?
The Kadetten are once again the team to beat. The Schaffhausen team has been Swiss champions 14 times since 2005, most recently three times in a row. Now coach Hrvoje Horvat's team is even stronger, at least on paper. With the signings of circle player Lucas Meister and Kassem Awad, a Swede, the offense has gained power and mass. "That's something that was missing from our game," said team manager David Graubner, "and will allow us to play with even more pace."
Who is the biggest challenger?
That is probably Kriens-Lucerne once again. The team from central Switzerland have been the Kadetten's opponents in the final in the past two seasons. This year, they only lost in the decisive fifth game, even though top director Andy Schmid announced his retirement in January and Jonas Schelker was absent through injury. The team from Kriens has a new coach in former player Zeljko Musa, the Croatian replacing Peter Kukucka. They have already demanded everything from the Kadetten in the Supercup, only losing in overtime (34:35).
Who is lurking?
Lurking behind the two top teams are Pfadi Winterthur and GC Amicitia Zurich. However, the Winterthur team has lost two long-time team mainstays in Kevin Jud and Cédrie Tynowski, who have ended their careers. At GC Amicitia, it remains to be seen what effect the departure of coach Petr Hrachovec, a key figure in the Zurich team's sporting resurrection, will have. The Czech, who now coaches the Swiss U21 national team, was succeeded by Werner Bösch, who most recently worked in women's handball.
Who will fight against relegation?
Who will finish in the last two places and thus contest the playout is less clear this time than last time. Kreuzlingen, who were promoted in 2022, can be expected to reach the NLA play-offs for the first time thanks to reinforcements. RTV Basel, who reached the cup final in the spring, will be promoted. St. Otmar St. Gallen, Wacker Thun, BSV Bern and Suhr Aarau have definitely been warned.
The mode
The format has remained the same. Each of the ten teams will play each other three times in the qualifiers, resulting in 27 rounds. The teams ranked 1 to 5 in the previous season have one more home game. The top eight teams after the main round will fight for the championship title in the playoffs in a best-of-five format. The two teams in last place will also play a best-of-five series to determine who will be relegated to the NLB. The winner of the play-off remains in the top league.
