2005–06 Swiss Super League

The 2005–06 Swiss Super League season was the 109th season of top-tier football in Switzerland. The competition is officially named AXPO Super League due to sponsoring purposes.

Swiss Super League
Season2005–06
ChampionsZürich
10th title
RelegatedYverdon-Sport
Neuchâtel Xamax
Champions LeagueZürich
UEFA CupBasel
Young Boys
Thun
Intertoto CupGrasshopper
Matches played180
Goals scored518 (2.88 per match)
Top goalscorerAlhassane Keita (20 goals)
Biggest home winSt. Gallen 7–1 Neuchâtel Xamax
Biggest away winThun 1–6 Zürich
Young Boys 1–6 Basel
Highest scoringBasel 7–2 Aarau
Highest attendance32,712
(Basel vs. Zürich, 13 May 2006)

Teams
Location of teams in the 2005–06 Swiss Super League

The 2005-06 Super League was contested by 10 teams. These being the first eight from the previous season, the winner of the previous season relegation play-off and one promoted team.

Basel were the defending champions, Thun were the previous runners-up. The next six teams were Grasshoppers (previous third) and FC Zürich (fifth) both of whom played in the UEFA Cup, Young Boys (fourth) and Neuchâtel Xamax (sixth) both of whom played in the UEFA Intertoto Cup and St. Gallen (seventh) and Aarau (eighth.

Because the parent company of Servette FC was declared bankrupt during the previous February and because the consequence was that the team had their license revoked, they did not finish the previous season and were relegated. The Challenge League 2004–05 champions Yverdon-Sport FC replaced them. FC Schaffhausen retained their position in the Super League by beating Challenge League runners-up FC Vaduz 2–1 in a two-legged relegation play-off.

Overview

Season

The first round of the season was played on 19 July 2005. During the first half of the season the tens teams played a double round robin (home and away round) which was played through till 11 December. Then there was a winter break until the second half began on 12 February 2006. Again the tens teams played a double round robin. The last round of the season was played on 13 May 2006. The highest attendance at a match was 32,712 on the final day of the season in the game Basel against Zürich on 13 May 2006.[1]

The league championship was decided by goal difference, with FC Zürich being named champions. Thus Zürich qualified for the 2006–07 Champions League, Basel and Young Boys qualified for the 2006–07 UEFA Cup and the Grasshoppers qualified for the 2006 UEFA Intertoto Cup. Yverdon-Sport were relegated and Xamax played in the Relegation play-off.

Basel hooligan incident

On the final day of the season, Basel were in first position in the league table, three points clear, and they had a home fixture in the sold out St. Jakob-Park against their sole remaining rivals for the championship title Zürich. A last-minute goal from Iulian Filipescu gave Zürich their first national championship since the 1980–81 season. The last minute loss of the Championship resulted in subsequent riots, the so-called Basel hooligan incident. Basel were punished because of their inability to control its own fans.[2]

League table
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Zürich (C) 36 23 9 4 86 36 +50 78 Qualification to Champions League second qualifying round
2 Basel 36 23 9 4 87 42 +45 78 Qualification to UEFA Cup first qualifying round
3 Young Boys 36 17 11 8 60 46 +14 62
4 Grasshopper 36 14 13 9 44 33 +11 55 Qualification to Intertoto Cup second round
5 Thun 36 14 7 15 50 53 −3 49
6 St. Gallen 36 11 7 18 51 56 −5 40
7 Aarau 36 8 11 17 29 63 −34 35
8 Schaffhausen 36 7 12 17 32 55 −23 33
9 Neuchâtel Xamax (R) 36 9 6 21 41 70 −29 33 Qualification to relegation play-off
10 Yverdon-Sport (R) 36 9 5 22 38 64 −26 32 Relegation to Swiss Challenge League
Source: RSSSF
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champion; (R) Relegated.

Relegation play-offs
Sion0–0Neuchâtel Xamax
Attendance: 12,300
Neuchâtel Xamax0–3Sion
Vogt  38', 59'
Gaspoz  68'
Attendance: 7,000
Referee: René Rogalla

Top goalscorers
Rank Player Club Goals
1 Alhassane Keita FC Zurich 20
2 Matías Delgado Basel 18
João Paulo Young Boys 18
4 Mladen Petrić Basel 14
Raffael FC Zürich 14
5 Eric Hassli St. Gallen 13
Francisco Aguirre Yverdon-Sport FC 13

Sources and references
  1. Weber, Dominik (2006). "Fatales Gegentor in letzer Sekunde. FCB verliert Titel an den FCZ" (in German). FC Basel 1893. Archived from the original on 2014-02-22. Retrieved 2006-05-13.
  2. Beaumont, Adam (2006). "Basel face stiff penalties over match violence". swissinfo.org. Retrieved 2006-05-15.
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