European preview: Austria/Switzerland

Benedict Akwuegbu playing for Graz AK

BBC Sport Online's Filippo Maria Ricci begins a regular series previewing the new season for African players in Europe's major leagues by focusing on Austria and Switzerland

AUSTRIA
Like the Swiss league, the Austrians kick off early because of a long mid-winter break, but they do not have quite the same tradition of launching African players' careers.

The quota for non-EU players has been enlarged this season, but there are still only nine Africans spread amongst the ten teams in the Bundesliga.

Three of the players are at Graz AK, all starting their third season.

Nigerian international striker Benedict Akwuegbu only took two games to find the net, and he is joined in the side by Ghanaian defender Eric Akoto and forward Adu Tutu Skelley.

Champions Tirol Innsbruck field Senegalese youngster Ibrahim Sidibe while Nigerian forward George Datoru starts his third season with Austria Vienna.

Amoah's Graz side have made a miserable start

Sturm Graz have one of the most exciting players in the league in Ghana striker Charles Amoah, for whom they paid Swiss side St Gallen £2.5m.

They reached the second group stage of the Champions League last season, but at the cost of some indifferent league form, and only qualified for the Intertoto Cup.

In a disastrous reverse, they have already been beaten by Lausanne and only have the league to concentrate on.

Amoah is re-joined at Graz by teenage Cameroon defender Emmanuel Atangana, who had an ill-fated loan spell last season at Scottish side Dundee United, who were relegated from the Premier League.

SV Salzburg have Zimbabwe's Newton Ben Katanha while Admira Wacker have acquired much-travelled Nigerian Dennis Ibrahim, who has played in Germany and New Zealand.

SWITZERLAND
Switzerland has always been a popular destination for Africans, and there are 32 players in National League A, with another ten in League B.

Of the 12 clubs in League A, the top eight go into a title play-off at the halfway stage, while the bottom four join the top four from League B for a promotion/relegation play-off, with the top four at the end going into League A.

Three of Cameroon's contingent of eight are at Sion, including midfielder Samuel Ojong who began the season with a hat-trick in the 8-1 destruction of Basle after only coming on as sub on 63 minutes.

The team also have a Nigerian, DR Congolese and an Ethiopian.

Basle, Servette, FC Zurich, Neuchatel and newly-promoted Young Boys Berne all have four Africans on their books.

Masudi in action for Lausanne in the Intertoto Cup

The transfer market has been slow, with many clubs from bigger leagues in Europe still thinking about which superfluous players they may loan to Swiss sides.

Senegalese forward Henri Camara has already reaped the benefit of three good seasons in Switzerland by moving from Grasshoppers to French side Sedan, who compete in the Uefa Cup.

Nigerian midfielder Wilson Oruma stays at Servette on loan from Lens, as does DR Congo's Alain Masudi at Lausanne from French side St Etienne.

Masudi has already scored two goals in the first two rounds of the Intertoto Cup, notably helping to eliminate Sturm Graz of Austria.

The only permanent move directly from Africa was Guinean striker Alhassane Keita, who joined Zurich from Moroccan team OC Khourigba.

However, Zimbabwe striker Benjamin Mwaruwaru - last season's player of the year in South Africa's Premier Soccer League - has gone on a year's loan to Grasshoppers from Jomo Cosmos.

In League B, prolific Zimbabwe striker Agent Sawu, who netted 16 last season, has scored three in his first two games for Wil, playing alongside Ghanaian pair Felix Mordeku and Owusu Benson, who is back from a spell in Japan.