Predicting the winner of Europe’s top 5 leagues for the 2024/2025 season

Football’s unpredictability is what often makes it so special to billions of people around the world. You can never truly predict what is going to happen at every level of the sport. At the top of the pyramid, teams might be dominated by the need for financial and political power, but there is never a guarantee it will pay off.

During the 2023/24 season, Manchester City won the Premier League title for a fourth year in a row — the first team to complete such a feat, whilst Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain continued their years of success. Bayer Leverkusen upset the odds to win the Bundesliga, achieving the longest unbeaten run of all time in the process, whilst Inter Milan won the Serie A title comfortably against their bitter rivals.

However, those five champions will know they will have to be at their very best to replicate the achievement. They have targets on their backs, as the arrows of the remaining teams in the division prepare to pounce and sabotage. Often, the shots will fire away, literally and metaphorically, but a handful of teams will believe they can grasp glory away from them. With the 2024/25 season nearing, we have predicted the five winners in Europe’s major leagues.

Premier League

Arsenal to end Manchester City’s reign of dominance

Beating Man City, a financial superpower that often have a never-ending pot of money, is never going to be easy. Only Liverpool have managed to do so since 2018, and that only came when Pep Guardiola‘s side had an uncharacteristic off-year. Arsenal know how frustrating it can be to go head-to-head with the Cityzens in a title race; they seem inevitable, consistently winning in high-pressure moments to walk away with the title.

However, after two years of near misses, Arsenal are a more mature and experienced team, which suggests think they could finally walk away with the title. They took Man City to the final day of the season in the 2023/24 campaign, going on a remarkable run of form in the second half of the season. Most of the time, it would be enough to win the title, but Man City are serial winners for a reason.

Arsenal will need a striker to be able to get over the line — and they are heavily linked with Benjamin Sesko. However, once you couple an out-and-out striker with Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard, two of the best players in the league, you have an attacking trio that can cause problems for any team in the world. With Gabriel and William Saliba, two of the best centre-backs in England, at the back, the Gunners can start to dream.

There is also no guarantee that Man City will be able to continue their remarkable record. No team has ever won five in a row, they have an ageing squad, and Guardiola has hinted he will be leaving at the end of the season. Jurgen Klopp’s farewell announcement at Liverpool proved not every ending is the fairytale dreamed of.

La Liga

Real Madrid to pip Barcelona to glory

During the 2023/24 season, Real Madrid cruised to the La Liga title. Barring a strong run of form from surprise package Girona at the start of the season, it seemed all but inevitable that Carlo Ancelotti’s side would walk away with glory. They finished 10 points clear of bitter rivals Barcelona in second, who replaced manager Xavi with Hansi Flick.

Real Madrid epitomise the idea of serial winners. They have the determination, experience and composure in abundance to be able to walk away in glory. They showed it in the 2024 Champions League, as they beat Borussia Dortmund 2-0 to win their 15th European crown. With Kylian Mbappe joining the club, GIVEMESPORT has predicted Real Madrid will win another La Liga title in 2025.

It won’t be as straightforward as it was in the 2023/24 campaign, as Barcelona will likely improve under Flick and they have a crop of immensely talented youngsters who will naturally improve, but it won’t be enough to beat Ancelotti’s side. Mbappe is one of the best players in the world and when you couple him with Vinicius Junior and Jude Bellingham, two of the favourites to win the 2024 Ballon d’Or, it is hard to see past them to win another Spanish crown.

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Serie A

Inter Milan cruised to the Serie A title during the 2023/24 campaign. It was never in doubt that Simone Inzaghi’s side would run away with the title after finding the consistency that every other side in the division lacked. Napoli epitomised that idea, finishing tenth after winning the league the year beforehand,

Some may say it’s crazy to predict them to win the title, but Antonio Conte has joined the club — and he is the king of winning leagues whilst playing without European football. The former Tottenham coach is one of the greatest Italian managers of all time, opts to focus on results instead of performances, and finds a way to grind out victories in the toughest of circumstances. Napoli will experience that throughout that campaign, which might see them pip Inter Milan to the title.

Napoli’s pursuit might be heavily dependent on whether they can keep Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Victor Osimhen at the club. The latter is one of the best strikers in the world and he scored 41 goals across the past two Serie A titles. If they remain at the club and Conte is given the resources to build his own team, they might go into the new campaign as favourites.

Bundesliga

Bayern Munich take back their crown from Bayer Leverkusen

Bayer Leverkusen surprised everyone during the 2023/24 campaign as they went unbeaten to win the title comfortably. Xabi Alonso, one of the best coaches in the world, transformed the team from midtable mediocrity to double winners. However, throughout the campaign, they consistently scored late goals; there is no guarantee that will happen again during the 2024/25 season.

For this reason, coupled with their rivals’ consistency in previous years, GIVEMESPORT has predicted Bayern Munich to return to normality and win the title. They’ve replaced Thomas Tuchel with Vincent Kompany as manager, a decision which surprised many, but the Belgian’s playing style might suit the top of European football. At Burnley, he shone in the Championship but lacked the talent in the squad to shine in the top flight. There was also a case of lacking flexibility throughout the season, something which every world-class manager should be able to do.

Kompany might sink, but there’s hope within their camp that he will float elegantly. With Harry Kane, one of the best English players currently, leading the line and a host of world-class talent within the squad, Bayern Munich should be disappointed if they don’t regain the Bundesliga title.

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Ligue 1

Paris Saint-Germain continue their dominance

Finally, Paris Saint-Germain are heavily tipped to win Ligue 1 once again. They might have lost Mbappe, one of the best French players of all time, on a free transfer to Real Madrid, but they still have a squad full of talent. Luis Enrique has implemented his philosophy on them successfully over the past season, which saw them finish nine points clear of rivals Monaco at the top of the 2023/24 table.

The Parisians will want to improve their team in the transfer window — and they’ve been linked with deals for Osimhen and other world-class forwards — but, even if they don’t, PSG have more than enough to cruise to the title. The main challenge for Enrique will be in the Champions League. They’ve never won the trophy, despite spending billions of pounds under Qatari ownership, as they falter in the knockout stages. They lacked experience during the semi-finals against Dortmund in the 2023/24 last four, yet giving the squad another year to develop and mature will only help with that issue.