Strengthening women's club football in Switzerland
Thursday, February 5, 2026
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Building on the momentum of UEFA Women's EURO 2025, the Swiss Football Association is strengthening women's football across the country through a licensing system requiring clubs to meet minimum standards.
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As the women’s game in Switzerland enjoys a boom following last summer’s Women’s EURO, the SFA is aiming to raise standards across the domestic league system and ensure clubs have the structures in place to develop sustainably.
These reforms are part of the Here to Stay legacy project, which the SFA launched in collaboration with UEFA in June 2024.
The project is designed to capitalise on the impact of a record-breaking UEFA Women's EURO by increasing participation, improving standards and driving off-field progress.
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Introducing clear licensing standards
The Swiss Football League – which currently runs the top two tiers of men's football in the country – is set to assume responsibility for the licensing process for the Swiss Women's Super League.
From the 2026/27 season, Women’s Super League clubs will be integrated into a proven system and will need to meet minimum requirements across areas such as organisation, infrastructure and sustainability to receive a licence.
This approach, which mirrors the established licensing procedures embedded across UEFA club competitions, aims to raise the standards of every Women's Super League club and strengthen the league's professionalism.
Priority access to pitches
In collaboration with the Swiss Football League, the SFA has also updated the priority system used to allocate and manage access to football pitches across Switzerland.
The Women's Super League has been moved up from the third tier of priority to the second. Leagues further down in the Swiss women's football pyramid have also been upgraded, improving access to pitches for women and girls across the country.
"With these adjustments, the SFA is strengthening the foundations for the future development of women's football at all levels," said SFA president Peter Knäbel.
"The measures have been designed to take into account the needs of Swiss football as a whole, as well as the existing framework. The new order of priorities reflects a collective approach that reinforces equality, a focus on performance and fairness."
Here to Stay: Instant impact
Backed by €11m in funding, the overarching aim of the SFA's Here to Stay strategy is to double the number of women participating in all areas of the game, from scoring goals on the pitch to making decisions in the boardroom, by the end of 2027.
Switzerland reached the Women's EURO 2025 quarter-finals, a run which captured the imagination of the country. The tournament is still having an impact in the host nation, with a record number of female players, coaches, referees and officials now involved in the game.
A record high of 48,000 registered female players were recorded in November 2025, which is more than a 10% increase on November 2023 when Here to Stay was launched, and 60% more than were registered in 2020.
Numbers are also rising elsewhere within the game, including new highs of 2,915 female coaches, 166 referees and 433 club and association officials.