Austria ready to go again

The dust has hardly settled on UEFA EURO 2008™ and already Austrian football is turning its attention to domestic matters with the start of the Bundesliga on Tuesday.

Boom time
SK Rapid Wien may be champions, but all eyes will be on runners-up FC Salzburg, who are expected to challenge strongly again as the league looks to build on the buzz generated by UEFA EURO 2008™. "There are already many more people interested in football," Bundesliga chairman Georg Pangl said about the impact of the tournament Austria co-hosted with Switzerland. "The league and clubs want to continue that boom."

Rapid test
Rapid kick off their defence away to SK Sturm Graz hoping their new recruits can quickly find their feet. Key players Ümit Korkmaz and Mario Bazina have moved on and it remains to be seen how well signings Marcel Ketelaer, from SK Austria Kärnten, and Nikica Jelavić, from Belgian side SV Zulte Waregem, cope in their place. In addition, goalkeeper Helge Payer could be out for up to six months as he undergoes treatment for liver and gastrointestinal problems. German Georg Koch has been signed from NK Dinamo Zagreb to replace him. Coach Peter Pacult's priority is to get his side playing as a team. "Rapid must first find themselves," he said.

Salzburg changes
Salzburg start as favourites even though the club has been through significant change over the summer. Co Adriaanse has replaced Giovanni Trapattoni as coach and has overseen an influx of new faces, though of Salzburg's seven signings only two are Austrian: Ernst Öbster, from SV Salzburg Amateure, and Ronald Gercaliu, from FK Austria Wien. Adriaanse looked to push the pressure back on the champions as he prepared for his first match at home against SV Mattersburg. "For me Rapid are the favourites," he said. Austria Wien will also hope to have a say in the title race after bringing in Karl Daxbacher, fresh from his successful campaign as coach of LASK Linz, and pulling off the transfer coup of the summer by signing Sun Xiang from Shanghai Shenhua. Sun, who will become the first Chinese player in the Austrian top flight, is one of nine additions to a squad that has seen eleven departures.

European ambitions
LASK, Mattersburg and Sturm all have European ambitions and it will interesting to see if LASK can keep pace with the leaders having topped the table at times last season. They have brought Markus Weissenberger back from Eintracht Frankfurt to aid their challenge. Sturm also impressed last season, but could feel the loss of Sebastian Prödl, who has joined Werder Bremen, and Jürgen Säumel, who is without a club. Mattersburg will have to make do without club legend Didi Kühbauer, who has retired. Looking down, promoted SV Kapfenberg face a fight with SK Austria Kärnten, SV Ried and SCR Altach to stay off the bottom. Times are tough at Ried following the sudden departure of coach George Zellhofer just days before kick off. Gerhard Schweitzer has taken charge on an interim basis.