Neuchâtel Xamax Football Club Serrières or Neuchâtel Xamax FCS () is a Swiss

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

club based in

Neuchâtel Neuchâtel (, ; ; ) is a list of towns in Switzerland, town, a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality, and the capital (political), capital of the cantons of Switzerland, Swiss canton of Neuchâtel (canton), Neuchâtel on Lake Neuchâtel ...

. It was created in 1970 through a merger between FC Cantonal, founded in 1906 and Swiss champions of 1916, and FC Xamax founded in 1912. The name ''Xamax'' comes from legendary Swiss international player 'Xam' Max Abegglen, one of the founding members. Xamax Neuchâtel FCS obtained its current name after a merger with FC Serrières, another side from Neuchâtel, in May 2013.

History

Students at the Collège Latin in Neuchâtel began playing organized football in 1910. Soon after, in 1912, Neuchâtel Xamax was officially founded. They have been champions of Switzerland on two occasions, in successive years in 1987 and 1988. The club has also made it to five

Swiss Cup The Swiss Cup (; ; ; ) is a football cup competition that has been organised annually since 1925–26 season by the Swiss Football Association. The Swiss Cup final is usually the most important game of the year with a high attendance. The co ...

finals, the most recent in 2011, but have failed to win any of them. After many financial crises, the club declared bankruptcy on 26 January 2012 and was consequently excluded from

Swiss Super League The Super League (also known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a professional association football league in Switzerland and the highest level of the Swiss football league system. It has been played in its current fo ...

. The club was reformed, but had to restart in the Swiss amateur leagues, entering the 2. Liga Interregional, the fifth tier of the Swiss football league system, for the 2012–13 season. The club finished first in 2013 and was promoted to the 1. Liga Classic for 2013–14. Once again, Xamax finished first, winning the play-off to secure a second successive promotion. Xamax won 1. Liga Promotion, the third tier of Swiss league system was and promoted to the Challenge League after having a third successive promotion in 2014–15 season. The club finally won promotion back to the Swiss Super League in 2018, marking the end of a six-year absence from the top flight of Swiss football. At the end of the 2019–20 Swiss Super League season, the club was relegated back to the second division after finishing bottom of the table.

Stadium

The club plays its home matches at the

Stade de la Maladière Stade de la Maladière is a multi-purpose stadium in Neuchâtel, Switzerland. It is currently used mostly for football (soccer), football matches and is the home ground of Neuchâtel Xamax. The stadium holds 12,000. It replaced the old Stade d ...

, which began construction in 2004 and was opened in 2007. It has a capacity of 12,500 spectators.

Current squad

Notable players

;Cameroon * Freddy Mveng ;Central African Republic * Louis Mafouta ;Egypt *

Hossam Hassan Hossam Hassan Hassanein (; born 10 August 1966) is an Egyptian former professional association football, football player who played as a Striker (association football), striker, and current coach of the Egypt national football team, Egyptian nat ...

;Ivory Coast * Eric Tia ;Nigeria * Brown Ideye * Kalu Uche ;Senegal *

Papa Bouba Diop Papa Bouba Diop (28 January 197829 November 2020) was a Senegalese professional footballer. His preferred position was as a defensive midfielder, but he could also play as a centre-back, where he played at Lens. Diop was considered a physicall ...

;Sierra Leone * Umaru Bangura ;Philippines * Michael Kempter ;Saudi Arabia * Hussein Abdulghani ;Bosnia and Herzegovina * Mustafa Sejmenović * Ensar Arifović ;Bulgaria * Trifon Ivanov ;Hungary * Lajos Détári ;West Germany * Uli Stielike ;Ireland * Don Givens ;Liechtenstein * Noah Frick ;Spain * Víctor Sánchez ;Switzerland * Johan Djourou *

Lucien Favre Lucien Favre (; born 2 November 1957) is a Swiss professional Association football, football manager and former player who most recently managed club OGC Nice, Nice. Favre was a playmaker for various Swiss and French clubs, the longest for Serve ...

* Mario Gavranović * Haris Seferovic ;Netherlands * Rene van der Gijp

Honours

;Leagues *

** Winner (2): 1986–87, 1987–88 *

Swiss Challenge League The Challenge League (known as the Dieci Challenge League for sponsorship reasons) is the second-highest tier of the Swiss football league system and lower of two professional leagues in the country. Ten teams play in the Challenge League; the wi ...

** Winner (3): 1972–73, 2006–07, 2017–18 * Swiss Promotion League ** Winner: 2014–15 * 1. Liga Classic ** Winner: 2013–14 * 2. Liga Interregional ** Winner: 2012–13 ;Cups * Swiss Super Cup ** Winner (3): 1987, 1988, 1990

Former coaches

European record

References

External links

Neuchâtel Xamax unofficial website

Team profile
on Soccerway {{DEFAULTSORT:Neuchatel Xamax Football clubs in Switzerland Association football clubs established in 1912 Neuchâtel 1912 establishments in Switzerland Sport in Neuchâtel