While Switzerland and Austria do their best to present a united front as Euro 2008 co-hosts, many of their fans are simply hoping to do better than their neighbours at this month's tournament.

Usually found fighting for top honours on the Alpine skiing circuit, neither country is known for its footballing prowess and both will need all the home advantage they can get at Euro 2008.

Switzerland open Euro 2008 against the Czech Republic in Basel on Saturday and Austria, ranked 92nd in the world, take on Croatia in Vienna on Sunday.

After winning just two of their last 16 friendly matches, the Austrians in particular are expected to struggle to progress from a group that also includes Germany and Poland.

Unsurprisingly, perhaps, their long-suffering fans say they would be more than happy just to do better at Euro 2008 than their Swiss rivals.

"I'm certainly hoping we go further than the Swiss though I don't expect either of us will go far," said 26-year-old civil servant Mario Felice, drinking at Vienna's Swiss Beach bar.

"I want the mood to stay good as long as possible in Austria. Imagine what it would be like if we lost our first game."

His colleague Hermann Jaritz, 38, saw some consolation.

"At least we are getting to host the final in Vienna. That is one victory over the Swiss."

Austria was picked out in a 2007 report by German sports marketing firm Sport+Markt as the only nation in Western Europe not to have soccer as its favourite televised sport.

Alpine skiing remains the country's number one passion, not least because of their recent dominance on the slopes over their Swiss rivals.

Austria have held top spot in the national ski standings since ending a decade of Swiss supremacy in 1990.

The pattern has been reversed on the soccer pitch, however, with Switzerland winning three of the four meetings between the two teams this decade.

The Swiss also boast a promising young side who are now competing in their third successive major finals.

"What competition is there between Switzerland and Austria?" scoffed Swiss student Max Leuze, studying at a golf academy near the Austrian team base of Stegersbach.

"The Austrians haven't got a chance!"

As they prepared for their opening matches, players on both teams insisted they were not overly concerned about the fate of their neighbours.

"It's a special tournament for my family because my mother is Swiss and my father is Austrian," said Switzerland defender and joint national Patrick Mueller.

"But our aim within the team has nothing to do with Austria. We just want to go as far as possible regardless of what the Austrians do."

Austria coach Josef Hickersberger has often described the Swiss team as a role model for the Austrians due to Switzerland's earlier recognition of the importance of developing its youth and scouting programmes.

He also insisted, however, that he would not be overly concerned with the Swiss team's progress - unless both sides made it through to a possible quarter-final clash.

"There is no rivalry between us at present. But we could both meet at the quarter-final stage and that, of course, would be wonderful for Euro 2008."