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Before the start of the new football season, each championship has its favorites and outsiders, the opinion of which has developed based on the results of performances in recent years.
Even before the start of the championship, it is obvious which teams will fight for gold and tickets to the Champions League, and which for survival in the elite division.
The more surprising are the stories when a obviously weak club from the very first matches begins to demolish everyone in its path, eventually becoming the champion.
10 Nottingham Forest (1977/78)
Nottingham had already claimed the championship 10 years before, but in 1967 they did not succeed, followed by a strong decline, which was accompanied by relegation from the top flight.
The club was in a fever until 1975, when Brian Clough took the helm, inspiring the Foresters with motivation and the will to win. Immediately leading the team to the elite, in the very first season he led it to the championship, and the next year he added the European Champions Cup to this trophy. Needless to say, no one expected such agility from the recent middle peasant of the Championship?
9. Leeds United (1991/92)
Leeds spent a full 7 years in the Championship before they managed to win a promotion, but everyone assumed that their maximum in the elite was floundering close to the relegation zone.
At the end of the 1990/91 season, the club took fourth place, which greatly surprised everyone, but did not discourage. “Just think, they jumped above their heads, next year they will slide back,” the fans thought about this.
Football experts agreed with their opinion, but the Leeds players themselves and their head coach Howard Wilkinson were the only ones who had a different opinion.
No one bet on them, but the next season was a triumph and brought the championship, leaving all skeptics with their mouths wide open. By the way, the team became the last winner of the First Division, since from the next season it was renamed the Premier League.
8. “Atletico” (1995/96)
Now Atletico Madrid, thanks to the efforts of coach Diego Simeone, has become a powerful club that can compete with Real Madrid and Barca in La Liga and even reach the Champions League final.
In the late 80s – early 90s, everything was different: a couple of times, taking the 2nd and 3rd line, the “mattress” began to fall sharply and instead of the top 3, they could hardly get into the top 10.
Fortunately for the fans, Radomir Antic stepped into the coaching position and managed to bring order to the team and build a coherent game model.
The result was the gold medals of the Spanish championship, which before that for 11 years were taken only by Real Madrid and Barcelona.
7. “Lance” (1997/98)
The modest French club slipped into Ligue 80 in the late 2s and took several years to return to the elite. Returning there in 1991, Lance simply tried not to fly out for the first years, but gradually rose higher and higher in the table.
In the seasons 94/95 and 95/96 they even took 5th place, but everyone thought that this was their ceiling. When in the 1996/97 season the club finished in 13th place, no one could have imagined that they could become League 1 champions next year, but they did it. This is so far the only title in the history of the club, but the fans believe that it will not be the last.
6. Kaiserslautern (1990/91 and 1997/98)
A unique story from the German league: Kaiserslautern were in the second half of the table in the late 80s, but in the 1990/91 season they suddenly managed to win a silver salad bowl, creating a real sensation.
After that, they were able to play another season at a high level and take second place, losing only 3 points to Bayern, but already in 1996 the club flew out of the top division, but won the German Cup. No one doubted that the Red Devils would return to the main championship, but few believed that they would again claim victory in it.
Coach Otto Rehhagel wiped out all the naysayers by winning the Bundesliga 2 first, and then the top division. This case is truly unique, as nothing like this has happened in the history of German football, either before or since.
5. “Rubin” (2008)
In 2008, the club from the capital of the Republic of Tatarstan celebrated its XNUMXth anniversary, and before the start of the season, there were serious personnel increases in it.
Experts before the start of the season assumed that Kazan would fight for a place closer to the top 5, but they aimed much higher. Having issued a powerful winning streak at the start, the players under the leadership of Kurban Berdyev gained the main thing – self-confidence.
They themselves believed that they were able to win, and they did it, having won the first RFPL gold in their history.
4. “Bursaspor” (2009/10)
The Green Crocodiles were only the second non-Istanbul team to win the title. The hegemony of Fenerbahce, Galatasaray and Besiktas was interrupted by a modest team that managed to break into the Super League only in 2006.
For the first few years, the club seemed to look around and learn to play with the best teams in Turkey, after which they used the knowledge gained and finished in first place, beating Besiktas in the last round, thanks to which they earned 1 point more than Fenerbahce.
3. Montpellier (2011/12)
A team that did not have a large budget or famous players in the composition, nevertheless, was able to beat the competition from PSG. After spending only a few years in Ligue 1, during which it was not possible to climb even to the top five, Montpellier became the champion. No one understood how it happened, but the fact remains.
2. Leicester City (2015/16)
The most recent story of a fabulous championship that happened just a few years ago. Claudio Ranieri, together with his “foxes”, conquered not only the Premier League, but the whole world: Leicester was supported all over the globe, knowing full well that this was a battle between David and Goliath.
Ngolo Kante, Riyad Mahrez, Jamie Vardy, Kasper Schmeichel – these and other names will always be remembered.
1. “Liverpool” (1963/64)
Let’s finish with the oldest, but extremely entertaining history of the championship of Liverpool. By the 1963/64 season, the club already had 5 league titles, but the last of them was obtained almost 20 years ago, after which the Merseysiders rolled into the second league.
It may seem strange, but the five-time champions of the country were underdogs, who only the most dedicated fans bet on before the start of the season.