| Competition: | 1. Liga Promotion |
| Season: | 2012–13 |
| Winners: | FC Schaffhausen |
| Promoted: | FC Schaffhausen |
| Relegated: | FC Fribourg Yverdon-Sport FC |
| Matches: | 240 |
| Total Goals: | 806 |
| Nextseason: | 2013–14 |
The 2012–13 season of the 1. Liga Promotion was the initial season of this league, the 3rd division of Swiss Football and is the third level of the football hierarchy in Switzerland, behind the Super League and the Challenge League. The Championship had 16 teams and each team played 30 games. The champions of this division would be promoted and the last two teams would be relegated.
In the summer of 2012, the Swiss Football Association restructured their league system. The top tier, Super League, remained unchanged. The second tier, Challenge League, was reduced from 16 to 10 teams. A new division was introcuced to become the new third highest tier. Initially introduced as the 1. Liga Promotion, two years later it would be renamed to Promotion League.[1] The existing 1. Liga was subsequently the fourth tier and renamed to 1. Liga Classic. This reconstruction was done to decrease the competitive gap between the two top tiers by converting the second to a purely professional league. The new Promotion League would therefore serve as the semi-professional link to amateur football.[2] The number of U-21 teams, the eldest youth teams of the Super League clubs, permitted in this division was limited to four (until 2022) and they were not eligible to promotion.[3]
Originally, for its maiden season, six teams were to be relegated after the 2011–12 Challenge League season and ten teams would be promoted from the 1. Liga, which was the division immediately below.[4] However, due to the financial crises under club owner Bulat Tschagajew, the club Neuchâtel Xamax declared bankruptcy on 26 January 2012.[5] The club was consequently excluded from the Super League and demoted to the sixth tier. Therefore, only five teams were relegated and eleven were brought up.[6]
The five teams relegated from the Challenge League were Stade Nyonnais, Carouge, Delémont, Kriens and Brühl. The four youth teams were Basel U-21, Sion U-21, St. Gallen U-21 and Zürich U-21. The other clubs who won promotion from the 1. Liga were Fribourg, Yverdon-Sport, Old Boys, Breitenrain, Tuggen, Schaffhausen and YF Juventus.