Neverkusen is no more, it’s time for Bayer Leverkusen. Eternal outsider of German football until then, Bayer Leverkusen had a string of podiums including five failures in second place between 1997 and 2011. Cursed and mocked for its status as a magnificent loser, the German club finally put an end to the curse this season by winning thanks to the good work done since the arrival of Xabi Alonso on his bench. Relegating Bayern Munich to 16 points five days from the end after 11 years of Bavarian domination, the feat is great for the Werkself who can even finish the exercise undefeated. Crowned after this 5-0 victory against Werder Bremen, Bayer Leverkusen is not the first surprise in the Bundesliga this century. While Bayern Munich has only dropped 7 titles over this period, including 3 gleaned by Borussia Dortmund, we can think of the surprising coronation of the Werder Bremen in 2003/2004. Never ranked above sixth place since 1995, the team of Johan Micoud, Ivan Klasnic, Ailton and Valérien Ismaël managed to win against Bayern Munich and then established themselves for a few seasons in the elite of German football. It was Werder’s fourth title in its history.
Three years later, Bayern Munich are struggling and only finish fourth in the year. A club benefits to everyone’s surprise, it is the VfB Stuttgart who won his fifth coronation (the first since 1992) during this 2006/2007 season. Since their previous coronation, the Swabians have alternated between the middle of the table and European places without really playing for the title. Finally, we can also evoke the sensation embodied by VfL Wolfsburg. Promoted to the Bundesliga for the first time in their history in 1997, the Wolves only played for maintenance or European places until then with their best result being fifth place in 2008. Guided by their magical duo Grafite (28 goals) and Edin Dzeko ( 26 goals), Wolfsburg will beat Bayern Munich by two points to win the first and only title in its history. If we go back to just before the 21st century, we can also cite Kaiserslautern who despite his promoted status was crowned champion during the 1997-1998 season with Michael Ballack and Andreas Brehme in his ranks.
The Leicester, Montpellier and Lille feat for France
In England, Chelsea, Manchester United, Manchester City and Arsenal have monopolized the titles since the championship was called the Premier League (1992). Certainly crowned in 2020 after 30 years of waiting, Liverpool is also clearly not a surprise since the Reds had won the Champions League the year before while obtaining 97 points in the league, a record for a runner-up. If we except the surprising formation of Blackburn Rovers 1994-1995 of the great Alan Shearer which dates back almost thirty years, a more recent memory remains: Leicester City 2015/2016. A surprising team guided by Claudio Ranieri where N’Golo Kanté, Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez will explode in front of the world. As for the rest of the team, some good players like Kasper Schmeichel, Christian Fuchs, Danny Drinkwater or Marc Albrighton and one-season players like Wes Morgan, Robert Huth and Danny Simpson. Playing to maintain the previous season (14th), Leicester were still bottom with seven days remaining. A year later, they rolled into the Premier League by putting Arsenal, their runner-up, ten points behind.
In France, we had some notable moments too. The eighth coronation of Nantes in 2001 came after three complicated seasons (but two French Cups won) for the Canaries who were rather outsiders. Lille also surprised by being champion in 2011 after 47 years of waiting, but was already an outsider club regularly placed in Ligue 1. Although they were among the contenders for the title, the Northerners appeared less experienced at the time than Olympique of Marseille and Olympique Lyonnais. In 2021, the Mastiffs surprised again by snatching the title from Paris Saint-Germain when they were expected to be more in the race for the podium. A few small surprises, but the main one remains that of 2012 with Montpellier which won Ligue 1 for the first time in its history. Promoted two years earlier, the Héraultais of Olivier Giroud, Rémy Cabella and Younés Belhanda managed to beat everyone including Paris Saint-Germain – who launched the QSI era – while the club remained in fourteenth place at three points from the red zone the previous year.
Fewer surprises in Italy and Spain
In Serie A, there have been no surprises strictly speaking in the 21st century and we have to go back to 1991 and the coronation of Sampdoria to see a team win the first coronation in its history. Nevertheless, we can note some great stories with the second title of Lazio in 2000 after 26 years of waiting and with the advent of new talents like Alessandro Nesta, Dejan Stanković and Juan Sebastian Veron. The following year, it was AS Roma guided by Francesco Totti who would win after 18 years of waiting and for the third time in its history. Last year, Naples also won his third coronation, carried by Victor Osimhen and a Khvicha Kvaratskhelia unknown to the general public at the start of the season. Like the two Roman clubs, the Partenopei left their outsider status for one season to put an end to 33 years of waiting.
As for La Liga, there too the surprise is relative in certain cases to the image of Atlético de Madrid 2013/2014 which would take Diego Simeone’s team to a new level and make them forget an 18-year wait. Since then, the Colchoneros have won the title in 2020/2021, but this one was more anticipated. Valence also played leading roles in the early 2000s, winning in 2002 and 2004. The first title arrived after 31 years of absence and the second confirmed the beautiful period of a golden generation of Murciélagos. The biggest recent surprise in La Liga is undoubtedly Deportivo La Coruna 1999-2000. A brilliant team with Roy Makaay, Pedro Miguel Pauleta, Noureddine Naybet, Mauro Silva and even Lionel Scaloni, the current coach of Argentina who will have marked his era. Having become an outsider in the 1990s, the Galicia club played the leading roles until this semi-final of the 2004 Champions League before declining. Today Super Depor is no more and the La Coruna team is struggling to climb back into the Spanish second division.
And what does that look like elsewhere?
If we look outside the five biggest European championships, we can count on other surprises in recent years. In Belgium we can note the title of Ghentthe only one in the history of the Buffalos in 2014/2015 or to another extent the one from Antwerp last year after 66 years of famine. In the Netherlands for more than 40 years, the trio Ajax Amsterdam, PSV Eindhoven and Feyenoord have monopolized all the titles with the exception of two, namely the 2008/2009 season where AZ Alkmaar coached by Louis van Gaal was champion. The following season, the FC Twente of Bryan Ruiz and the young Luuk de Jong was champion for the first and only time in its history. As for Russia, the Rubin Kazan became a big club in the championship only six years after its debut in the elite and with its coronation acquired in 2008. The Tatarstan club will confirm by winning in 2009 also before slowly declining.
In Turkey, the Istanbul clubs (Galatasaray, Besiktas and Fenerbahçe) rule the roost and sometimes Trabzonspor slips into the fight. However, two clubs knew how to undermine the politeness of the championship leaders. Recently, İstanbul Başakşehir was thus able to establish itself during the 2019/2020 season by confirming a rise in power over several years. More surprisingly in 2009/2010, it is Bursaspor who was champion with no player who really confirmed it afterwards. The Crocodiles’ fall has been terrible as they are currently 18th out of 19 in their Turkish third division group. In Greece, the PAOK Salonika, rewarded in 2018/2019 under the leadership of Abel Teixeira, had been waiting for more than thirty years for a title against the domination of clubs from the capital and its suburbs (AEK Athens, Olympiakos and Panathinaikos). Finally in Czechia, Banik Ostrava was champion in 2003/2004 for the first time in its history. Bayer Leverkusen is now part of this long list of unexpected champions…
