How Europe's top 11 leagues were won – and the stories behind them
ws290524soccerMONTAGE
: Real Madrid
Too easy in the end for Los Blancos as Carlo Ancelotti's men finished ten points clear of nearest rivals Barcelona to win their 36th title with four games to spare. No surprise that Barca coach Xavi paid the price with his job.
: Jude Bellingham, who scored 19 league goals from midfield for Real (and 23 in total) having signed from Borussia Dortmund for an initial 103m Euros last summer. All at the age of just 20.
Real are joined by Barca, Girona and Atletico Madrid, who all go straight into the group stage.
Cadiz, Almeria and bottom club Granada.
The rise of surprise package Girona who reached the Champions League for the first time in their history thanks to a 4-2 victory over Barcelona, which clinched third place in the table. Striker Artem Dovbyk was top scorer in La Liga with 24 goals.
: Bayer Leverkusen
A proper stroll. Leverkusen won the title with five games to go, without losing a game and ended 17 points ahead of runners-up VfB Stuttgart.
Attacking midfielder Florian Wirtz, who starred for champions Leverkusen aged just 21, was named Player of the Year (despite Harry Kane scoring 36 times for Bayern in his debut season).
VfB Stuttgart, who continued the surprises in the Bundesliga by finishing second, along with Bayern Munich, RB Leipzig and Borussia Dortmund.
: Three-time champions FC Koln are back in Bundesliga 2, Darmstadt finished bottom and VL Bochum lost a relegation play-off against Fortuna Dusseldorf.
This was the year when Leverkusen, manged by Liverpool legend Xabi Alonso, became Germany’s very own Invincibles, winning 28 and drawing six of their 34 games – and conceding only 24 goals all season.
Alonso’s achievement is remarkable when you consider this was Leverkusen’s first ever Bundesliga title – and that German giants Bayern Munich had won every single title since 2013.
It was achieved with former Arsenal star Granit Xhaka playing a leading role in midfield.
Paris St Germain.
Another stroll for dominant PSG as they won the tile by nine points (and three games to spare) from runners-up Monaco making it 10 titles in the last 12 seasons.
: Kylian Mbappe, predictably in his last season before what is expected to be a long-awaited transfer to Real Madrid, got the vote for Player of the Year after finishing top of the goalscoring charts again with 27 goals, that’s eight more than next-on-the-list Jonathan David (Lille) and Alexandre Lacazette (Lyon).
Monaco, Brest and Lille (should they get through qualifying) join PSG.
: Lorient and Clermont went down, with Metz awaiting a tough relegation/promotion play-off final against St Etienne.
It would be easy to choose Mbappe here, but there was a far more romantic story at Brest. The minnows, known as Les Pirates, are gatecrashing Europe after a remarkable campaign in which they clinched European football for the first time in their history under influential manager Eric Roy.
They play in the second smallest stadium in Ligue 1, with one of the smallest budgets but finished third.
Inter Milan.
A bit of a stroll for Inter who secured their 20th Scudetto with five games to spare, clinching it in emotional fashion with a 2-1 victory over rivals AC Milan. They now add a second golden star to their logo for the 2024-25 season.
: Lautaro Martinez of Inter Milan scooped the Player of the Year after scoring 24 goals in his side’s march to victory in Serie A. The Argentine was comfortably the league’s top scorer, eight clear of nearest rival Dusan Vlahovic of Juventus.
Runners-up AC Milan, together with Juventus, Atalanta and surprise package Bologna.
: Frosinone, only promoted last season, went straight back down to Serie B along with Sassuolo and Salernitana.
: The rise of Bologna as one of Europe’s over-achieving underdogs under talented manager Thiago Motta has fascinated neutrals because of his unusual tactics (including a 2-7-2 formation at one stage).
They are back in the European Cup for the first time since 1964 and include Scottish youngster Lewis Ferguson.
: PSV Eindhoven.
PSV broke the record for most points in the Eredivisie with 91, two more than Ajax achieved in 1997-98. They were seven points clear of Feyenoord.
: Luuk de Jong’s 29 goals for PSV in a record-breaking season helped them lift the title and he’s a natural pick for Player of the Season. Especially as he also captained the team.
: Feyenoord and FC Twente join PSV in Europe’s top competition (although Twente will need to navigate qualifying games).
: Vitesse finished bottom and are relegated along with Volendam. Excelsior face a relegation/promotion play-off against NAC Breda.
