For football to remain relevant for future generations, the leagues should take inspiration from places like the Diocletian's Palace.

Hello! Welcome back to?PITCHSIDE MONITOR,?your one stop guide to club management.?This week we will:

• Have a deep look into the Swiss Super League
• Hear from Massimo Cosentino , who will tell us more about the potential of Swiss football
• Take a closer look at the paid transfers in Saudi Pro League (SPL) for the past 5 seasons

First up, is our section on club management.

In this edition of our newsletter, we wanted to focus on a topic that is quite close to us, both professionally and geographically, the 'Super League'. No, not the one that has been shaking the proverbial football tree in recent seasons, but the one that is actually the world’s oldest continually running top division in domestic football: the Swiss Football League (SFL) or the Swiss Super League! The domestic competition in Switzerland holds this unique accolade.

Despite its longevity, the SFL is experiencing somewhat of a rut these days. This is quite similar to the challenges that have been generated in the football ecosystems of smaller and medium-sized countries all across Europe, due to the way the football industry has been developing over the last few decades. So, taking the SFL as a case in point, we thought that analysing its issues and looking at potential solutions could be an interesting way to illustrate the wider challenges of our industry.

The SFL is a relatively smaller league in Europe, with 10 teams (although this number is set to rise to 12 from the coming season), which is perhaps more typical in countries with a smaller population than Switzerland’s 8+ million. The SFL's second division, the Swiss Challenge League, consists of 10 teams. In its current organisational iteration (as the Super League), which began in the 2003/04 season, only three clubs have tasted ultimate glory: FC Zürich , BSC Young Boys , and FC Basel 1893 , with the latter being the dominant club in the Super League era with 11 titles.

In the European context, the Swiss Super League is a firm presence in the UEFA league rankings between 10 and 20.

From a European context it is interesting to note that, in the last decade, 10 different teams have represented Switzerland in the various UEFA competitions. While this is expected, we must note that when such an abundance of clubs is confounded by a lower level of results, this leads to a large haemorrhaging of coefficient points. If you look at the numbers, in this decade, the only two clubs that have added value to Switzerland’s UEFA rank are FC Basel 1893 and BSC Young Boys .

On comparison with other domestic leagues in Europe, we can deduct that one country which fits Switzerland’s profile very closely is Austria, both in terms of socio-economic markers and its football results. Starting from a very similar point in 2000, for many years the Swiss league had an advantage over its Alpine peer, but in recent years Austria has quickly risen up the UEFA charts. This can be attributed due to the rapid development of the Red Bull football structure firmly centred in Salzburg.

The sport industry is?an important contributor to the Swiss economy and according to our previous analysis, the Swiss League has the 6th biggest potential of growth in Europe.

The SFL has experienced a drop in viewership by roughly 20% over the last few seasons, primarily due to changes in calendar structure and decline in the league’s attractiveness to fans. With viewership decreasing, this raises a cause for concern for all stakeholders involved in terms of monetisation and market interest. Sustainable growth remains the main target of the newly developed strategy of the league. With international competitions posing a threat to the league in terms of viewership and attractiveness, the league’s main objective is to compete for viewership within the domestic sphere and solidify the fanbase in Switzerland.

There is a lot of discussion in Swiss football concerning the format of the competition, and that it holds the key for future development and rekindling fan interest. Last year, the league first voted in favour and then against a competition format that would have introduced play-offs. The crucial point here is that, it is not play-off or a “Scottish model” that will generate a healthy and sustainable domestic football ecosystem. What is needed is a dynamic collective vision from the owners of the clubs taking part, a competitive labour market with qualified personnel in all the teams, exciting players and knowledgeable coaches, and a decent infrastructure to house all of this; and ensure that supporters, sponsors, and broadcasters have something to come for. Swiss football needs to think as if it is just starting off: how to attract the next several generations of supporters and generate loyalty, rather than desperately trying to preserve something that is not working to its full capacity.

This situation is also happening in many other European countries, where football has reached a certain level of institutionalisation, that it feels, as if everything has already been invented and the only task remaining is to preserve it for as long as possible. This is reminiscent of the way in which ancient buildings are kept in an almost suspended state of animation, to allow us, the visitors, to make a tourist visit and see how life was during the Roman Empire or Mediaeval times. If you want to see football turn into a museum piece: this is the way to go, but for it to remain relevant for future generations as a real part of their daily lives, it should not be about cementing things in place, but rather taking inspiration from places like Diocletian’s Palace in Split, which is not only a significant relic of the ancient past, but also a living breathing space that has been constantly adapted, reformed, transformed, and reinvented over the centuries.

Our shoutout in this week's newsletter goes to 瑞信 . Credit Suisse has been a strong backer of football in Switzerland. Since 1993, it has been the main sponsor of the Swiss Football Association. It is also the main sponsor of the Swiss Football League . A detailed account of the organisation's commitment to the sport can be read here.

In our Football Talks section this week, we caught up with Massimo Cosentino . We asked Massimo a few questions and here is what he had to say.

