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3 Points Predicts: 2024-25 preview

The summer does its thing…and just like that, club football officially returns. We might have had the welcome (or unwelcome for some) distraction of Euro 2024, but there isn’t a feeling quite like the opening weekend of the football season. Buckle up for 9 months of drama, devastation and discovery. League action has already started in Belgium, Czechia, Denmark Poland and Portugal with the rest of the continent set to follow over the next weekend or so. 


European football has so much to offer, it’s vast and varied and beautiful. 3 Points mystery football tours could take you anywhere in Europe with over 52 clubs, 30 leagues and 16 countries waiting to be discovered. A host of the teams we’ve picked below as our punt for the title were locations for some of last season’s mystery tours. So, what are you waiting for? Whilst you gather your squad and pick your date, check out some of our predicted winners and losers across Europe this season. 


Disclaimer, you have our word that we’ll come back and evaluate our picks at the end of the season…


Click the drop-downs below to see the justification for our picks, which should all the winners come in, would net you a cool 1229/1 with the bookies. Get us pint when it comes in...


BELGIUM 🇧🇪

PREDICTED CHAMPION: Anderlecht

The Purple & White put in a strong title challenge last season as they chased a 35th Pro League title. However, they were unable to maintain their challenge during the play-offs and ultimately fell short. Expectations are now high that the club will be able to go one better this season. Three games in and holders Union Saint-Gilloise have endured a rocky start. After lifting the Belgian Super Cup against Club Brugge last month, Sebastien Pocognoli has endured a challenging start to life as Union SG manager. Others in contention include Club Brugge who have been dominant in recent history.


DENMARK 🇩🇰

PREDICTED CHAMPION: FC Copenhagen




If Carlsberg did champions, well they’d pick FCK, right? We'll drink to that. After four games, they lead the pack by a point. FC Midtjylland took advantage of a slip-up by Brondby on a dramatic final day last season so they won’t be able to rest on their laurels.

CZECH REPUBLIC 🇨🇿

PREDICTED CHAMPION: Sparta Prague

Four games in and Sparta lead the way in the Chance Liga in an attempt to win it for a third season on the bounce. We like the three-peat chances of this one. The Pražské derby (Prague Derby to me and you) promises to raise the stakes in the title race, as city neighbours Slavia will push them all the way. Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky has been making the headlines with the purchase of Royal Mail, but he’s been delivering more than letters in the Czech capital. Kretinsky wants to build the Czech Republic’s biggest stadium. His funding for the past two decades have seen Sparta become the countries most successful team.




FRANCE 🇫🇷

After hosting a magnificent Olympic Games, club football is back in France.


PREDICTED CHAMPION: PSG

The prodigal son might have departed, but we can’t see anything but another PSG autopilot to Ligue 1. Opta’s supercomputer (very high tech so we’re told) giving PSG a whopping 79% probability of lifting the title. Luis Enrique has recruited well, Joao Neves from Benfica for €70m might well turn out to look like a snip. Our pick for their biggest challengers will be Monaco, but we can’t see a title battle for the ages awaiting.




OTHERS TO WATCH:

Without a battle for the title, all eyes will be on the battle for the top 3 and staving the drop.  Led by new projects and the arrival of two respected coaches, Will Still and De Zerbi, the revitalised Lens and Marseille are well placed to finish inside the top three - De Zerbi ended up to be a surprise managerial appointment, with many assuming he’d end up at one of the top clubs in Europe. With top scorer Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang sunning himself in Saudi work is already underway to stamp his style on OM. Strictly no direct goal kicks... To be fair, with Brest storming their way to a Champions League place out of nowhere last season, not the script is not completely written...



GERMANY 🇩🇪

We think one of the most fascinating leagues campaigns this season will be the Bundesliga, where Bayer Leverkusen will be hoping to build on their incredible season last year and Vincent Kompany looks to put Bayern back on top.




