The final ‘Big 5 Table’ for Europe’s top leagues in 2023-24 has been calculated – Man Utd 31st

It’s been another brilliant football season across Europe, with fascinating stories aplenty gripping supporters over the last nine months. The Premier League campaign ended in familiar fashion, with Manchester City getting their hands on another title, but they were pushed all the way by Mikel Arteta’s brilliant Arsenal side.

Paris Saint-Germain also defended their Ligue 1 crown, but there were new champions in Spain and Italy, with Real Madrid and Inter Milan dethroning Barcelona and Napoli respectively. The biggest story across Europe’s top five leagues was, undeniably, Bayer Leverkusen’s title win, as they went the entire season unbeaten and became the first team other than Bayern Munich to win the Bundesliga since 2012. A ‘Big 5 Table’ of every team in Europe’s top leagues has been calculated by the guys over at FBREF, based on points per game, and we’ve taken a closer look at the standings.

Teams ranked 96th-81st

Sheffield United bottom of the pile

Sheffield United were, unsurprisingly, the worst team of the clubs that competed across Europe’s top five leagues this season. The Blades picked up just 16 points, the third-lowest points tally in Premier League history behind Sunderland’s 2005-06 side (15 points) and Derby’s infamous 2007-08 side (11 points).

Italian side Salertinana did not fare much better, collecting 17 points from 38 games. Bundesliga side Darmstadt also amassed that number of points but from four fewer matches. Collectively, England’s basement boys were the worst of the bunch, though, with all three of the relegated teams ending inside the bottom seven of this 96-team table.

Teams ranked 80th-71st

Bochum face relegation

All but one of the clubs who suffered relegation finished the campaign in the 96-81 section of this mammoth table, but Bochum, despite averaging 0.97 points over the course of the Bundesliga campaign, had to mount a remarkable comeback in their relegation play-off to avoid demotion to Germany’s second tier.

Bochum had a better points-per-game average than 18 other teams across Europe’s top five leagues but they finished third from bottom in the Bundesliga, setting them up for a two-legged play-off with the third-highest team from Germany’s second division. That team was Dusseldorf, and they won the first leg of the play-off 3-0 but were beaten by the same scoreline in the reverse leg, with Bochum winning on penalties to stay up.

Teams ranked 70th-61st

Everton impacted by points deductions

Brentford endured a regressive season, finishing 16th and tallying 20 points fewer than they managed in their maiden Premier League campaign, when they finished ninth with 59 points. A tricky 2024-25 campaign could lie ahead for the Bees if manager Thomas Frank and talisman Ivan Toney leave the club.

Everton find themselves this low down in the overall table due to their two points deductions. The Toffees were docked a total of eight points by the Premier League throughout the campaign and actually picked up 50 points from their games over the course of the season, which would bump them up around 20 places in this table.

Teams ranked 60th-51st

Fulham and Wolves feature

We’re pushing towards mid-table now and this is where Premier League sides Wolves and Fulham enter the equation. Wolves enjoyed an encouraging season under Gary O’Neil that might have been even better had the team not been on the end of a series of questionable VAR decisions.

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Marco Silva, meanwhile, has revived his reputation as a manager with Fulham, comfortably keeping them in the Premier League in back-to-back seasons after guiding them to promotion in 2022. It’s somewhat surprising that he isn’t being linked with a move to a bigger club, with a host of top sides in the market for a new manager this summer.

Teams ranked ​​​​​49th-40th

Glasner, De Zerbi and Iraola make their marks

Four Premier League clubs find themselves in this section of the mega table, with south-coast clubs Bournemouth and Brighton alongside each other in 50th and 49th respectively. They boasted two of the most exciting young managers in European football last season but Brighton must now find themselves a new boss after Roberto De Zerbi called time on his time in charge of the Amex Stadium club.

Crystal Palace also appointed a great manager in Oliver Glasner and the Austrian turned their season around after their early struggles under Roy Hodgson. West Ham, meanwhile, recently announced Julen Lopetegui as their new boss following David Moyes’ exit.

Teams ranked 40th-31st

A season to forget for Manchester United

The standout name in this section of the table is obviously Manchester United. Erik ten Hag’s side avoided recording their lowest-ever Premier League points tally but they could not avoid recording their lowest-ever finish in the league table, ending the campaign in eighth place. David Moyes’ United finished seventh in 2014.

There are other notable clubs in this section who endured disappointing campaigns. Napoli won the Scudetto in 2023 but could only finish 10th this time around, while Lens, who finished a point behind champions Paris Saint-Germain last year, could only managed a seventh-place Ligue 1 finish in 2023-24.

Teams ranked 30th-21st

Chelsea bounce back and Villa enjoy excellent season

Chelsea find themselves in the top 30 after ending their season in brilliant form – only to sack their manager two days after the Premier League’s final day to enter another period of uncertainty. Newcastle also enjoyed a decent second half of the campaign, only missing out on European football due to Manchester United winning the FA Cup.

Aston Villa’s qualification for the Champions League is a brilliant story, while French side Brest will also compete in Europe for the first time in the club’s history after finishing third in Ligue 1. In Italy, Daniele De Rossi had a brilliant impact after replacing Jose Mourinho as the manager of Roma, guiding the Giallorossi to Europa League qualification.

Teams ranked 20th-11th

Bayern Munich struggle

We’ve reached the section of the table where all the big boys generally reside, but there is a somewhat surprising name to round off the top 20. Bologna are back in the Champions League after 60 years out of the biggest club competition in football having finished fifth in the Serie A table.

While Bologna will be delighted with their campaign, other clubs in this section will not be so happy with how things went for them this season. Bayern Munich failed to win the Bundesliga for the first time since 2012, while Atletico Madrid finished outside of Spain’s top three for the first time since 2012.

Teams ranked 10th-1st

Bayer Leverkusen top the pile

Girona, Stuttgart and Leverkusen all enjoyed brilliant seasons to finish inside the top 10 of this behemoth of a table, but it is Leverkusen whose season will be remembered for decades to come. Xabi Alonso’s side swept all before them to win a domestic double, falling one game short of finishing the season as undefeated treble winners.

Five of the top six in the table won their league titles, with Paris Saint-Germain ending the campaign with the lowest points per game average of the champions. Arsenal actually averaged more points per game than Luis Enrique’s side but their final tally of 89 was not enough to pip Manchester City to the title.

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