Preview: FC Zurich vs. Yverdon Sport - prediction, team news, lineups

FC Zurich welcome newly-promoted Yverdon Sport to the Letzigrund Stadium for their Swiss Super League opener on Sunday.

Zurich endured a woeful campaign last season, slumping to an eighth-place finish just 12 months after being crowned champions of Switzerland.

Match preview

One of the worst title defences in modern Swiss football history saw Zurich be fortunate to avoid relegation, given that the league expanded to 12 teams this season.

Had it been a regular season, Zurich would have been in serious trouble of finishing in the relegation playoff place, but the league's expansion means no teams were relegated automatically last season.

Finishing 32 points worse off than the season prior meant Zurich ended the campaign third from bottom.

A flurry of good results towards the end of the season helped move the side away from Sion who finished bottom and were ultimately relegated in the playoff.

Manager Bo Henriksen will hope that run of 11 points from six games can be carried over into the new campaign, and there were some extraordinary results along the way.

After recording a bizarre 3-0 win away at eight-man Basel, Zurich then went to champions-elect Young Boys and drew 1-1 in a smash-and-grab encounter.

Here though, they will face a jubilant Yverdon side who were recently crowned second division champions.

Despite staggering over the finish line with just three wins from their final seven games, Yverdon clinched the title, finishing five points clear of Lausanne in second.

This will be just a fifth-ever top-flight campaign for the club, and their first since the 2005-06 season.

Yverdon have only avoided relegation once in those five seasons at this level, back in the mid-1990s, so the odds are stacked against them given their lack of recent experience in the Super League.

Their pre-season has been rather underwhelming too, with seven friendlies producing defeats to Young Boys, Sion and Thun, as well as a thrashing at the hands of Annecy.

They will face Young Boys again in their first home game of the season next weekend too, in what promises to be a daunting prospect against the current champions.