Swiss National League (NLA) Preview & Betting Guide

Eleven-time champions ZSC Lions are the reigning champions and will be expected to be around the bookie's pre-season favourites to lift the 2025-26 season Swiss Cup.
Swiss National League (NLA) Preview & Betting Guide
Andy Powell
Andy Powell Content Editor

Horse Racing stats man, Andy has contributed to OLBG for 18 years - An Ipswich fan and F1 fanatic, he also contributes EFL football and Motor Sport opinion.

2025-26 NLA Preview

We head into the 88th season of the Swiss League, which is the ninth as the National League (NLA).

The ZSC Lions head in as defending champions; they have won eleven titles, having retained their title last season.

The only other time they retained their title was in 2001 after winning it a year earlier; they have never won three on the bounce!

The most successful team, HC Davos, will be desperate to put an end to their wait. With 31 league titles, they have not won one since 2015; in fact, they have not made the finals in that time.

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How often do Favourites win in NLA?

How do the Favourites Compare?

The Swiss NLA comes out second on our list of successful favourites over the past five seasons when looking at six of the most popular leagues. With a win rate of 62.44% that means around 6 in every 10 favourites go on to win their matches in this league.

  1. Russian KHL: 62.96%
  2. Swiss NLA: 62.44%
  3. German DEL: 61.49%
  4. Finnish Liiga: 61.29%
  5. USA NHL: 61%
  6. Swedish SHL: 59.04%

Which teams are the most and least reliable?

The most reliable team when it comes to favourites in the NLA over the past five seasons is Zug. They have a win rate of 66.23% when priced up by the bookmakers as favourites with 153 wins from a total of 231 games.

At the other end of the scale is Ajoie with a win rate of 50.00%. That has come from 14 games producing 7 wins, they are maybe the team in this league to avoid when they are priced up as favourites.

NLA Favourite Statistics by Season


2020-212021-222022-232023-242024-25
Home Favs59.27%68.75%59.93%62.99%66.56%
Away Favs68.54%66.99%54.31%57.84%49.48%
Overall Favs61.72%68.27%58.37%61.71%62.59%

*Favourite statistics only include regular-season games

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Past NLA Regular Season Winners

Of late, the regular season winners have a great record in the playoffs. Excluding the 2019-20 season when the playoffs did not take place, five of the last six regular season winners have gone on to be crowned NLA Champions!

Here are the last ten regular-season champions and how they went on to perform in the playoffs.

SeasonTeam (Points)Playoff Outcome
2024-25Lausanne HC (97)Lost in Final
2023–24ZSC Lions (109)NLA Champions
2022–23Genève-Servette HC (101)NLA Champions
2021–22EV Zug (100)NLA Champions
2020–21EV Zug (119)NLA Champions
2019–20ZSC Lions (91)Playoffs not completed
2018–19SC Bern (101)NLA Champions
2017–18SC Bern (102)Lost in Semi-Finals
2016–17SC Bern (109)NLA Champions
2015–16ZSC Lions (98)Lost in Quarter-Finals

Past NLA Champions

HC Davos are by some distance the most successful team in the Swiss NLA with a total of 31 titles to their name, although they have not won one since 2015.

The closest team to them is SC Bern who have won 16 titles, some 15 behind HC Davos and only one other team is in the double-digits with ZSC Lions picking up 11 titles.

Here are the last ten NLA Champions

YearChampionsSeriesRunners-up
2024-25ZSC Lions
4-1Lausanne HC
2023-24ZSC Lions
4-3Lausanne HC
2022-23Genève-Servette HC
4-3EHC Biel
2021-22EV Zug
4-3ZSC Lions
2020-21EV Zug
3-0Genève-Servette HC
2019-20No competition
2018-19SC Bern
4-1EV Zug
2017-18ZSC Lions
4-3HC Lugano
2016-17SC Bern
4-2EV Zug
2015-16SC Bern
4-1HC Lugano

2024-25 Playoff Bracket

Swiss National League Teams

2025-26 Teams in the NLA

TeamCityArenaCapacity
HC AjoiePorrentruyRaiffeisen Arena5,078
HC Ambrì-PiottaAmbrìGottardo Arena6,775
SC BernBernPostFinance Arena17,031
EHC BielBiel/BienneTissot Arena6,562
HC DavosDavosEisstadion Davos6,547
Fribourg-GottéronFribourgBCF Arena9,075
Genève-Servette HCGenevaPatinoire des Vernets7,135
EHC KlotenKlotenStimo Arena7,624
Lausanne HCLausanneVaudoise Aréna9,600
HC LuganoLuganoCornèr Arena7,800
SCL TigersLangnau im EmmentalIlfis Stadium6,000
SC Rapperswil-Jona LakersRapperswilSt. Galler Kantonalbank Arena6,100
ZSC LionsZürichSwiss Life Arena12,000
EV ZugZugBossard Arena7,200

Author Information

Andy Powell manages this Swiss National League (NLA) Preview & Betting Guide and other hockey content in this section of the site, as well as the Ice Hockey Tipsters in the OLBG tipster competition, in his role in the OLBG Expert Team. Andy meticulously updates the date and results for these pieces and is an erstwhile Penguins fan in the NHL. He provides Ice Hockey betting advice in our bookmaker reviews as well as providing a huge contribution to the Best Ice Hockey Betting Sites Guide.

Andy Powell

Andy Powell

Content Editor

Andy also possesses a keen interest in American sports with a particular affinity for the NFL and the NHL. He follows the Pittsburgh Penguins, emphasizing his broad palette for diversified sporting events.

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