European top football is back
At various points over the next few weeks all of Europe’s top football competitions will kick into action and the season will be well and truly underway. Some have already started, withfootball in Scotland, Portugal, Turkey and the lower divisions in England playing their first round of fixtures last weekend.
They will be joined this weekend by the English PL, Ligue 1 in France, La Liga in Spain (which already kicked off last night) and the Serie A in Italy. The Bundesliga will be the last of the major domestic leagues to kick off and that will be the following week. As for European competitions, the newly revamped CL will start off on the 17th and 18th of September, meaning even that is only one month away. Here we take a look at some of the major domestic competitions across mainland Europe and break down the likely top contenders from each one.
German Bundesliga
The Bundesliga offered up a surprising winner last season as Bayer Leverkusen ended Bayern Munich’s dominance of the German top division. Their impressive season included going unbeaten for the whole league campaign as well as reaching the EL final and winning the German Cup. They are second favourites to repeat that achievement this year but it is no surprise that the favourites to win the league and regain their title as top dog in Germany are Bayern Munich. The Bavarian giants have made some adjustments to their squad and made the somewhat surprising choice to appoint Vincent Kompany as their manager as they attempt to return to the top of the table. Reigning champions Bayer Leverkusen are second favourites with CL finalists Borussia Dortmund third favourites and RB Leipzig down in fourth spot. The odds state that the rest of the European spots will be fought over by the likes of Stuttgart, Eintracht Frankfurt and Wolfsburg whereas St Pauli, Holstein Kiel and Heidenheim are the most likely to be relegated. Harry Kane is once again a strong favourite to be top goalscorer as he continues to try to get his hands on his first major trophy.
Italian Serie A
Inter Milan are once again favourites to win Italy’s top division, following on from their success last season when they won their twentieth league title. The usual suspects are next in line with Juventus as second favourites followed by AC Milan, Napoli and Atalanta with the two Rome teams next on the list. It will be a significant achievement for anyone other than Inter to win it, but it was only 2 seasons ago that Napoli ran away with the league title, so it’s certainly possible. In fact, the last five seasons have brought four different league champions but the fact that Inter have kept their squad together and added the likes of Piotr Zielinski and Mehdi Taremi only makes them stronger. AC Milan and Juventus are both under new management with Paulo Fonseca and Thiago Motta taking charge. The solid performance of Italian teams last season means that there are five sides in this season’s competition and the top four once again remains quite open. Alvaro Morata arrives at AC Milan to replace Olivier Giroud and in the capital, AS Roma have replaced Jose Mourinho with club legend Daniele De Rossi, with the latter extending his contract beyond the initial caretaker position. Bologna were last season’s surprise package but have been forced to sell a few of their star players so it will be tough for them to repeat the same performance this season. Venezia, Empoli and Cagliari are favourites to drop down to Serie B
Spanish La Liga
Unsurprisingly, it is Real Madrid who go into this season as big favourites to retain their title. Having won the league and the CL last season they have gone on to strengthen their squad further, with the star signing being Kylian Mbappe from PSG. The mood in Spain is buoyant following their successful international tournaments this summer. A third win in four seasons seems likely for Los Blancos but perhaps the fact that the probability is currently so short is somewhat of a surprise. Barcelona start this season as somewhat of an unknown quantity as they are under a new manager, with German Hansi Flick taking charge after Xavi left the club at the end of last season. It is certainly worth mentioning Atletico Madrid this season as they have splashed the cash to add some serious quality to their squad. In comes Julian Alvarez from Manchester City, a player who has already won it all, and Robin Le Normand. Conor Gallagher appears to be very close to joining from Chelsea and he would be another high-quality addition. Girona were very impressive last season, but it is unlikely that we will see a repeat of that with Real Sociedad or Athletic Bilbao likely to be the other team to finish in the top four. Battling it out for the European spots are likely to be Real Betis, Villarreal, Valencia and Sevilla whereas the favourites to go down are Leganes, Las Palmas and Getafe.
France Ligue 1
The sheer dominance of PSG in France over recent years means that they go into the start of the season as 1.03 favourites to win the league title yet again. Should they manage this it would be their fourth consecutive league title in what has become a very one-sided league. Their closest competition is likely to come from Monaco, Marseille, Lille and Lens, the usual suspects. The only challenge that the Parisians will face this year comes from the fact that their main star player, Kylian Mbappe, has finally moved on. However, they have shown they are more than capable of coping with such losses as there was very little impact on domestic results when the likes of Neymar or Lionel Messi left the club. Marseille are the club that have made attempts in the transfer market to get as close to PSG as possible. New manager Roberto de Zerbi has been brought in following his departure from Brighton and he has added to the squad, so a serious challenge for the title will be expected. Lens are another team that have a new head coach and will be pushing towards the top end of the table and Lyon will certainly be hoping for a much better campaign than the last. The battle to remain in Ligue 1 is much closer though with Angers the current favourites to go down. St Etienne, Auxerre, Le Havre, Nantes and Strasbourg are all tipped to be battling at the wrong end of the table.
Rest of Europe
In the Netherlands, it is PSV who are favourites to win the Eredivisie but this league is often unpredictable and Feyenoord and Ajax are both not far behind in terms of the league winner market. Feyenoord will be hoping to carry on despite the departure of manager Arne Slot to Liverpool whereas Ajax had a horrendous start to last season and will be desperate to avoid a repeat of that.
In Scotland, it is another battle between the two Glasgow giants with Celtic heavy favourites to win again. As always, the Old Firm battles between the two will be key and the rest of the league will be battling for the other places with Aberdeen currently ranked as the third best team
The Turkey Super Lig has already started and is always an entertaining watch. The late drama, passionate crowds and passionate battles are key factors behind the popularity of this competition. Fenerbahce are favourites to win this time around with Jose Mourinho as their new coach. Not far behind are old rivals Galatasaray with Besiktas third favourites. Those three are the only genuine contenders for the league title.
There is always a big gulf between the top three in Portugal and the rest of the league and this season is much the same. Despite that, it’s not easy to predict the winner out of the top three clubs. Sporting Lisbon are the current favourites with FC Porto in second and Benfica in third but at this early stage in the season, anything can happen.
PS: Odds might have changed since the writing and publication of this article.
Last updated: 16.08.24
