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FOOTBALL

Coronavirus: Football in Switzerland to kick off again on June 19

The Swiss Football League (SFL) will resume on June 19, its clubs decided Friday, with up to five substitutions permitted per match to reduce the risk of player injury.

Published: 29 May 2020 19:17 CEST
Coronavirus: Football in Switzerland to kick off again on June 19
Swiss football will start again in mid-June. Photo: STEFAN WERMUTH / AFP

The season was the first in Europe to be suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic, with the last matches played on February 23.

Clubs will play two games a week to complete the remaining third of the season by August 2.

The first match on June 19 is provisionally scheduled to take place behind closed doors at the Stade de Suisse in the capital Bern between title-challengers Young Boys and visitors FC Zurich.

“The ball will roll again,” the SFL said in a statement, following a meeting of its 20 clubs in Bern.

The teams — 10 each in the Super League top division and the second-tier Challenge League — decided to carry on with the 2019/20 season, with 17 votes in favour.

Clubs can play warm-up matches from June 6. 

No new signings

“To ensure an orderly resumption of competition, short-term adjustments to SFL regulations are necessary,” the league said.

“The clubs decided on a temporary rule change to allow each team to make five substitutions per game… to reduce the risk of injury to players after the long enforced break.”

The clubs voted down a proposal to expand the Super League to 12 teams.

The clubs also decided that teams will not be able to field new players, or use players whose contracts were terminated to save money, except in cases of severe squad depletion.

Sion, eighth in the Super League, had cancelled several players' contracts, including those of former Arsenal pair Alex Song and Johan Djourou.

Title race

The Super League plays a 36-game season, with each of the 10 teams facing the others twice at home and twice away.

When the league broke up after 23 matches, St. Gallen were top on 45 points ahead of defending champions Young Boys on goal difference, followed by Basel on 40 points and Servette on 37.

The title winners enter the Champions League second qualifying round. The season was scheduled to finish on May 21, while the 2020/21 season had been set kick off on July 17.

The SFL statement did not say anything about supporters. The average Super League attendance before the break was 11,166.

Up to 300 people will be allowed to gather in one place from June 6, the Swiss government said Wednesday, while events with more than 1,000 people remain prohibited until August 31.

More than 30,700 people in Switzerland have tested positive for the new coronavirus and more than 1,650 have died.

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HEALTH INSURANCE

Could glasses and contact lenses soon be covered by Swiss health insurance?

The Swiss health system is ranked among the best in the world, but some essentials, like glasses, aren't automatically covered by health insurance. That could soon change, however

Published: 16 May 2024 15:06 CEST
Could glasses and contact lenses soon be covered by Swiss health insurance?

Green Party Federal Councillor Katharina Prelicz-Huber revealed in an interview with newspaper 20 Minuten this week that the Federal Parliament had tabled a motion to include prescription glasses and contact lenses in Switzerland’s mandatory health insurance scheme. 

Prelicz-Huber stated: “The purpose of compulsory health insurance is to provide the services you need to get or stay healthy,”

The motion forms part of the legislation that will be voted on during the 2024 summer session of the Federal Council. 

Proposed changes 

According to Switzerland’s peak optician body, 4 in 5 Swiss wear glasses or contact lenses at some point. 

It’s no surprise that statistics repository, Statista, projects the Swiss eyewear industry to be worth €1.37 billion by 2028. 

Currently, glasses and contact lenses are covered for up to 180 francs for children until age eighteen, if they are proscribed by a doctor.

Adults can also claim money back for glasses and contact lenses – however, they must be suffering from one of a short list of specific conditions such as keratoconus – where the cornea is distorted – or severe myopia, otherwise known as near-sightedness.

They must also have been specifically prescribed them by a doctor or optometrist. 

Otherwise, supplemental optical insurance must be purchased in Switzerland to ensure you can recoup the cost. 

Under the Green Party proposal, glasses, contact lenses, and other visual aids would be covered, regardless of age. 

Rising premiums prompt opposition 

Not everybody agrees with the proposal. 

The right-wing SVP has already spoken out against it, with Federal Councillor Diana Gutjahr arguing: “If we seriously want to slow down the burdensome and constantly rising health costs for the benefit of the population, we [must] show the political will not to constantly expand the benefits of compulsory health insurance.”

A spokesman for the the health insurance advocacy group Santesuisse, Matthias Müller, echoed Gutjahr, claiming that insurance constitutes “financing for extraordinary events such as illness.”

“If almost everyone benefits from a certain service, it is no longer an insurance benefit.”

A date for the vote has yet to be announced. 

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