The weather in the region has been brutal. Make-up dates for the missed matches: Rapperswil-Jona - Aarau - 18 March Winterthur - Vaduz - 18 March Wohlen- Servette - 24 March
I have wondered why this was not the goal for the club before. If they can establish specific ties to the lower clubs as it seems like they are doing now they could combine the limited resources that exist in the country. I could see that this combined with the new Nations League could give both Vaduz and the NT a boost. I for one also appreciate their commitment to keeping in the black.
If the weather cooperates, here are the scheduled matches for the weekend. 3 March Schaffhausen - Chiasso 4 March Aarau - Wohlen Rapperswil-Jona - Wil 5 March Vaduz - Servette Winterthur - Xamax
3 March Schaffhausen - Chiasso 2-1 4 March Aarau - Wohlen 4-2 Rapperswil-Jona - Wil PPD 5 March Vaduz - Servette Winterthur - Xamax Chiasso has also received a 3 point deduction due to non payment of salaries.
Winterthur is up 3-1 almost at half time. This is a great chance for Servette to move up, but they are down 1-0 and are lucky to not be down 2-0 as Vaduz missed a PK!
Vaduz - Servette 2-1 Winterthur - Xamax 4-4 The race is over. Xamax once again finds a way to get points while Servette finds a way to lose points.
Alas you are probably right... Xamax has been extremely lucky this season in a lot of games.....I mean who concedes 4 goals in a match and still comes out with something!
8 March FC Rapperswil-Jona - Aarau 2-0 9 March Chiasso - Winterthur 10 March Wil - Vaduz 11 March Servette - Wohlen Xamax - Schaffhausen 12 March Aarrau - Rapperwsil-Jona (Twice in less than a week!)
9 March Chiasso - Winterthur 1-0 10 March Wil - Vaduz 1-1 11 March Servette - Wohlen 1-1 Xamax - Schaffhausen 1-0 12 March Aarrau - Rapperwsil-Jona 0-1 Xamax 58 Servette 44* Schaffhausen 39 Vaduz 37* Rapperswil-Jona 36* Aarau 27 Chiasso 24 Wil 22* Winterthur 17* Wohlen 15* So any inkling that Servette still had of trying to come back is now gone. Congrats to Xamax. Also, Wohlen is already announced that they are not going to apply for a license. I wonder if Chiasso, and Wil will be able to get one. There are 4 Promotion league teams that have applied: Kriens, Stade Nyonnais, Yverdon (new stadium 2019) and Bruehl (!/?)
Leading goalscorers 20 - Raphael Nuzzolo Xamax 12 - Tunahan Cicek - Schaffhausen 11 - Mychell Chagas - Servette 10 - Geoffrey Treand Leading Assists 15 - Charles-Andrew Doudin - Xamax 8 - Alexandre Alphonse - Servette Attendance 3,237 Xamax (12) -11 2,836 Winterthur (11) -74 2,574 Servette (12) - 100 2,558 Aarau (13) -28 1,670 Vaduz (12) -17 1,392 Rapperswil-Jona (11) -75 1,341 Schaffhausen (12) -84 894 Wil (12) -12 655 Wohlen (10) - 46 492 Chiasso (12) -8
I know we have probably gone over this before but what criteria must be met to attain a license? What would be preventing Chiasso and Wil from getting one? I would be shocked if Wil didn't get one ( of course not up to date on the criteria) as I have been following them a little closer this season and they appear to have turned a corner in terms of making themselves viable.
There are two types of licenses: A and B. B's license is based on club finances/paying players and staff, lighting, stadium capacity, security, and a few other regulations. Wohlen is unable to meet the criteria for stadium lighting and having a certain number of physical seats for their ground (which they do not own). That's why they're not pursuing a license for next year, and why they've been getting fined all season. Chiasso may not receive a license because Riva IV (their home stadium) has lighting issues and barely passes for the minimum number of physical seats, but they also keep getting fined for missing payments to players and staff, so it's not known how long they'll continue pursuing Challenge League football. Wil's major concern is lighting and finances, but if those are both in order, then there's no question they'll receive a B license. Rapperswil-Jona was fined several times this year for not having lighting up to standard, but their finances are in good order, and they meet the physical seating capacity requirements. Teams in the Super League must receive an A license, and any team attempting to pursue the Super League must apply and receive an A license. If a team that wins the Challenge League does not meet the requirements for an A license, they can appeal to try to earn a license, even on a temporary basis, but if they fail, the next highest team in the Challenge League who qualified for an A license will be promoted. If you want to read about the licensing process (and you can read French), here is the link for the license process. The SFL is very transparent about this kind of stuff, even if they are very stringent. http://www.sfl.ch/fileadmin/_migrated/content_uploads/Reglement_licences_SFL_2017-07-01_neu.pdf Addendum: The licensing process changed this past season to three tiers: I, II, and III. I is for Super League and UEFA Competitions, II is for Super League, and III is for Challenge League.
Excellent! Thank you... French is a bit rusty but I still know enough to get by... I will check out the link.
So even though these clubs have lighting in their stadiums they are sufficient enough in terms of lux? Is that it?
My pleasure. You can put the link into Google Translate, and it will come out very well. I also learned quite a bit reading that, especially with regards to the difference between II and III licenses.
That's correct. All stadiums must have lighting 500 lux or greater to all parts of the pitch, and all lights in a stanchion must function. It's funny watching highlights of matches from places like Wohlen and Chiasso, and you can see the difference in lighting against a place like Vaduz (which has lighting required for UEFA matches for Liechtenstein), Servette, and Xamax. It's pretty surprising.
Now that I think about it some of the video feed of matches I watch are darker...I always assumed it was production quality...now I know!
The one thing that I really do like is that the SFL is very upfront about the requirements. I think that Wil will be fine. Chiasso, I am not so sure about.
Curious if anyone has any travel plans to head over to Switzerland? I may be over in August/September and will be catching some matches. Going out on a limb here but I don't assume tickets will be hard to find for Aarau, Xamax or Lausanne matches? Grabbing a pint with some fellow forum goers would be nice!
I will be heading over in November. Tickets for all RSL/BCL matches are pretty easy to find. I have never had a problem with walk-up. The closest that I have been to a sell-out in Switzerland was the LS vs Palermo Europa League match. That is one of the coldest nights I have ever seen. Even then, I picked up 2 tickets for about 20CHF on the south side of La Pointaise. No issues.
I wish I could return to my beloved adopted country, but it's not in the cards. I've only been there for work, and I can't see a situation where they would send me back. You will have no trouble getting tickets to ANY matches in Switzerland. The only ticket that would be tough to come by would be a Champions League Group Stage match involving YB or Basel and an English team/Barcelona/Real Madrid/Bayern/BVB, and, even then, if you're flying solo, there's still a chance you can get one.