It has to be PSV’s remarkable campaign under coach Peter Bosz in which they won 29 of their 34 matches, lost only once and scored 111 goals. The combination of veteran De Jong and youngster Santiago Gimenez (who scored 23 goals at the age of 23) proved lethal.
: Club Brugge.
You’d have to say squeak. Belgium has a round-robin play-off system for the title, and it saw Club Brugge (who finished fourth in the regular table) clinch it by one point from Union SG.
: Yet to be announced, but Igor Thiago, Club Brugge’s big striker, scored 18 goals to help his side to the title and also earned himself a 35m Euro move to Brentford in the Premier League.
: Club Brugge plus Union SG (should they get through a qualifying tie).
: RWD Molenbeek and Eupen went down with Kortrijk facing a play-off.
: Club Brugge’s remarkable title win despite finishing the regular season 19 points adrift of leaders Union SG. Coached by Nicky Heyen, they went on to win the play-offs and qualify for the Champions League.
: Sporting Lisbon.
: A stroll in the end as Sporting won by 10 points from defending champions Benfica; but it was only clinched with two games to spare.
: Viktor Gyökeres, the former Brighton and Coventry striker who is now a man in demand after scoring 29 goals in Sporting’s title-winning campaign.
: Only Sporting Lisbon, due to the league’s decreasing co-efficient.
: Chaves and Vizela, with Portimonense facing a relegation play-off final against AVS.
It has to be Gyökeres, who cost just 21m Euros from Coventry and has left a string of Premier League clubs wondering why didn’t go for him last August. He has scored 40 goals in all competitions and contributed 12 assists.
: Midtjylland.
As squeaky as they come. Midtjylland finished just one point clear of Brondby in the regular season and then one point above the same rivals in the Championship round, clinching victory on a dramatic final day.
: Brondby’s attacking midfielder Nicolai Vallys was named Superliga Player of the Year, scoring 13 league goals.
: Only Midtjylland, who begin at the second qualifying round.
: OB and Hvidovre were the unlucky ones.
The sight of Swedish star Kristoffer Olsson in the crowd to see his club Midtjylland lift the title on the final day, just months after the former Arsenal youth teamer was diagnosed with a blood clot on the brain.
His side, needing to better Brondby’s result to be champions, were losing 2-0 at half-time whilst their rivals were winning. But Midtjylland came back to draw 3-3 as Brondby lost 3-2. Olsson lifting the trophy was the icing on the cake.
: Malmo (2023 season).
A squeaky one as Malmo clinched their 23rd title on the final day of the season in November by beating their nearest rivals IF Elsborg 1-0 at home. The first time since 2009 the title had been decided so late.
: Swedish international forward Isaac Kiese Thelin, who scored 16 goals to help his club to the title.
: Just Malmo, who start at the second qualifying round.
: Degerfors IF and Varbergs BolS – with IF Brommapojkarna surviving the relegation play-off.
The moment that top scorer Isaac Kiese Thelin scored a penalty on the final day of the season to guarantee his side the title on goal difference. A relief after the match was delayed by an hour due to fans setting off pyrotechnics that triggered a fire alarm.
**The Swedish league runs from March to November. The 2024 season is only a third of the way through.
PAOK Squeak or stroll: The season was decided on the very last day of the play-offs when PAOK won 2-1 at bitter enemies Aris to become champions for the first time since 2019.
: Yet to be announced but PAOK winger Kiril Despodov won two Player of the Month awards and scored 11 goals in his team’s title-winning season.
: Just PAOK, who will play in the second qualifying round.
: AE Kifisia and PAS Giannina Best storyline: Sadly, it was about violence, not football. Referees refused to continue in December following attacks on referee Andreas Gammaris and threats made to other officials and their families.
Even more horrific was news that a police officer was killed by a flare during clashes between supporters of Olympiacos and Panathinaikos. The government banned all fans from stadiums for two months.
Galatasaray Squeak or stroll: It took until the final day to be crowned champions but Galatasaray did so in style, earning a record 102 points to finish three points above runners-up Fenerbahce. It was their 24th title.
Galatasaray’s Mauro Icardi scored 25 goals in the league and provided eight assists to help guide his side to the title.
Galatasaray in the play-off round and Fenerbahce in the second qualifying round.
Ankaragücü, Fatih Karagümrük, Pendikspor and İstanbulspor all went down.
The shocking sight of Ankaragücü president Faruk Koca's punching referee Halil Umut Meler after his side’s home match against Rizespor in December. The incident resulted in the league being suspended.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
