At various points over the coming weeks, all of Europe’s biggest football competitions will come into action and the season will well and truly get underway. Some have already started, with football in Scotland, Portugal, Turkey and England’s lower divisions playing their first rounds last weekend.
They will be joined this weekend by the English PL, Ligue 1 in France, La Liga in Spain (which already started last night) and Serie A in Italy. The Bundesliga will be the last of the major national leagues to start and it will be the following week. As for European competitions, the newly revamped CL will begin on September 17-18, which even means it’s only a month away. Here we take a look at some of the main domestic competitions in continental Europe and break down the likely top contenders from each.
German Bundesliga
The Bundesliga delivered a surprising winner last season as Bayer Leverkusen ended Bayern Munich’s dominance of Germany’s top division. Their impressive season included going undefeated throughout the league campaign, reaching the EL final and winning the German Cup. They are the second favorites to repeat this feat this year, but it is no surprise that the favorites to win the championship and regain their title as Germany’s top dog are Bayern Munich. The Bavarian giants have made some adjustments to their squad and made the somewhat surprising choice to appoint Vincent Kompany as coach as they attempt to return to the top of the table. Defending champions Bayer Leverkusen are second favorites, while CL runners-up Borussia Dortmund are third favorites and RB Leipzig are in fourth place. Odds indicate that the rest of the European places will be contested by Stuttgart, Eintracht Frankfurt and Wolfsburg, while St Pauli, Holstein Kiel and Heidenheim are most likely to be relegated. Harry Kane is once again one of the hot favorites to be top scorer as he continues to try to get his hands on his first major trophy.
Italian Serie A
Inter Milan are once again favorites to win Italy’s top division, following their success last season when they won their twentieth league title. The usual suspects are next with Juventus as second favorites, followed by AC Milan, Napoli and Atalanta, with both Rome teams next on the list. It will be a significant achievement for anyone other than Inter to win it, but it’s only been 2 seasons since Napoli won 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 team together and added players like Piotr Zielinski and Mehdi Taremi only makes them stronger. AC Milan and Juventus are both under new management with Paulo Fonseca and Thiago Motta at the helm. The strong performance of Italian teams last season means that there are five teams in the competition this season 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 José Mourinho with club legend Daniele De Rossi, with the latter extending his contract beyond the initial caretaker role. Bologna were the surprise surprise last season but were forced to sell a few of their star players. It will therefore be difficult for him to repeat the same performance this season. Venezia, Empoli and Cagliari are the favorites to go down to Serie B
Spanish La Liga
Unsurprisingly, it is Real Madrid who enter this season as the big favorite to retain their title. After winning the league and CL last season, they continued to strengthen their squad, with the star signing being Kylian Mbappe from PSG. The mood in Spain is high after the success of this summer’s international tournaments. A third win in four seasons seems likely for Los Blancos, but the fact that the odds are currently so short is perhaps somewhat surprising. Barcelona start this season as an unknown 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’s certainly worth mentioning Atletico Madrid this season, as they have spent money to add some serious quality to their squad. Enter Julian Alvarez from Manchester City, a player who has already won everything, and Robin Le Normand. Conor Gallagher looks set to join Chelsea and he would be another high quality addition. Girona were very impressive last season, but that is unlikely to happen again, with Real Sociedad or Athletic Bilbao likely to be the other team to finish in the top four. Real Betis, Villarreal, Valencia and Sevilla will likely be in the running for European places, while the favorites will be Leganes, Las Palmas and Getafe.
France Ligue 1
PSG’s dominance in France in recent years means they enter the start of the season as 1.03 favorites to win the league title again. If they achieve this, it would be their fourth consecutive league title in what has become a very one-sided championship. Their closest competitors will likely come from Monaco, Marseille, Lille and Lens, the usual suspects. The only challenge the Parisians will face this year comes from the fact that their main star player, Kylian Mbappé, has finally left the club. However, they showed that they were more than capable of dealing with such losses, as the departure of Neymar or Lionel Messi had very little impact on the domestic results. Marseille is the club that tried on the transfer market to get as close as possible to PSG. New manager Roberto de Zerbi was brought in after his departure from Brighton and he has been added to the squad, so a serious title challenge is expected. Lens are another team who have a new head coach and will be pushing towards the top of the table and Lyon will certainly be hoping for a much better campaign than the last. The battle to stay in Ligue 1 is much closer, but Angers is currently the favorite. St Etienne, Auxerre, Le Havre, Nantes and Strasbourg are all expected to be fighting on the wrong side of the table.
Rest of Europe
In the Netherlands, it is PSV who are favorites to win the Eredivisie, but this championship is often unpredictable and Feyenoord and Ajax are not far behind in terms of the championship winners’ market. Feyenoord are hoping to continue despite the departure of manager Arne Slot for Liverpool as Ajax have had a dreadful start to the season and will be desperate to avoid a repeat of that.
In Scotland, it’s a new battle between the two Glasgow giants, with the big favorites Celtic once again victorious. As always, the Old Firm battles between the two will be key and the rest of the league will be fighting for the other places, with Aberdeen currently ranked as the third best team.
The Turkish Super Lig has already started and is still an entertaining watch. Late drama, passionate crowds and heated fights are the key factors behind the popularity of this competition. Fenerbahce are the favorites to win this time around with Jose Mourinho as their new coach. Not far behind are old rivals Galatasaray, with Besiktas the third favorite. These three are the only real contenders for the championship title.
There is always a big gap between the top three in Portugal and the rest of the league and this season it is much the same. Despite this, it is not easy to predict the winner among the top three clubs. Sporting Lisbon are currently favorites with FC Porto in second and Benfica in third, but at this early stage of the season anything can happen.
PS: The odds may have changed since this article was written and published.
Last updated: 08/16/24
