The Swiss Women's Super League is the highest-level league competition for women's football clubs in Switzerland. It was established in 1970 (formerly named Nationalliga A).[2]
League winners qualify for the UEFA Women's Champions League. The team that end as number 10 relegate to the Nationalliga B.
The Super League replaced the Nationalliga A as the highest level of women's football in Switzerland from 2020–21 onwards.[3]
The founder and first president was Ursula Moser.[4][5][6] On 24 April 1970, the Schweizerische Damenfussball-Liga (SDFL), today's Nationalliga A, was founded. A year earlier, the clubs of Yverdon, Serrières, Sainte-Croix, Boudry, La-Chaux-de-Fonds and Sion had merged to form the Association Romande de Football Féminin (ARFF). The first unofficial championship in French-speaking Switzerland in 1969/70 was won by DFC Sion. The Swiss Women's Football League initially consisted of 18 clubs divided into three regions. The first official champion was DFC Aarau. In 1975, the Swiss Cup was launched. The first cup winner was DFC Sion. On 15 May 1993, the decision was made to integrate the clubs into the Swiss Football Association.
Starting with the 2010–11 season, a play-off system was adopted. After the regular season, where the teams play each other twice, the top 8 teams play a final round which decides the champion. The two last placed teams and the winners of both Nationalliga B play each other twice. The top 2 teams of that group will stay in the Nationalliga A with the bottom 2 playing in next season's Nationalliga B.[11] Tiebreakers in the playoffs are points and then better regular season standings.[12]
From the 2017–18 season the league was reduced from 10 to 8 teams to increase competitiveness.[13] The eight teams play each other four times. The leading team then is champion.[14]
Even if there were plenty of formats through the years, 2021-22 was the first season in Swiss football history that was decided by playoffs. The completely new format was introduced mainly due to promotional reasons. The number of teams was increased to 10 again. They all face each other twice in a home and an away game. The table after these 22 games is the base for the playoff-quarterfinals where the 1st ranked team plays the 8th, the 2nd against the 7th, the 3rd against 6th and the 4th against the 5th. The 9th and 10th ranked play a relegation league against the two best teams from Nationalliga B. The better two qualify for next season's Super League, the other two will play in the second division.
All duels of the playoff, relegation, and classification matches are played with one first and one second leg game at each team's home ground. Only the playoff-final is a one-off game that takes place on a neutral ground. [15]
The list of all champions:[16]
The record for most goals in a season was set by German Inka Grings in 2012/13. She surpassed the previous record of Vanessa Bürki with 28 in 2003/04.[17]
The latest topscorers were:[18]
