| Competition: | Swiss Challenge League |
| Season: | 2022–23 |
| Dates: | 15 July 2022 - 27 May 2023 |
| Pixels: | 200 |
| Winners: | Yverdon-Sport |
| Promoted: | Yverdon-Sport Lausanne-Sport |
| Continentalcup1: | Europa Conference League |
| Continentalcup1 Qualifiers: | Vaduz |
| Matches: | 180 |
| Total Goals: | 562 |
| Biggest Home Win: | 6–0 |
| Biggest Away Win: | 1–6 |
| Highest Scoring: | 7 goals 7 games |
| Longest Wins: | 4 games Aarau Lausanne-Ouchy Yverdon-Sport |
| Longest Unbeaten: | 11 games Lausanne-Sport |
| Longest Winless: | 13 games Bellinzona |
| Longest Losses: | 7 games Xamax |
| Highest Attendance: | 12,034[1] |
| Attendance: | 420,547 |
| Average Attendance: | 2,336 |
| Prevseason: | 2021–22 |
| Nextseason: | 2023–24 |
| Updated: | 19 May 2023 |
The 2022–23 Swiss Challenge League (referred to as the Dieci Challenge League for sponsoring reasons) is the 125th season of the second tier of competitive football in Switzerland and the 20th season under its current name.
Ten teams will compete in the league: eight teams of the previous season will participate in the league again. They are joined by FC Lausanne-Sport, the last-placed team of the 2021–22 Swiss Super League, who replace previous seasons champions FC Winterthur. Last season's last-placed team SC Kriens were relegated and are replaced by AC Bellinzona, who were promoted from the 2021-22 Swiss Promotion League.[2] FC Schaffhausen, the losers of the 2021-22 relegation/promotion playoff, rejoined the league.
Due to the format change and increased number of teams in the 2023–24 Swiss Super League, this season will function as a transition season. As a result, the top two teams will be directly promoted and no teams will be relegated at the end of the season. Furthermore, the third-placed team will play a promotion playoff against the last placed team of the 2022–23 Swiss Super League,[3] so a total of three teams may gain promotion to the Super League. Two teams of the 2022–23 Swiss Promotion League will be promoted and the third will play a relegation playoff with the last-placed Challenge League team.[3]
The schedule was announced on 17 June 2022.[4] The first matchday will start on Friday 15 July 2022.
Unlike the Super League, the Challenge League will not start the winter break early due to the 2022 FIFA World Cup, which will be held in November and December 2022. As such, the 18th matchday will clash with matches of the World Cup. Restart of the league after the winter break will begin on 27 January 2023 and the season will conclude on the 27 May 2023.[5] Following the end of the season, the two legs of the Relegation Play-off will be played on 31 May and 3 June 2023, respectively. The Promotion Play-off is scheduled for 3 and 6 June 2023, respectively.
| Team | Location | Stadium | Capacity | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8,000 | [6] | |||
| AC Bellinzona | Bellinzona | Stadio Comunale | 5,000 | [7] |
| 15,850 | [8] | |||
| FC Lausanne-Sport | Stade de la Tuilière | 12,544 | [9] | |
| 11,997 | [10] | |||
| 8,200 | [11] | |||
| 10,014 | [12] | |||
| 7,584 | [13] | |||
| 6,958 | [14] | |||
| 6,600 | [15] | |||
| Team | Manager | Captain | Kit manufacturer | Shirt sponsor |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aarau | Boris Smiljanić |  Shkëlzen Gashi | gpard | Credit Suisse |
| Bellinzona |  Stefano Maccoppi | Dragan Mihajlović | Acerbis | |
| Lausanne-Ouchy |  Anthony Braizat | Lavdrim Hajrulahu | 14fourteen | gerofinance |
| Lausanne-Sport | Ludovic Magnin | Stjepan Kukuruzović | Le coq sportif | Banque cantonale vaudoise |
| Xamax | Uli Forte | Liridon Berisha | Puma | groupe e |
| Schaffhausen | Selcuk Sasivari | Serge Müller | Puma | Methabau |
| Thun | Mauro Lustrinelli | Marco Bürki | Macron | Schneider Software AG |
 Martin Stocklasa | Benjamin Büchel | Puma | MBPI | |
| Wil | Brunello Iacopetta | Philipp Muntwiler | ERIMA | Weber und Partner AG LIKA Group AG |
| Yverdon-Sport | Marco Schällibaum | William Le Pogam | Puma | Orllati SA |
| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of departure | Position in table | Incoming manager | Date of appointment | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Carlos Bernegger | Termination | 21 May 2022 | Pre-season | Mauro Lustrinelli | 16 June 2022 | [16] [17] | |
| Alain Casanova | 22 May 2022 | Ludovic Magnin | 23 May 2022 | [18] [19] | |||
| Uli Forte | Departure | 4 June 2022 | Marco Schällibaum | 13 June 2022 | [20] [21] | ||
| Martin Andermatt | Contract Expiry | 4 June 2022 | Hakan Yakin | 4 June 2022 | [22] | ||