1) Our latest analysis on leagues showed that Swiss football has the 6th biggest potential for growth in Europe. How does this benchmarking inspire you to think about the potential? Very interesting indeed, I think that the benchmark for Swiss national team should be Croatia’s national team, because Swiss national team has the potential to be as successful as Croatia. If we talk about Swiss Super League however, it is slightly different. The infrastructure in Switzerland is very good, Serie A level, but in terms of running a club in a professional way, it is very complicated. I would say that in this regard, the level would be closer to the 2nd or 3rd Italian, naturally with some exceptions. For example, before the 2021-2022 season, several Swiss clubs still did not have a full-time doctor in the club. Swiss clubs have great potential, but they don’t use it, and I don’t know if they want to use it.

?2) With your international background, having worked with several clubs in Italy, but also in FC Sion, and being from there, what do you think that Swiss football is still missing, to make the next move? There is a lack of professionalism in management of Swiss football. Football industry is different, the timing is different. In Switzerland they treat the timing of football as they treat the timing of all other industries, with strict working hours. Contrary to the high level of professionalism in other Swiss industries, in football the level of management is not so high. People in football have to be available outside of their standard working hours to achieve success. They need to maintain close contact with clubs in other parts of the world. There is no stress in Swiss football management, but the good stress makes you perform better.

?3) Swiss football is fragmented due to the nature of the country. Who are the fans of Swiss clubs and what about shared loyalty due to immigration by Portuguese, Italians, or the Balkans. Does it depend very much?on?cantons? There is a deep change in our society and teenagers are not able to follow a 90 minute game anymore, whether on TV or at the stadium. It is the same all over the world. On the Swiss aspect, the cantons are a big reason for the fragmentation. In Valais all the supporters at the stadium are Valaisans. Beyond that, many people are fans of Premier League clubs. Tradition brings fans to the stadium. For example, if a father goes to FC Basel games, the son will probably also go. TV rights are not a strong avenue of revenue nationally, and are even worse internationally. Something that could be very interesting in Switzerland would be to change the rules. Swiss Super League could act as a pilot for rule changes and experiments to engage new, younger audiences. Shortening the length of the match could be one example.

?4) Swiss clubs are smaller than their cities and Zurich or Geneva definitely have the financial capacity to have much bigger clubs.?Your thoughts? Indeed, a number of Swiss club owners want to sell their teams, but in the end there is no big investment. We have financial resources in Switzerland, but I don’t know why they don’t want to put money in Swiss football. The reason could be that you lose money by investing in Swiss football. Swiss football should focus on having stronger youth academies to develop players so that they’re ready to play in Bundesliga International GmbH or Ligue 1. That should be the business. Today the goal should be to form players for tomorrow.

?5) What do you think is the future of Swiss football? In the next 5-10 years, will the league develop or stay the same? There is no relegation this season. Starting from 2023/24 season, there will be 12 teams in the first division. They tried to generate more interest in football but the clubs finally refused to introduce a play-offs and play-outs, though this could have been more interesting for younger generations. These would have been more interesting matches than playing the same team four times during the season – boring! In my opinion, the league should try to focus more on the Swiss Cup, which has a strong tradition. There is a storytelling element that can be built with the Swiss Cup. Swiss football needs to introduce something more interesting.

In our Bottom 49 section this week, we would like to invite your attention to the data we have collected on the TV rights of ice hockey and football in Switzerland. Our research is consolidated below.

In our Football Insight section this week, we would like to invite your attention to the transfers that happened in the Saudi Pro League (SPL) for the past 5 seasons. It is evident that the league relies on players incoming from other league in Europe. See below an account of our research.

We would like to take the opportunity to highlight our work with HNK Hajduk Split . LTT Sports developed an overall strategy for the club by evaluating all individual areas of the club. More details of our work can be read here.

LTT Sports is delighted to welcome Javier Alejandro Kuan Ayala and Jacob Meltzer who join our team. ?Javier joins the LTT team in the Sports Knowledge Hub department.

Jacob joins the team as a Project Associate to assist in our operations across all departments.

That brings us to the end of this week’s newsletter. We hope you found eye-opening insights from our content this week. Each week, we will be curating exclusive content for you from the club management ecosystem. So, stay tuned for more and don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter?here!

LTT Sports is an advisory firm focused on connecting football strategy and operations based on experience, analysis and a strong network. At LTT Sports, we have created a set of services for football organisations, providing transversal solutions at any level of the professional football pyramid – to boost performance off the pitch, directly impacting on-pitch results.

*** Disclaimer: LTT Sports is an independent think tank aimed to be a platform of discussion amongst football stakeholders. The answers received for our interviews are personal views of the interviewee and/ or the organisation he or she may represent and strictly do not represent our views on the subject matter.

Contributors to this week's newsletter: Adam Metelski , Olivier Jarosz , Konstantin Kornakov , Javier Alejandro Kuan Ayala , Jacob Meltzer , Daniel Chira

Editor: Ajay Abraham