While top clubs typically dominate their respective leagues, every so often an underdog comes around to shake things up.
Every top European League has its footballing giants. These titans of industry have eye-watering budgets that can compete with some small nations’ GDPs, which in turn allows them to recruit and pay the world’s best players.
In England, there’s the “big six” of Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, Arsenal, Tottenham, and Chelsea. Italy has Inter, Milan, and Juventus. Spain has Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Atletico Madrid. Unsurprisingly, these top teams typically finish high up the table in any given year — but every so often there’s a smaller club that looks to crash the party.
The Premier League has had quite the bizarre first half of the season with Manchester United closer to relegation than the top four. Pep Guardiola and Manchester City went through their worst run of form under the legendary coach’s tenure and currently sit in sixth. But there’s been no bigger shock than Nottingham Forest.
Nottingham Forest, 2024-25
Forest have already accumulated nine more points this season than last season, with 41 points through 21 games. After yesterday’s draw with top-of-the-table Liverpool, the club sits in second place, six points behind the current leaders. It’s especially surprising considering that Nottingham Forest finished just one spot above the relegation zone in 2023-24.
A big part of this shocking start is the red-hot Chris Wood, who has 12 goals in 20 games and is one of the most lethal strikers in the league this season. Additionally, the signing of center back Nikola Milenkovic from Fiorentina has been nothing short of superb. He has anchored a defense that has the most clean sheets and second-least number of goals conceded in the Prem.
Goalkeeper Matz Sels, who was signed last winter, has been another major contributor and has arguably been the best performing net minder in the Premier League this season.
While players deserve tons of credit, you can’t forget about manager Nuno Espirito Santos. The Portuguese gaffer has shown what he can do with quick and physical squads with those great Wolves teams in the late 2010s. He has now found another version in Forest, but this time he might find more sustained success with them due to much stronger financial backing from Greek owner Evangelos Marinakis.
However, there is still plenty of time left in the season, and we’ve seen hot starts like this fizzle out in the final stretch before. Let’s take a look at some other clubs who were able to sustain their surprising runs from start to finish.
Girona, 2023-24
There’s no better place to start than Girona, who, for a good five to six months in the 2023-24 season, threatened the La Liga duopoly of Barcelona and Real Madrid.
What makes Girona different than the other clubs that will be mentioned is that they are under the City Football Group umbrella, which in some people’s minds diminished their accomplishments due to the massive group’s stature and alleged nefarious activities. However, it doesn’t change the fact that Girona earned a Champions League spot in just their fourth-ever season in La Liga.
Led by gaffer Michel, Girona finished third in the league table, only four points behind Barcelona and 14 points behind eventual winners Real Madrid.
Standout Brazilian winger Savinho, on loan from Troyes, contributed nine goals and 10 assists, which earned him his eventual big move to CFG flagship club Manchester City in the summer.
Ukrainian striker Artem Dovbyk was another standout, as his 24 goals led the league. Like Savinho, Dovbyk’s season was noticed by many top European clubs, and he made his move to AS Roma ahead of the 2024-25 season.
Stade Brestois, 2023-24
Girona were not the only surprise team in Europe’s top five leagues last season, as over in France, Stade Brestois, otherwise known as Brest, finished third in Ligue 1, securing their highest ever finish and first Champions League berth in club history. Unlike most surprise clubs whose handful of standout players make big moves after the season, Brest had a potluck-style squad in which everyone chipped in equally. Most of their top contributors remained with the team for the 2024-25 season.
Their leading goal scorer was Romain Del Castillo, with only eight league goals, and 13 different players featured on the score sheet. Manager Eric Roy had only previously coached once with OCG Nice in 2010, and spent some time as a sporting director at RC Lens and Watford in the 2010s.
Like Girona, Brest had spent most of their history in the lower tiers, only making their top flight debut in 2017. Less than seven years later, they reached Champions League football. Although they are struggling to replicate their league form this season, Brest are currently sitting seventh in the Champions League table, which would qualify them for the round of 16 as of right now.
Montpellier, 2011-12
Ligue 1 in the 2010s is symbolized by PSG dominance after the Qatari takeover. The Parisian giants secured seven league titles in the decade, largely thanks to superstar talents such as Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Neymar Jr, and Kylian Mbappe. The three seasons that didn’t feature PSG on the podium saw a trio of French champions that were all surpsing in their own right: Eden Hazard helped carry Lille to a title, as did Mbappe on that historic Monaco team. But there was one more, and they were the biggest shock of all — Montpellier.
Montpellier is one of French football’s first clubs, but it was not until that famous 2011-12 season where they lifted their first league title. They would finish above consummate favorite PSG by just three points, and were led by a rising Olivier Giroud who would go on to score 21 goals that season. Giroud’s title heroics would land him on Arsene Wenger’s radar as the legendary French manager was always on the lookout for top French talent.
Giroud was not the only player that season that contributed to the historic league title, as Brazilian defender Hilton joined in the summer and was integral at the back. He would be named in the team of the season that year as well.
Montpellier were neck-and-neck with PSG for the majority of the season, but some of the crucial results included a great 2-2 draw at the Parc des Princes, and important victories against Marseille and then-reigning champions Lille. A victory against Auxerre on the final day secured “La Paillade” the league title.
Wolfsburg, 2009-10
Before Bayern Munich’s Bundeslilga monopoly in the 2010s, the German league was split between multiple teams. Bayern were of course able to enjoy success, but so did clubs like Stuttgart, Werder Bremen, and Borussia Dortmund. However, there was an unexpected winner amongst the others that shocked the footballing world after a horrific start to the season.
Wolfsburg started the 2009-10 campaign with just three wins in their first nine matches, and four losses in their first 13. A start like that typically hinders most clubs. But not Wolfsburg, who were led by one of Europe’s most devastating two-man attacks in Edin Dzeko and Grafite.
Dzeko stole most of the shine due his eventual successful career, but its hard to forget how clinical Grafite was that season. He netted 28 goals, including the greatest of his career in a 5-1 demolition of Bayern, who finished as runners up that year.
While Grafite scored the most goals at 28, Dzeko was not far behind with 26, and scored in 13 of Wolfsburg’s last 16 games, which showed how clutch the Bosnian truly was that season.
While the glory goes to the attackers, let’s not forget about the guys at the back that prevented the goals. Before Andrea Barzagli became a part of one of the greatest center back trios in Turin alongside Giorgio Chiellini and Leonardo Bonucci, he was a monumental force for Wolfsburg, and a major part of the club’s title run. The Italian signed the day before the campaign started, but played all 34 games and was dominant.
