# 2011–12 Swiss Challenge League

The 2011–12 Swiss Challenge League was the ninth season of the Swiss Challenge League, the second tier of the Swiss football league pyramid. It began on 22 July 2011 and ended on 23 May 2012. The champions of this season, St. Gallen, earned promotion to the 2012–13 Super League. The runners-up Aarau lost the promotion/relegation playoff against the 9th-placed team of the 2011–12 Super League, FC Sion. The bottom five teams, Stade Nyonnais, Étoile Carouge, Delémont, Kriens and Brühl were all relegated to partly form the newly created 1. Liga Promotion.

## Teams

2010–11 Challenge League champions FC Lausanne-Sport were promoted to the 2011–12 Super League. They were replaced by St. Gallen, who were relegated after finishing the 2010–11 Super League in last place. 2010–11 Challenge League runners-up Servette had to compete in a promotion/relegation playoff against 9th-placed Super League team AC Bellinzona and were promoted (hence exchanging leagues) after winning 3–2 on aggregate.
FC Schaffhausen as 15th-placed team and last-placed Yverdon-Sport FC were relegated after the 2010–11 season. They were replaced by SC Brühl and Étoile Carouge FC, who were promoted from 1. Liga.
| Club | City | Stadium | 2010–11 season |
| FC Aarau | Aarau | Stadion Brügglifeld | 11th in Challenge League |
| AC Bellinzona | Bellinzona, Ticino | Stadio Comunale | 9th in Super League |
| FC Biel/Bienne | Biel/Bienne, Bern | Gurzelen Stadion | 9th in Challenge League |
| SC Brühl St. Gallen | St. Gallen, St. Gallen | Paul-Grüninger-Stadion | 2010–11 1. Liga play-off winners |
| FC Chiasso | Chiasso, Ticino | Stadio Comunale | 7th in Challenge League |
| SR Delémont | Delémont, Jura | La Blancherie | 8th in Challenge League |
| Étoile Carouge FC | Carouge, Geneva | Stade de la Fontenette | 2010–11 1. Liga play-off winners |
| SC Kriens | Kriens, Lucerne | Stadion Kleinfeld | 12th in Challenge League |
| FC Locarno | Locarno, Ticino | Stadio del Lido | 14th in Challenge League |
| FC Lugano | Lugano, Ticino | Cornaredo Stadium | 3rd in Challenge League |
| FC St. Gallen | St. Gallen, St. Gallen | AFG Arena | 10th in Super League |
| FC Stade Nyonnais | Nyon, Vaud | Centre sportif de Colovray Nyon | 6th in Challenge League |
| FC Vaduz | Vaduz, Liechtenstein | Rheinpark Stadion | 4th in Challenge League |
| FC Wil 1900 | Wil, St. Gallen | Stadion Bergholz | 5th in Challenge League |
| FC Winterthur | Winterthur, Zürich | Stadion Schützenwiese | 13th in Challenge League |
| FC Wohlen | Wohlen, Aargau | Stadion Niedermatten | 10th in Challenge League |

## League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion or relegation |
| 1 | St. Gallen (C, P) | 30 | 19 | 7 | 4 | 67 | 31 | +36 | 64 | Promoted to 2012–13 Swiss Super League |
| 2 | Aarau | 30 | 18 | 5 | 7 | 64 | 34 | +30 | 59 | Qualification for Promotion play-off |
| 3 | Bellinzona | 30 | 18 | 5 | 7 | 49 | 21 | +28 | 59 | |
| 4 | Winterthur | 30 | 15 | 8 | 7 | 44 | 29 | +15 | 53 | |
| 5 | Lugano | 30 | 14 | 7 | 9 | 44 | 38 | +6 | 49 | |
| 6 | Wil | 30 | 12 | 10 | 8 | 59 | 41 | +18 | 46 | |
| 7 | Chiasso | 30 | 11 | 12 | 7 | 34 | 23 | +11 | 45 | |
| 8 | Vaduz | 30 | 13 | 6 | 11 | 54 | 45 | +9 | 45 | |
| 9 | Locarno | 30 | 12 | 9 | 9 | 47 | 44 | +3 | 45 | |
| 10 | Biel-Bienne | 30 | 12 | 7 | 11 | 55 | 54 | +1 | 43 | |
| 11 | Wohlen | 30 | 9 | 9 | 12 | 39 | 44 | −5 | 36 | |
| 12 | Stade Nyonnais (R) | 30 | 8 | 10 | 12 | 41 | 49 | −8 | 34 | Relegation to 2012–13 1. Liga Promotion |
| 13 | Étoile Carouge (R) | 30 | 8 | 6 | 16 | 25 | 56 | −31 | 30 | Relegation to 2012–13 1. Liga Promotion |
| 14 | Delémont (R) | 30 | 4 | 8 | 18 | 24 | 60 | −36 | 20 | Relegation to 2012–13 1. Liga Promotion |
| 15 | Kriens (R) | 30 | 4 | 5 | 21 | 37 | 66 | −29 | 17 | Relegation to 2012–13 1. Liga Promotion |
| 16 | Brühl (R) | 30 | 4 | 4 | 22 | 30 | 78 | −48 | 16 | Relegation to 2012–13 1. Liga Promotion |