PREDICTED CHAMPION: Bayern Munich

 I know, picking Bayern is hardly groundbreaking but somehow they still feel like the alternative pick. Hear me out: Leverkusen undeniably caused the greatest shock across Europe’s top leagues last season, ending Bayern’s eleven-year reign. The question on everybody’s lips is, can they do it again? They have recruited well, adding the likes of Aleix Garcia, Martin Terrier and Jeanuel Belocian and held onto the most sought after coach on the continent, the unflappable Xabi Alonso. Leverkusen will go in favourites after a period of stability and quite frankly, sensational football last year. It was tough, but we’re backing Bayern to get back to their best under Kompany, who will be facing huge pressure to replicate his attacking football that did so well in his spells at Anderlecht and Burnley, if you forget the pretty damp squib relegation and surprise appointment... You get our drift? This one will be close!


OTHERS TO WATCH:

Who else is in the pack? Dortmund finished in a disappointing fifth place, while making it to the Champions League final have had a summer of change. They’ve strengthened since the arrival of ex-player and new manager Nuri Sahin, snapping up Serhou Guirassy and Pascal Gross. It was 27 points which separated Leverkusen and Dortmund last season and with some inexperience, we think it’ll be a season of consolidation for BVB. 


Stuttgart punched above their weight in a mind-boggling season which saw them come third after consistent years of dodging relegation. They’ve sold their striker talisman to Dortmund but have retained Deniz Undav and boss Sebastian Hoeneß, can they do it again while balancing Champions League football? St Pauli - a hipsters paradise returns to the Bundesliga. The departure of manager Fabian Hurzeler to Brighton provided reason for concern. Not for long though after recruiting Alexander Blessin from Union Saint-Gilloise, who guided the Belgian side to winning the Pro League last season leads us to believe that the Millerntor-Stadion will remain ‘hell’ for opponents, and back them to have a strong return to the Bundesliga



ITALY 🇮🇹

Personally we don’t think you can get much better than Serie A, a true bastion of European football. We’re expecting more of the same this year...


PREDICTED CHAMPION: Inter

The Nerrazzuri enjoyed one of their best seasons in recent history, accumulating a remarkable 94 points, and securing the league title with five games to spare against rivals AC Milan. Simone Inzaghi’s men struck an impressive balance between attack and defence, scoring 13 more goals than any other side in the league while conceding the fewest by some distance too. This season they welcome additions of Piotr Zielinski and Mehdi Taremi to the squad which they’ve managed to keep together. Stability is the watch word, with teams around them all changing mangers. 


OTHERS TO WATCH:

Napoli hired Antonio Conte, it's a match made in heaven right? Naples is a match made in heaven, optically anyway. The volcanic manager meets Vesuvius. How it will go? Nobody knows…There’s still a lot of uncertainty around Victor Osimhen's future, while Conte wants to reunite with Romelu Lukaku. Expect Gli Azzurria to take a little while to settle into the new rhythm, but oh will we be watching. 



Como could raise some eyebrows, Cesc Fabregas has recruited Raphael Varane, Spanish legend Pepe Reina, Alberto Moreno and Italian Andrea Belotti

to the 12,000 seated Stadio Giuseppe SinigagliaThis one could go really well, or could sink to the bottom, there’s a lake pun in there somewhere…

NETHERLANDS 🇳🇱

It's all change in the Eredivise. With Arne Slot on Merseyside, Farioli coming in at Ajax - who can challenge last years champions PSV?


PREDICTED CHAMPION: PSV

A: Nobody. After six years without a title, PSV Eindhoven got their hands back on the Eredivisie trophy last season, amassing an impressive 91 points under the guidance of manager Peter Bosz. Given the tumultuous change around them, we’re backing PSV to make it two from two.



OTHERS TO WATCH:

Ajax are looking to bounce back from their disappointing season where they finished 5th in the Eredivisie, a position far below their usual standards. Ajax have appointed Francesco Farioli as the new manager, who most recently led French club Nice to an impressive 5th place finish last season.


Last seasons runners up, Feyenoord, have had to deal with a big turnover in players and manager. Brain Priske is the new head coach after impressing at Sparta Prague, a host of players including Yankuba Minteh and Mats Wieffer both at Brighton and potentially highly rated Mexican forward Santiago Gimenez to follow. And a shout out to NAC Bredaback in the top league after a five-year hiatus. The “yellow army” will make the noise at the sold out

The Rat Verlegh Stadio.

