The Swiss “AXA Women's Super League” explained
- Olivia Graf
- Apr 7
- 2 min read
The highest football league in Switzerland consists of 10 teams all across the country. Before it was played in the way it's being played today, it went through loads of changes in the past 10 years.
It was named AXA Women's Super League after the season 2019/2020. Before, it was called National League A.
The first league games were played in the season of 1970/1971. Unfortunately there is very little information on how it was played back then, only the winners were documented, with FC Zürich winning the most titles documented with 24.
From the seasons of 2010/11 until the 2015/16 season, the league was split into parts:
After the qualifying rounds, there were 18 games played across the 10 teams. After all games were played, the bottom two teams of the table fought for a spot to qualify and keep their league A spot for next season, and the two top teams of league B played to advance to the higher league.
Meanwhile the top 8 teams of league A got the points they earned during the run cut in half, and then played each team again.
After the 2016/17 season, the whole league was remodeled. Each team played each other twice, before the best 6 six teams advanced to the playoffs, without cutting any points in half (goal difference was taken into account). The bottom 4 teams and the top 2 teams of league B each played 5 games to determine which team advances or relegates.
For the seasons 2017/18 to 2020/21 league A only consisted of 8 teams. Each team played each other twice (home and away), which led to a total of 28 games.
The reason for the reduction of teams in this league was to increase the level of the league. There were no playoffs or qualifying rounds for these seasons.
The team on top of the table at the end of the campaign automatically qualified for the UEFA Women's Champions League (UWCL), as well as the bottom team getting relegated to league B. Advancing to league A was only possible by placing first in league B.
Since season 2021/22 the league has been back with 10 teams, each playing against the other teams twice (home and away). The top 8 teams go into the playoffs for the second competition, the AXA Women's Cup.
The quarter and half-finals are being played with two games each. Losers of the quarter-finals play for spots 5-8 on the table, spots 3 and 4 are determined by the amount of points scored during the regular season. The winners of the two half-finals meet for the final game to determine the champions. Current champions are FC Zürich.
For the AWSL regular season, the two teams placed 9th and 10th in the table, play the top 2 teams of league B to determine advancing and relegating teams for the following season.
The league champion of the regular season of the AWSL is automatically qualified for the UWCL.
As it stands (season 2024/25), the following 10 teams are part of the AWSL
FC Basel 1893
Servette FC Chênois Féminin (current champions)
BSC Young Boys
FC Zürich
FC St. Gallen
Grasshopper Club Zürich
FC Aarau
FC Luzern
FC Rapperswil-Jona
Frauenteam Thun-Berner Oberland
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