# 2018–19 Swiss Super League

The 2018–19 Swiss Super League (referred to as the Raiffeisen Super League for sponsoring reasons) was the 122nd season of top-tier competitive football in Switzerland and the 16th under its current name and format.
A total of 10 teams competed in the league: the 9 best teams from the 2017–18 season and the 2017–18 Swiss Challenge League champion Xamax. The season started on the weekend of 21–22 July 2018 and concluded on 25 May 2019 with a break between 17 December 2018 and 2 February 2019.
In May 2018, the Swiss Football League voted in favor of reintroducing the relegation play-offs, starting from the 2018–19 season. At the end of the season, the 9th-placed team of the Swiss Super League will face the 2nd-placed team of the Swiss Challenge League in a two-legged play-off to determine which of the two will compete in the Super League the following season.

## Teams
### Stadia and locations

| Club | Location | Stadium | Capacity |
| Basel | Basel | St. Jakob-Park | 37,994 |
| Grasshopper | Zürich | Letzigrund | 26,104 |
| Xamax | Neuchâtel | Stade de la Maladière | 11,997 |
| Lugano | Lugano | Stadio Cornaredo | 6,390 |
| Luzern | Lucerne | Swissporarena | 16,490 |
| Sion | Sion | Stade Tourbillon | 14,283 |
| St. Gallen | St. Gallen | kybunpark | 19,456 |
| Thun | Thun | Stockhorn Arena | 10,014 |
| Young Boys | Bern | Stade de Suisse | 31,789 |
| Zürich | Zürich | Letzigrund | 26,104 |

### Personnel and kits

| Team | Manager | Captain | Kit manufacturer | Shirt sponsor |
| Basel | Marcel Koller | Marek Suchý | Adidas | Novartis |
| Grasshopper | Uli Forte | Rúnar Már Sigurjónsson | Puma | Fromm |
| Lugano | Fabio Celestini | Jonathan Sabbatini | Acerbis | AIL |
| Luzern | René Weiler | Claudio Lustenberger | Adidas | Otto’s |
| Sion | Murat Yakin | Kevin Fickentscher | Macron | Capital Markets Consulting |
| St. Gallen | Peter Zeidler | Silvan Hefti | Jako | St.Galler Kantonalbank |
| Thun | Marc Schneider | Dennis Hediger | Nike | Panorama Center, Schneider Software AG |
| Xamax | Michel Decastel | Laurent Walthert | Erima | Groupe E, Banque cantonale neuchâteloise |
| Young Boys | Gerardo Seoane | Steve von Bergen | Nike | Obi |
| Zürich | Ludovic Magnin | Victor Pálsson | Nike | |

### Managerial changes

| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of departure | Position in table | Incoming manager | Date of appointment |
| St. Gallen | Boro Kuzmanović | End of interim | 15 May 2018 | Pre-season | Peter Zeidler | 15 May 2018 |
| Young Boys | Adi Hütter | Signed by Eintracht Frankfurt | 16 May 2018 | Pre-season | Gerardo Seoane | 1 June 2018 |
| Luzern | Gerardo Seoane | Signed by Young Boys | 1 June 2018 | Pre-season | René Weiler | 21 June 2018 |
| Basel | Raphaël Wicky | Sacked | 26 July 2018 | 6th | Alex Frei (interim) | 26 July 2018 |
| Basel | Alex Frei | End of interim | 2 August 2018 | 8th | Marcel Koller | 2 August 2018 |
| Sion | Maurizio Jacobacci | Sacked | 14 September 2018 | 8th | Murat Yakin | 17 September 2018 |
| Lugano | Guillermo Abascal | Sacked | 1 October 2018 | 6th | Fabio Celestini | 2 October 2018 |
| Luzern | René Weiler | Sacked | 17 February 2019 | 7th | Thomas Häberli | 21 February 2019 |
| Grasshopper | Thorsten Fink | Sacked | 4 March 2019 | 10th | Tomislav Stipić | 6 March 2019 |
| Grasshopper | Tomislav Stipić | Sacked | 8 April 2019 | 10th | Uli Forte | 8 April 2019 |

## League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Young Boys (C) | 36 | 29 | 4 | 3 | 99 | 36 | +63 | 91 | Qualification for the Champions League play-off round |
| 2 | Basel | 36 | 20 | 11 | 5 | 71 | 46 | +25 | 71 | Qualification for the Champions League second qualifying round |
| 3 | Lugano | 36 | 10 | 16 | 10 | 50 | 49 | +1 | 46 | Qualification for the Europa League group stage |
| 4 | Thun | 36 | 12 | 10 | 14 | 57 | 58 | −1 | 46 | Qualification for the Europa League third qualifying round |
| 5 | Luzern | 36 | 14 | 4 | 18 | 56 | 61 | −5 | 46 | Qualification for the Europa League second qualifying round |
| 6 | St. Gallen | 36 | 13 | 7 | 16 | 49 | 58 | −9 | 46 | |
| 7 | Zürich | 36 | 11 | 11 | 14 | 43 | 52 | −9 | 44 | |
| 8 | Sion | 36 | 12 | 7 | 17 | 50 | 55 | −5 | 43 | |
| 9 | Xamax (O) | 36 | 9 | 10 | 17 | 44 | 65 | −21 | 37 | Qualification for the relegation play-offs |
| 10 | Grasshopper (R) | 36 | 5 | 10 | 21 | 32 | 71 | −39 | 25 | Relegation to Swiss Challenge League |

## Relegation play-offs

Ninth placed Xamax faced Aarau, the runner-up of 2018–19 Swiss Challenge League.

