The Swiss youngster, of all people, has had a tough time in the domestic league. This issue needs to be resolved quickly.Image: trapezoid
Time is running out and things are complicated: How do young Swiss professionals get more playing time in the Superliga and Challenge League? The first proposed solution now comes from the association.
Sebastian Wendel/ch media
Since mid-September, everyone has been talking about the dramatic development of the Swiss professional league: local young people are getting less and less playing time in the Super League and Challenge League. Unless the curve is upward again, this will have a negative impact on the senior national team in a few years' time. In other words: regular participation in European and World Championships is at risk.
Things haven't gotten better since the Swiss Football Federation raised the alarm two months ago. The playing time of Switzerland's U21 players has stagnated at worryingly low levels – averaging just 1,000 minutes per matchday. That's less than ten percent of the maximum possible play time.
Even in the Challenge League, times are tough for Swiss youngsters.Image: trapezoid
The Challenge League look is particularly surprising. Because since this year, supporting Swiss youth has brought in a lot of money – and that's in clubs, most of which have to spend every franc. Anyone who plays 6,000 minutes for the Swiss U21 team before the end of the season will receive 50,000 francs. When you reach 8000 minutes, the amount will double. The remaining 1 million francs in the prize money will be distributed to all teams that have played more than 8,000 minutes.
But apparently the prospect of adding hundreds of thousands of francs to the budget is not lucrative enough. According to current figures, only three out of ten teams (Schaffhausen, Weil, Nyon) will reach the 6,000-man mark by the end of the season. Please note: 166 minutes per game, not even two Swiss U21 players from kick-off to the final whistle.
Not in the spirit of the question: Promoting young talent solely for financial reasons
An investigation into the heads of several Challenge League clubs led to two conclusions. On the one hand, the current U21 trophy must become the U23 trophy. Because anyone above the age of U21 is still young and has the ability to jump to a foreign top league via the Super League and from there to the Swiss A-Nati. And: The current approach contradicts SFV's stated desire to keep the door open to pro teams for late-bloomer talent longer than before.
The league and association should be alarmed by statements from several officials that, depending on how the season progresses, they will use more Swiss youngsters and receive money from the youth fund. This means: Young talents will only be promoted for financial reasons when the promotion train actually sets off and they are guaranteed to stay in the league. In a lottery game without the pressure of results. Realists call this the “merit principle,” while pessimists argue that subsidies will do little good for local young people if they don’t even make them attractive.
As of now, there is only one club in the Chinese Super League (Lucerne) whose young Swiss players have played 6,000 minutes. Since the Chinese Super League is linked to the global transfer market, the team lineup is naturally international. But there are certainly good reasons to promote Swiss creations more: there is a huge demand for young Swiss professionals in this transfer market; among top nations, only Croatia has more mercenaries than Switzerland.
Young Swiss players are often sent to Lucerne Football Club.Image: trapezoid
With the exception of Lucerne, the fact that Swiss clubs, despite pouring millions into their youth departments, have struggled to provide a platform for their players is difficult to comprehend. This may be due to the lower weight of those responsible for young talent within the club's decision-making bodies.
Race against time: adjustments for the 2026/27 season
In short: plenty of reasons to change things quickly and in large quantities. For weeks, a group of representatives from associations and leagues, plus representatives from amateur leagues, have been working to address the youth crisis. Time is of the essence: concrete proposals will be put forward next spring in order to be launched in the 2026/27 season. Previously, adjustments to rules and formats had to be approved by association and league meetings, which was impossible.
Patrick Bruggmann, Marc Hottiger, Jean-Claude Donzé and Pierluigi Tami from SFV, David Degen, Sandro Burki and Silvano Lombardo from the clubs and league teams – they discuss and formulate possible changes in constant communication with the original committee. Now it seems that the focus is to challenge the league. The challenge is to increase this without reducing quality. Increasing the number of teams to 20, divided into two regional groups, as Nati director Pierluigi Tami suggested in October, is not an option.
What is more likely is a change in the direction of the funding – in line with the motto: only those who promote Swissness can benefit from association funds. “There will hardly be any more money in the future, so we have to allocate it differently,” said SFV development director Patrick Bruggmann. So far, clubs have had to prove staff and infrastructure necessary qualifications to receive funding. In the future, we will provide financial support to those who help young Swiss players play at the professional level.
Brueggemann goes a step further and introduces a complete system: “Of course, each club is free to choose how to build the team. But above all, the Challenge League, but also the Super League, must implement them as training The idea of a platform. Anyone who still prefers to rely on foreign players can make a financial contribution to support young Swiss talent. “In fact, this may be the case: GC (whose American owners may not care about the future of Swiss A-Nati). FC Luzern pays donations to local talent factory.
Patrick Brueggemann, development director of the Swiss Football Association, is also considering a bus system.Image: KEYSTONE
Providing more playing time for Swiss youngsters – this is the main focus of the association. This is an intervention in the current work of the club. Their attitude is accordingly defensive, at least they hope that associations will approach the youth crisis from a different perspective. After the question: Is it possible that the Swiss’ reduced playing time is due to the quality of Swiss talent?
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SFV player Brueggemann understands the club's concerns. It also pointed out that the association’s internal training strategy has also been questioned. A core finding is that talent support in the transition from junior to professional level must be improved and that personal development plans are a prerequisite for achieving this. The association hopes to support clubs in this area in the future.
Brueggemann believes that promoting young talent is driven by ideals rather than financial reasons. Spanish top clubs Athletic Bilbao and Real Sociedad San Sebastián are examples, having relied for decades on local and, in Bilbao's case, regional creations. Success: Bilbao has never been relegated from La Liga and is a regular at the European Cup.
SFV has considered inviting the sporting directors of Swiss professional clubs to jointly visit both clubs. And learn on the spot what it takes to achieve a more Swiss character in Swiss clubs: the courage and perseverance to implement new strategies over the long term. (aargauerzeitung.ch)
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