The Promotion League, named the YAPEAL Promotion League for sponsorship reasons, is the third tier of the

Swiss football league system The Swiss football league system, is a series of interconnected leagues for association football clubs in Switzerland, with seven teams from Liechtenstein, and one each from exclaves of Germany and Italy, also competing. The system has a hierarchi ...

. Eighteen clubs compete in the league, playing each other twice over the course of the season. The champions are promoted to the second tier, the Challenge League, while the bottom two teams are relegated to the 1. Liga. The league forms the semi-professional bridge to amateur football.

Overview

Eighteen teams play each other twice, once home and once away, for a total of 34 games. The season begins in August and ends in May, interrupted through a winter break from late November to early March. The team finishing in first place—subject to license requirements of professional football—will be promoted to the division above, in turn the last-placed team of the second division will be relegated for the following season. Similarly, the bottom two teams are relegated to the fourth tier and replaced respectively. It is the highest league in Switzerland that permits participation of reserve teams.

History

The league was introduced as the ''1. Liga Promotion'' beginning with the 2012–13 season as part of a restructuring that saw the Challenge League reduced from 16 to 10 teams. This was done to decrease the competitive gap between it and the

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of wh ...

by converting it to a purely professional league. The Promotion League would therefore serve as the semi-professional link to amateur football. The 1. Liga was consequently renamed to ''1. Liga Classic'', before reverting again in 2013 when the former adopted its current name. For its maiden season, six teams were relegated from the Challenge League, while the rest joined from the division below. In March 2020, the ongoing season was canceled after 17 games due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

and the 2020–21 season suspended until further notice. The league is expanded to 18 teams from the 2022–23 season and the number of allowed U21 teams is unrestricted.

Participating clubs

Current clubs 2022–23

League champions

The following teams have won the league:

References

External links

*
1. Liga Promotion tables & results at soccerway.com
{{UEFA third leagues 3 Sports leagues established in 2012 2012 establishments in Switzerland

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...

Professional sports leagues in Switzerland