## Results

Teams played each other twice over the course of the season, home and away, for a total of 30 matches per team.
| Home \ Away | AAR | BEL | BB | BRU | CHI | DEL | EC | KRI | LOC | LUG | STG | SN | VAD | WIL | WIN | WOH |
| Aarau | | 2–3 | 1–3 | 1–0 | 1–4 | 5–0 | 7–0 | 3–1 | 4–1 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 2–0 |
| Bellinzona | 0–1 | | 5–2 | 3–1 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 3–1 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 5–0 |
| Biel-Bienne | 0–3 | 0–0 | | 3–0 | 2–1 | 4–1 | 0–0 | 4–1 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 3–2 | 0–2 | 3–5 | 0–4 | 1–2 | 0–0 |
| Brühl | 0–3 | 1–4 | 1–4 | | 0–2 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 2–0 | 0–6 | 3–4 | 1–3 | 3–1 | 2–3 | 1–1 | 0–5 | 3–2 |
| Chiasso | 0–0 | 1–0 | 2–4 | 3–0 | | 4–0 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 1–0 |
| Delémont | 2–2 | 1–3 | 1–2 | 3–0 | 0–0 | | 0–1 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 0–2 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 4–0 | 0–1 | 0–1 |
| Étoile Carouge | 0–2 | 1–3 | 3–2 | 0–2 | 2–1 | 2–0 | | 2–1 | 1–5 | 3–0 | 1–5 | 0–1 | 0–4 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 1–3 |
| Kriens | 0–2 | 0–1 | 2–4 | 7–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 | | 2–3 | 2–2 | 0–2 | 3–4 | 0–3 | 1–4 | 0–2 | 4–1 |
| Locarno | 1–1 | 0–3 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 3–0 | 1–3 | | 1–1 | 0–2 | 2–2 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 |
| Lugano | 3–1 | 2–0 | 1–3 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 | | 3–1 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 0–3 | 1–2 | 0–2 |
| St. Gallen | 1–2 | 1–1 | 4–1 | 3–1 | 0–1 | 6–0 | 2–1 | 3–2 | 5–0 | 1–0 | | 2–2 | 4–2 | 3–2 | 1–1 | 0–0 |
| Stade Nyonnais | 2–2 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 2–2 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 3–2 | 0–3 | | 1–0 | 2–2 | 0–2 | 0–1 |
| Vaduz | 3–2 | 0–0 | 3–3 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 3–1 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 3–4 | | 3–2 | 2–2 | 1–1 |
| Wil | 3–2 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 6–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 3–1 | 1–2 | | 1–1 | 2–1 |
| Winterthur | 1–2 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 4–1 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 1–4 | | 1–2 |
| Wohlen | 1–3 | 0–1 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 3–0 | 5–2 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 4–2 | 2–1 | 2–2 | 2–3 | |

## Relegation play-offs

The ninth-placed team in the 2011–12 Swiss Super League, Sion, played a two-legged play-off against the Challenge League runners-up, Aarau, for a spot in the 2012–13 Super League.
Sion won 2–1 on aggregate.

## Top scorers

| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Armando Sadiku | Locarno | 19 |
| 2 | Shkëlzen Gashi | Aarau | 17 |
| 2 | Moreno Merenda | Vaduz | 17 |
| 2 | Igor Tadić | Kriens | 17 |
| 5 | Adis Jahović | Wil | 16 |
| 6 | Ezequiel Scarione | St. Gallen | 15 |
| 7 | Alessandro Ciarrocchi | Bellinzona | 14 |
| 7 | Odirlei de Souza Gaspar | Wohlen | 14 |
| 7 | Giuseppe Morello | Biel-Bienne | 14 |
| 10 | Džengis Čavušević | Wil | 13 |
| 11 | Frédéric Besseyre | Stade Nyonnais | 11 |
| 11 | Remo Staubli | Aarau | 11 |
| 13 | Franck Etoundi | St. Gallen | 10 |
| 13 | Gastón Magnetti | Bellinzona | 10 |
| 13 | Marco Mathys | St. Gallen | 10 |
* Updated 4 July 2012
* Source Soccerway