### Second leg

Neuchâtel Xamax won on penalties after drawing 4–4 on aggregate and will stay in the Swiss Super League.

## Attendances

| Pos | Team | Total | High | Low | Average | Change |
| 1 | Young Boys | 378,948 | 31,120 | 20,238 | 25,263 | +15.0%$^†$ |
| 2 | Basel | 371,656 | 29,491 | 20,717 | 24,777 | −4.2%$^†$ |
| 3 | St. Gallen | 201,326 | 18,790 | 9,824 | 12,583 | −0.2%$^†$ |
| 4 | Zürich | 171,145 | 16,372 | 7,769 | 10,697 | −0.3%$^†$ |
| 5 | Luzern | 148,462 | 13,626 | 7,298 | 9,279 | −7.7%$^†$ |
| 6 | Sion | 134,600 | 12,800 | 7,000 | 8,973 | −9.6%$^†$ |
| 7 | Grasshopper | 96,000 | 16,400 | 3,500 | 6,000 | −14.5%$^†$ |
| 8 | Thun | 87,678 | 9,021 | 4,129 | 5,845 | −1.1%$^†$ |
| 9 | Xamax | 92,410 | 12,000 | 3,004 | 5,776 | +66.2%$^1$ |
| 10 | Lugano | 49,950 | 4,364 | 2,049 | 3,330 | −11.1%$^†$ |
| | League total | 1,732,175 | 31,120 | 2,049 | 11,175 | −0.1%$^†$ |
Updated to games played on 28 April 2019 Source: www.sfl.ch Notes: 1: Played last season in Challenge League.

## Season Statistics
### Top scorers

    As of matches played on 14 April 2019.
| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Guillaume Hoarau | Young Boys | 18 |
| 2 | Dejan Sorgic | Thun | 15 |
| 2 | Jean-Pierre Nsame | Young Boys | 15 |
| 3 | Raphaël Nuzzolo | Xamax | 13 |
| 4 | Albian Ajeti | Basel | 12 |
| 6 | Ricky van Wolfswinkel | Basel | 10 |
| 6 | Blessing Eleke | Luzern | 10 |
| 6 | Vincent Sierro | FC St. Gallen | 10 |
| 6 | Marvin Spielmann | Thun | 10 |
| 10 | Carlinhos | Lugano | 9 |
| 10 | Christian Fassnacht | Young Boys | 9 |
| 10 | Benjamin Kololli | FC Zurich | 9 |

### Hat-tricks

| Player | For | Against | Result | Date |
| Guillaume Hoarau | Young Boys | FC St. Gallen | 3–1 (A) | 31 March 2019 |

## Awards
### Annual awards

| Award | Winner | Club |
| Player of the Season | Kevin Mbabu | Young Boys |
| Young Player of the Season | Djibril Sow | Young Boys |
| Coach of the Season | Gerardo Seoane | Young Boys\ Lucerne |
| Goal of the Season | Guillaume Hoarau | Young Boys |
Team of the Year :
| Goalkeeper | Jonas Omlin (Basel) | Jonas Omlin (Basel) | Jonas Omlin (Basel) | Jonas Omlin (Basel) | Jonas Omlin (Basel) | Jonas Omlin (Basel) | Jonas Omlin (Basel) | Jonas Omlin (Basel) | Jonas Omlin (Basel) | Jonas Omlin (Basel) | Jonas Omlin (Basel) | Jonas Omlin (Basel) |
| Defence | Kevin Mbabu (Basel) | Kevin Mbabu (Basel) | Kevin Mbabu (Basel) | Kevin Rüegg (Zurich) | Kevin Rüegg (Zurich) | Kevin Rüegg (Zurich) | Steve von Bergen (Young Boys) | Steve von Bergen (Young Boys) | Steve von Bergen (Young Boys) | Loris Benito (Young Boys) | Loris Benito (Young Boys) | Loris Benito (Young Boys) |
| Midfield | Benjamin Kololli (Lausanne/Zurich) | Benjamin Kololli (Lausanne/Zurich) | Benjamin Kololli (Lausanne/Zurich) | Sekou Sanogo (Young Boys) | Sekou Sanogo (Young Boys) | Sekou Sanogo (Young Boys) | Djibril Sow (Young Boys) | Djibril Sow (Young Boys) | Djibril Sow (Young Boys) | Miralem Sulejmani (Young Boys) | Miralem Sulejmani (Young Boys) | Miralem Sulejmani (Young Boys) |
| Attack | Guillaume Hoarau (Young Boys) | Guillaume Hoarau (Young Boys) | Guillaume Hoarau (Young Boys) | Guillaume Hoarau (Young Boys) | Guillaume Hoarau (Young Boys) | Guillaume Hoarau (Young Boys) | Dejan Sorgic (Thun) | Dejan Sorgic (Thun) | Dejan Sorgic (Thun) | Dejan Sorgic (Thun) | Dejan Sorgic (Thun) | Dejan Sorgic (Thun) |