| Marco Schällibaum | Departure | 13 June 2022 | David Sesa | 21 June 2022 | [23] | ||
| Hakan Yakin | Missing coaching licence | 12 August 2022 | 6th | Bigi Meier (interim) | 12 August 2022 | [24] | |
| David Sesa | Resignation | 22 August 2022 | 7th | Fernando Cocimano (interim) | 22 August 2022 | [25] | |
| Xamax | Andrea Binotto | Termination | 28 August 2022 | 10th |  Jeff Saibene | 29 August 2022 | [26] [27] |
| Bigi Meier (interim) | End of interim period | 2 September 2022 | 4th | Hakan Yakin | 12 August 2022 | ||
| Fernando Cocimano (interim) | 14 September 2022 | 5th | Baldassare Raineri | 14 September 2022 | [28] | ||
| Stephan Keller | Termination | 1 November 2022 | 6th | Boris Smiljanić | 3 November 2022 | [29] [30] | |
| Alessandro Mangiarratti | Resignation | 16 November 2022 | 8th | Jürgen Seeberger | 15 December 2022 | [31] [32] | |
| Baldassare Raineri | Termination | 18 January 2023 | 6th | Stefano Maccoppi | 19 January 2023 | [33] [34] | |
| Jürgen Seeberger | Resignation | 21 February 2023 | 9th | Jan Mayer (interim) | 21 February 2023 | [35] | |
| Jan Mayer (interim) | End of interim period | 1 March 2023 | 9th | Martin Stocklasa | 1 March 2023 | [36] | |
| Stefano Maccoppi | Termination | 31 March 2023 | 8th | Fernando Cocimano (interim) | 31 March 2023 | [37] | |
| Xamax | Jeff Saibene | Resignation | 23 April 2023 | 10th | Uli Forte | 25 April 2023 | [38] [39] |
| Hakan Yakin | Termination | 20 May 2023 | 7th | Selcuk Sasivari (interim) | 20 May 2023 | [40] | |
The relegation play-off will be played in a two-legged game between the last place team of the Super League and the third placed team of the Challenge League. The first leg will be held on 3 June 2023, with the representative of the Super League hosting.[5] The second leg will be held on 6 June 2023.
Lausanne-Ouchy wins 6–2 on aggregate.
The relegation/promotion play-off will be played in a two-legged game between the last placed team of the Challenge League and the third placed team of the Promotion League.[3] The first leg will be held on 31 May 2023, with the representative of the Promotion League hosting.[5] The second leg will be held on 3 June 2023.
Xamax wins 6–1 on aggregate
| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brighton Labeau | Lausanne | 19 |
| Teddy Okou | Lausanne-Ouchy | 19 | |
| 3 | Gabriel Kyeremateng | Thun | 16 |
| 4 | Shkelqim Vladi | Aarau | 15 |
| 5 | Valon Fazliu | Aarau | 14 |
| 6 | Alban Ajdini | Lausanne-Ouchy | 13 |
| 7 | Tunahan Cicek | Vaduz | 12 |
 Koro Kone | Yverdon | 12 | |
| Brian Beyer | Yverdon | 12 | |
| 10 | Raúl Bobadilla | Schaffhausen | 11 |
| Nicolas Muci | Wil | 11 | |
| Rank | Player | Club | Assists |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Valon Fazliu | Aarau | 14 |
| 2 | Mergim Qarri | Lausanne-Ouchy | 11 |
| 3 | Dominik Schwizer | Lausanne | 9 |
| Kastrijot Ndau | Wil | 9 | |
| 5 |  Nikola Gjorgjev | Aarau | 8 |
| Cristian Souza | Bellinzona | 8 | |
| Josias Lukembila | Wil | 8 | |
| Teddy Okou | Lausanne-Ouchy | 8 | |
The best player of the Super League and Challenge League for each matchday is voted for by the viewers from among a selection of players.
The best player of the month in the Super League and Challenge League is chosen by the viewers from among five nominees. The following table shows the winner (in dark grey) and the other nominees for each month where a Player of the Month was chosen.
| First Half of the Season[87] [88] | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| width=150 | Player | width=150 | Team | width=20 | ||
| Lawrence Ati-Zigi | St. Gallen | (SL) | ||||
| Cedric Itten | Young Boys | (SL) | ||||
| David Douline | Servette | (SL) | |||
| Koro Kone | Yverdon | (ChL) | |||
| Valon Fazliu | Aarau | (ChL) | ||||
On 14 June 2023, FC Vaduz was awarded the Fair Play Trophy for the dieci Challenge League.[89]
| width=15 | Club | width=15 | width=15 | width=15 | width=15 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vaduz | 82 | 1 | 1 | 90 | |||||
| 2 | Yverdon | 92 | 1 | 0 | 95 | |||||
| 3 | Aarau | 88 | 2 | 1 | 99 | |||||
| 4 | Wil | 82 | 3 | 3 | 106 | |||||
| 5 | Schaffhausen | 93 | 5 | 0 | 108 | |||||
| 6 | Thun | 101 | 1 | 1 | 109 | |||||
| 7 | Bellinzona | 104 | 4 | 1 | 121 | |||||
| 8 | Lausanne | 90 | 6 | 3 | 123 | |||||
| 9 | Xamax | 100 | 4 | 3 | 127 | |||||
| 10 | Lausanne-Ouchy | 121 | 3 | 3 | 145 | |||||
| League Total | 953 | 30 | 16 | 1123 | ||||||
| Average/game | 5.29 | 0.17 | 0.09 | 6.24External links | ||||||
