Football mercenaries: These Swiss play abroad and you definitely have no idea where

We all know Kobel, Xhaka and Embolo. But there are countless Swiss footballers who also earn their money abroad, but are rarely in the spotlight. Curtain up for a footballing world tour.

Maren Haile-Selassie

Club: Chicago Fire
Position: Left midfield
Change: 25
Market value: 1.8 million euros
Clubs in Switzerland: FC Zurich, Rapperswil, Xamax, Wil, Lugano

Xherdan Shaqiri moved from Chicago back to Switzerland to join FC Basel. But the Fire still have two Swiss players. Maren Haile-Selassie scored five goals in 22 games in the current MLS season. Lugano right-back Allan Arigoni is also on loan. He is also a regular player, but is expected to return to Ticino at the end of the year.

Maxime Dominguez

Club: Vasco da Gama (Brazil)
Position: Attacking midfield
Change: 28
Market value: 1.5 million euros
Clubs in Switzerland: Servette, FC Zurich, Lausanne-Sport, Xamax

In 2021, Dominguez moved from Xamax to Poland and from there to Gil Vicente in Portugal in the summer of 2023. There he scored 10 points in 33 league games. That was worth it for Vasco da Gama – a club from Rio de Janeiro – to pay two million euros for the Swiss midfielder.

Bruno Ogbus

Club: SC Freiburg
Position: Centre-back
Change: 18
Market value: 150,000 euros
Clubs in Switzerland: Grasshoppers (Youth)

In January 2022, Bruno Ogbus moved from GC’s U18s to SC Freiburg’s U17s at the age of 16. At SCF, he progressed through the youth divisions and was promoted to the first team this summer. In the DFB Cup, he played 70 minutes against Osnabrück and provided an assist. And in the Bundesliga, Ogbus has already made two partial appearances in the previous games against Bayern Munich and VfB Stuttgart.

Nassim Ben Khalifa

Club: Avispa Fukuoka (Japan)
Position: striker
Change: 32
Market value: 300,000 euros
Clubs in Switzerland: Grasshoppers, Lausanne Sport, St.Gallen

The U17 world champion has had an eventful career. Ben Khalifa played abroad in the Bundesliga, in Turkey, in Belgium and, since 2022, in Japan. The four-time Swiss international has been under contract with Avispa Fukuoka since January 2024, but has not played a single game there.

Franck Surdez

Club: KAA Gent (Belgium)
Position: Left wing
Change: 22
Market value: 1.3 million euros
Clubs in Switzerland: Xamax

In January 2024, Surdez moved from Xamax in the Challenge League to KAA Gent in Belgium. There he made a few partial appearances in the second half of the season before being sidelined with an injury. But Surdez had an excellent start to the new season. He has already collected three assists in five league games. This puts him at the top of his team’s scoring charts.

Cephas Malele

Club: SH Shenhua (China)
Position: Centre forward
Change: 30
Market value: 1.2 million euros
Clubs in Switzerland: FC Zurich U21

The Angolan-born player learned to play football at FC Zurich. But before he made his professional debut, Malele moved abroad. There he changed clubs more often than others change their underwear. The 30-year-old has played for 12 different clubs and has been with SH Shenhua in China since March 2023, where he seems to be in the right place. This season he has scored 15 goals in 21 games in the Chinese Super League.

Aaron Keller

Club: SSV Ulm (2. Bundesliga)
Position: Left wing
Change: 20
Market value: 800,000 euros
Clubs in Switzerland: no

Aaron Keller was born in Kilchberg, Zurich, but he started playing football in Hong Kong. In 2017, at the age of 13, Keller moved to Germany, and in 2018 he joined Unterhaching’s youth team. There, Keller made it into the professional squad in 2021 at the age of 17. His breakthrough came last season. In 37 third division games, Keller scored nine goals and provided four assists. In March 2024, he also made his debut for the U21 national team and scored after coming on as a substitute to make it 3-0 against Albania. In the current season, Keller was loaned to Ulm in the 2nd Bundesliga.

Gabriel Bares

Club: Montpellier
Position: Defensive midfield
Change: 24
Market value: 400,000 euros
Clubs in Switzerland: Lausanne-Sport, FC Thun

In the summer of 2023, Bares moved from Thun to Montpellier in France. From there, the defensive midfielder was loaned to Ligue 2, where he was able to gain match practice. This season, Bares was part of Montpellier’s squad, but has only played six minutes so far – he died in the 6-0 defeat against PSG.

Andreas Hunziker

Club: Karlsruhe SC
Position: Centre forward
Change: 21
Market value: 400,000 euros
Clubs in Switzerland: Basel, Aarau

Hunziker missed almost all of last season at Basel with a cruciate ligament tear. Nevertheless, the striker dared to make the (loan) leap abroad. Hunziker has been a huge hit with KSC in the 2nd Bundesliga. He was used as a substitute in all four games and has only played 92 minutes so far – his record of two goals and one assist is outstanding. If Hunziker continues like this, he will soon become a regular.

Leo Lacroix

Club: Al-Jabalain FC (2nd Saudi Arabian League)
Position: Centre-back
Change: 32
Market value: 350,000 euros
Clubs in Switzerland: Sion, Basel

Léo Lacroix has played one international match for Switzerland. The 32-year-old has played for Saint-Etienne in France and for HSV in Germany, among others. But the central defender increasingly disappeared from the football map, played in Australia from 2021 to 2023 and last year for Craiova in Romania, where he and his team were relegated. He has now signed with AL-Jabalain in the second Saudi Arabian league.

Karim Rossi, Persis Solo (Indonesia)

Club: Persis (Indonesia)
Position: Centre forward
Change: 30
Market value: 300,000 euros
Clubs in Switzerland: Lugano, Schaffhausen, Chiasso

Once trained at GC, Karim Rossi went on a footballing world tour: England, Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, Bulgaria, Luxembourg, Indonesia and Cyprus are the countries. This summer, Rossi returned to Indonesia and played for Persis.

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