Swiss challenge for Grasshoppers

Newly downsized to feature ten top-flight teams, the new Swiss Super League season kicks off on Wednesday with a highly-anticipated clash between old rivals FC Basel and FC Zürich.

New format
The match will kick off a season which sees Swiss football return to something like European normality, after using a league structure which has bewildered many outsiders for the last 16 years. Now, a new ten-team league will see all of the teams involved play each other four times during the season.

Predictable outcome
The changes to the league structure are unlikely to effect the outcome of the league, however, with Basel and reigning champions Grasshopper-Club looking like the only sides capable of taking the trophy next June.

Grasshopper losses
The most successful club in Swiss history with 26 titles, Grasshoppers have lost a key player in the summer, with midfield player Riccardo Cabanas having signed for France's FC Guingamp and the future of star player Richard Nunez remains uncertain, with several other European clubs interested in signing him.

New signings
Manager Marcel Koller has filled the gap by signing Ionel Gane from FC St. Gallen and Argentinian José Manuel Chatruc, and remains cautiously optimistic about his team's prospects. "Although we have a rather young and inexperienced team, we would like to succeed on three levels," he said. "We will try to defend the title, win the cup and of course, qualify for the [UEFA] Champions League."

Swiss ambitions
Basel were the surprise package of the Champions League last season, but their heroics against the likes of Liverpool FC and Juventus FC played a role in their losing out to Grasshoppers in the title race. Now coach Christian Gross is making Swiss success a priority. "We want to regain the trophy and still be in the UEFA cup in spring," he said.

Intact squad
Thanks to the generosity of club vice-president Gigi Oeri, Basel enter the new season with their squad of 2002/03 almost intact. Top performers like Hakan Yakin and Argentinian strikers Christian Giménez and Julio Hernán Rossi remain at the club while Gross turned down an offer to take up the coaching post at FC Schalke 04. Defender Bernt Haas, who joined West Bromwich Albion FC, remains the only major departure.

Zürich dream
Three other clubs are looking to challenge Basel and Grasshoppers, with Lucien Favre's Zürich having made moves in the transfer market to sign midfield players Augustine Simo and Artur Petrosyan and Swiss Under-21 international striker André Muff.

Young and old
BSC Young Boys will also have high hopes after coach Hanspeter Zaugg added Brazilian Leandro to a squad which already features one of Switzerland's finest young players - 17-year-old Johan Vonlanthen - and perhaps their most loved veteran, Stéphane Chapuisat who is playing his last season.

Struggling sides
Finally, Servette FC's Marco Schällibaum will remain optimistic despite losing defensive prodigy Philippe Senderos to Arsenal FC and international Léonard Thurre to a wrist injury for the first month of the season. The remaining five teams, St. Gallen, FC Wil 1900, FC Thun, FC Aarau and Neuchâtel Xamax FC look likely to be contesting to stay in the top flight rather than battling for honours.