Premier League, Ligue 1 and LaLiga kick off Schär and Ndoye face a difficult season - Rieder's next attempt

On Friday, the ball rolls again in England, France and Spain. A look at the three championships through Swiss eyes.

Manchester City, with Swiss defender Manuel Akanji, are looking to attack again after a rare season without a title. The absence of midfield strategist Rodri has been sorely felt, but whether the Spaniard can return to his former strength after tearing his cruciate ligament and meniscus is likely to be crucial to their title chances.

Newcastle, where Fabian Schär has made a name for himself in defense over seven seasons, are likely to face a difficult season. Coach Eddie Howe is no longer counting on Alexander Isak, and the offense in particular could become a problem for the Champions League participants.

Nottingham Forest also face the difficult task of confirmation in their fourth season since promotion. They qualified for the Europa League in seventh place and for the first time did not play against relegation. Swiss international Dan Ndoye, who moved to Robin Hood's climes for CHF 37.6 million, should help them to at least hold their own in midfield once again.

Like Robin Hood against the great and powerful, the other three Premier League Swiss players who are employed by the three promoted and first relegation candidates are also battling it out.

In addition to Granit Xhaka, Sunderland's transfer king, these are Zeki Amdouni (Burnley) and Isaac Schmidt (Leeds United). However, Amdouni is out for the time being after tearing his cruciate ligament, while Schmidt could still be loaned out to Werder Bremen.

Champions League winners PSG also dominated the championship. There is no reason why their dominance should end this season either. The other French Champions League contenders Olympique Marseille with Ulisses Garcia and AS Monaco with Denis Zakaria, Breel Embolo and Philipp Köhn are likely to be among their closest rivals. Of this Swiss quartet, only Zakaria is guaranteed a regular place. With the signings of Paul Pogba and Ansu Fati, the squad of the Adi Hütter-trained Monegasques has become even more spectacular.

Fabian Rieder and Felix Mambimbi are the other Swiss players hoping to play a good role this season. Rieder has returned to Rennes after an unsuccessful interlude in Stuttgart and is making another attempt to gain a foothold abroad in the Breton side's heavily reshaped squad. In the last test match before the start of the championship on Friday at home against Marseille, the Bernese was part of the starting line-up. Rieder's former YB team-mate Mambimbi is expected to fight against relegation in Le Havre.

Ruben Londja is the second Swiss currently in the Le Havre squad. However, the 19-year-old is likely to be loaned out. Vincent Sierro, most recently captain of Toulouse, is about to move to Saudi Arabia after two and a half years in Ligue 1.

From a Swiss perspective, the focus is on Valencia and Sevilla. At Betis Sevilla, Ricardo Rodriguez is hoping for a similarly successful season to his recent 6th place finish and participation in the Conference League final. According to information from blue Sport, the experienced player apparently has an offer from Sion and could yet move back to Switzerland.

FC Sevilla, with Rubén Vargas and Djibril Sow, are set to return to winning ways after narrowly avoiding relegation last summer. The Argentinian Matias Almeyda is the new coach of the struggling Europa League record winners.

Valencia also wants to get closer to the top national places again with two Swiss players. Filip Ugrinic joined the club of controversial Singaporean investor Peter Lim from Young Boys. Eray Cömert returned to the Valencians after two seasons on loan at Nantes and Valladolid, for whom he had not played a competitive game for over two years.