Women's football in Switzerland | |
---|---|
Governing body | Swiss Football Association |
National team(s) | Women's national team |
National competitions | |
Club competitions | |
International competitions | |
Champions League FIFA Women's World Cup (National Team) European Championship (National Team) Olympics (National Team) |
Women's football in Switzerland was founded in with the Swiss Women's Super League on April 24, 1970. [1] [2] Women in Switzerland experienced prejudice for playing football. [3] [4] As of 2023, there are more than 30,000 females playing in around 800 teams across Switzerland. [5]
Switzerland is expected host the UEFA Women's Euro 2025. [6]
The first recorded instance of women's football in Switzerland was in 1923. The newspaper Le Sport Suisse reported on the organisational association of football-loving women in Geneva under the name Les Sportive on the initiative of Florida Pianzola.
In the 1960s, due to women being banned from planning football but participated in amateur football tournaments. [7] In 1965, Monika and Silvia Stahel founded the football club FC Goitschel in Murgenthal. [8] They wrote to the Swiss Football Association asking them to be able to play football officially. [9] The Swiss FA responded with declined the sisters request, offered the ladies opportunity to become referees. [10]
Madeleine Boll became a media sensation in 1965 when she became the first licensed female footballer in Switzerland, after the Swiss Football Association didn't realise Boll was female. She had first taken part in FC Sion's youth training and then applied for the license. With the license, she was able to take part in the pre-match of the first European Cup match between FC Sion and Galatasaray. [11] Boll's presence attracted media interest from all over the world, and Boll had her license was rescinded. Due to the media attention, Madeleine Boll was signed by Serie A team Gommagomma, and played from 1970 to 1974, then for Real Juventus. Boll's popularity sparked massive increase in participation of women's football in Switzerland. [12]
Swiss Women's Super League is the highest tier of women's football in Switzerland. [5] [13] [14]
On 21 February 1968, the first women's football club was founded in Zurich, the Damenfussballclub Zürich (DFC Zurich) which was founded by Trudy Moser and Ursula Moser. [15] [16] [17] This led to more women's football teams emerging 1968 to 1971. Independent clubs sprang up all over Switzerland to start the formation of la Ligue suisse de football féminin on 24 April 1970. A year later, new regulation were implemented from the 1971/72 season, only teams affiliated with a 'men's club' would be allowed to participate in the league. [18]
In 1993 the la Ligue suisse de football féminin was dissolved to become part of the Swiss football association. [19] The first cup winner was DFC Sion. On 15 May 1993, the decision was made to integrate the clubs into the Swiss Football Association. [20]
Since the 21st Century Switzerland has seen an upsurge of success with the national team qualifying for the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup and 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup. [21] [22]
Yvan Quentin is a retired Swiss football defender.
Sébastien Fournier is a Swiss football manager, most recently for FC Sion, and former football player.
Football is the most popular sport in Switzerland. The Swiss Football Association was formed in 1895 and was a founder member of the sport's international governing body FIFA in 1904. The Swiss cities of Zürich and Nyon are home to FIFA and the European governing body UEFA respectively. The country played host to the 1954 World Cup and 2008 European Championship.
Vladimir Petković is a Bosnian-born Swiss professional football manager and former player. He is currently the coach of the Algeria national team. He was previously the head coach of French side Bordeaux, the Switzerland national team, a string of Swiss clubs, Turkish club Samsunspor, and Italian club Lazio.
The SwissWomen's Super League is the highest-level league competition for women's football clubs in Switzerland. It was established in 1970.
The Swiss Women's Cup is a women's football cup tournament that has been organised annually since 1975 by the Swiss Football Association (SFV-ASF).
Raphaël Wicky is a Swiss football coach and a former player. He was most recently the manager of Swiss Super League club BSC Young Boys, whom he led to a domestic double. He was a defensive midfielder who could also play in defence and was known for his combative style.
Meriame Terchoun is a Swiss footballer who plays for Dijon in the French Division 1 Féminine and for the Switzerland national team.
Coumba Louisa Sow is a Swiss footballer who plays as a midfielder for FC Basel in the Swiss Women's Super League and has appeared for the Switzerland national team.
The 2025 UEFA Women's Championship will be the 14th edition of the UEFA Women's Championship, the quadrennial international football championship organised by UEFA for the women's national teams of Europe. The tournament will be played in Switzerland from 2 to 27 July 2025. It will be the third edition since it was expanded to 16 teams. The tournament will return to its usual four-year cycle after the previous tournament was indirectly delayed to 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Servette FC Chênois Féminin is a women's football club from Geneva, Switzerland. Its first team plays in the top tier in Switzerland and often in UEFA Champions League.
The bidding process for the UEFA Women's Euro 2025 ended on 4 April 2023 in Lisbon, Portugal, when Switzerland was announced to be the host.
The 2022–23 Swiss Super League is the 126th season of top-tier competitive football in Switzerland and the 20th under its current name and format. With this season, the Swiss Super League became the longest continuously running top-flight national league.
The following is a summary of the 2022–23 season of competitive football in Switzerland.
The 2022–23 Swiss Women's Super League was the 53nd season of top-tier competitive women's football in Switzerland.
Madeleine Boll is a Swiss former footballer who played as a midfielder for Sion, Boll represented the Switzerland national team.
Iman Beney is a Swiss footballer who plays as a midfielder for BSC Young Boys and the Swiss national team.
Tatjana Ingeborg Haenni is a former Swiss soccer player and current official in women's soccer.
Roméo Beney is a Swiss professional footballer who plays as striker for FC Basel in the Swiss Super League. He has been Swiss youth international at various levels.