POLAND 🇵🇱

PREDICTED CHAMPION: Legia Warszawa

Last season saw a huge shock in Poland, with Jagiellonia Białystok bagging their first ever title, beating Śląsk Wrocław on goal difference - both teams were fighting to avoid relegation just a season before. Raków Częstochowa are many people’s top for the title, last winning it in 2022/23.



But for us it’s Legia who made the most smartest moves in the transfer window, bringing in former Premier League player Rúben Vinagre, Pedro Gonçalves from Bulgarian champions Ludogorets, and the three-time top scorer in the Swiss league, Jean-Pierre Nsame. Will we have another shock or normal service resuming?

PORTUGAL 🇵🇹

The Portuguese league got underway last week and has been dominated by the top three of Porto, Benfica and holders Sporting.


PREDICTED CHAMPION: PORTO

After a summer of change, we’re backing Porto to get back on top this season. It is the start of a new era at Estádio do Dragão with Vítor Bruno taking charge, Andoni Zubizarreta and Jorge Costa the new directors and André Villas-Boas the big boss.


With the bullish and sometimes down right bewildering Sérgio Conceição leaving the club, we’re expecting smoother sailing for Porto. Things have started well, magically clawing back a three-goal first half deficit to defeat Sporting 4-3 in this season’s Super Taça final and winning the opening game of the season at a cruise 3-0 at home to Gil Vicente.




OTHERS TO WATCH:

It would be silly to count out current champions Sporting who have kept hold of Rúben Amorim and Viktor Gyökeres, they’re likely to the biggest threat to Porto.


Rio Ave have had a summer packed full of exciting transfer business. Since a transfer ban was lifted, and new financial backing from Evangelos Marinakis – the Greek owner of Olympiacos and Nottingham Forest – they’ve made a number of notable transfers this window alone, signed 14 players with an impressive total outlay (according to Transfermarkt) of €4M. 2016 European Champion and 4-time English Premier League winner Luís Nani returns to Portugal to play for his hometown club, Amadora. It’s a fairytale story and one of the biggest signings Estrela have ever made. Selling some shirts might be more effective than taking them up the league though.

SPAIN 🇪🇸

There’s been no rest for Spain this summer. After the men’s team steamrolled to Euro 2024 success, winning all seven games. The Olympics saw gold for Spain too, showing the future isn’t looking too bad either…attention turns back to La Liga.


PREDICTED WINNER: Real Madrid

It will be no surprise that Real Madrid, the defending champions who have now added Kylian Mbappé to Carlo Ancelotti’s ranks, are our pick. You’re more than likely pick from the two big dogs here, but 3 Points are predicting somewhat of a walkover for Los Blancos, and have Barcelona trailing behind Atletico. With Mbappé , Vinícius Júnior and Jude Bellingham, we will be there.


OTHERS TO WATCH:

Atletico have spent big by bringing in Julian Álvarez, Alexander Sørloth and Robin Le Normand, with Conor Gallagher also wating in the wings. They might turn out to be more than just noisy neighbours on the hunt for a third La Liga under Diego Simeone’s reign. Girona were right in the hunt for much of last season, before falling away and losing we watch with interest as they embrace the balancing act of a European schedule. They have also lost key players in the form of Savinho, who has joined Manchester City, Yan Couto, now at Borussia Dortmund, and last season’s La Liga top scorer Artem Dovbyk, who has been sold to Roma. Athletic Bilbao and Real Sociedad have managed to hang onto star assets Nico Williams and Martín Zubimendi, for now...

TURKEY 🇹🇷

PREDICTED WINNER: Fenerbahçe

Have we been sucked in by the Special One? Of course we have. Mourinho was appointed Fenerbahce manager in June after being sacked by Roma in January and has taken the capital by storm, with thousands turning up for his welcome party.


Fenerbahce are coming off a ridiculous season last year in which they lost just one game and racked up 99 points... and still lost the title to Istanbul rivals Galatasaray. Signings of Allan Saint-Maxim, Caglar Soyuncu from Leicester City, Rade Krunic from AC Milan, and Levent Mercan from Karagumruk see the Portuguese inherit a strong squad. Fenerbahce's chances of Champions League progress were ended on Tuesday and move into the Europa League. With Mourinho a cup competition specialist, you wouldn’t write Fener off from the title.




 
 
 

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