The national team has a youth problem. Alex Frei sounds the alarm in the football talk Heimspiel on blue Sport and calls for the top two divisions to be expanded: "I would expand the Super League to 16 teams and the Challenge League to 18 teams."
No time? blue News summarizes for you
- Alex Frei expresses his concern in the football talk Heimspiel about the low number of potential national team players in the top match between Basel and YB.
- Only three of the 22 players on the pitch were eligible for the national team, which Frei says is a new low.
- According to the panel of experts, the reason for the lack of Swiss players is the lack of playing time for talented youngsters in the top two divisions.
- Frei is therefore calling for the Super League to be increased to 16 teams and the Challenge League to 18 teams. This would give young players more opportunities to prove themselves at a high level.
- blue Sport shows all Super League matches live.
"Before the international break, I went to watch Basel - YB. 60% of the players were foreigners," says blue Sport expert Alex Frei in the football talk show Heimspiel. Actually, he wouldn't mind if there wasn't a small problem: the Swiss national team.
"Only 40 percent of these 22 players can be selected for the national team. But that includes Hitz and Shaqiri, who have retired. In the end, I'm down to just three players out of 22," says Frei and sounds the alarm: "It's never happened before with Basel against YB. You have to be careful. The top match in the Super League and you can only select three players for the national team? That can't be right!"
Changing the Super League again?
This is a well-known problem: a recently published study commissioned by the SFA shows that Switzerland lags far behind other comparable leagues when it comes to enabling young players to make the leap to the pros.
In the football talk Heimspiel, national team director Pierluigi Tami, director of football development Patrick Bruggmann and blue Sport expert and former national team star Alex Frei go in search of clues. The three experts, who are firmly anchored in the football business, do not get into an argument because they agree on most points. The tenor is clear: in Switzerland, young talents get far too little playing time in one of the top two divisions. And match practice is exactly what players of this age need to take the next step.
Frei, who knows more about Swiss youth football than almost anyone else, knows one possible solution: increasing the size of the top two Swiss leagues. "I would expand the Super League to 16 teams and the Challenge League to 18 teams," says the blue Sport expert firmly.
Another expansion of the league? Just a year and a half ago, the Super League was expanded from 10 to 12 teams for the 2023/24 season. Isn't that enough?
"Other countries are showing the way. Portugal has 18 teams," argues the blue Sport expert. The advantage: "If I ask who is in 14th to 18th place in Portugal, we can't say, but we know Sporting, Porto and Benfica. That gives the youngsters the opportunity to compete at the highest level with these teams. Then you don't have to be surprised if there are more good international players as a result."
A Super League with 20 teams?
National team director Tami takes the same line. "The problem is quantitative, not qualitative," says the 63-year-old. "Clubs like Zurich, Basel and YB are struggling to place their young players in the Challenge League. If we have ten teams and only some of them are prepared to work with such players, then there aren't enough places."
Tami is also in favor of a further increase in the top divisions. "Maybe 20 teams is provocative. But we need more places for the youngsters in the professional league. That's my message."
