The League Phase is set for the new season of Europa League with the first matches starting on Wednesday, September 16. The Europa League was recently expanded to encourage the lesser quality teams from smaller leagues and the drop downs from Champions League after the group stage were also ended, but that has not changed the final results of the competition in recent years. The last 15 straight Europa League Titles have been won by a club from one of the big 5 leagues in Europe with an English club winning it 2 straight years now. Aston Villa is the defending champion of the competition from last season, but they are in Champions League this year and will not be eligible to win again, so there will be a new champion this year. Now with the League Phase starting soon, it is time to see who has the best chance at bringing home the Europa League Title this season.
To Win Outright
Juventus +700: Juventus is coming into this competition as the team with the best chance at bringing home the Europa League Title this season, according to the oddsmakers. Juventus earned this spot by finishing in 6th place of Serie A last season and they certainly have an improved team this season, but this is not a competition that a club like Juventus is going to be focused on. Juventus is one of the bigger clubs in Italy and after having a down year last season they will have more of a focus on performing better in the league. They are still going to be one of the better teams in this competition with the quality they have, but their heart might not be in it as much the deeper they get. Italian clubs have not done that well in this competition over the years either. Atalanta was the last Italian club to win the Europa League in the 2023/24 season, but that is the only Italian club to win the title in the last 27 years. This is not a great year for Serie A as a whole either, being one of the weaker leagues of the big 5 in Europe, and their clubs are not going to match up well as they have to play against stronger opponents the deeper they get. There is no clear dominant club in this competition either, so there is not a lot of value in taking Juventus as a favorite considering the recent history of Italian clubs in this competition.
AC Milan +750: AC Milan is coming into this competition as the team with the next best chance at bringing home the Europa League Title this season, according to the oddsmakers. AC Milan earned this spot by finishing 5th place in Serie A last season and they certainly have one of the better teams in Italy this year, but this might not be a competition that they are focused on. The goal for this club is always Champions League and since they are going to be one of the better teams in their league this year, they are going to be a lot more focused on their domestic league as they have the quality to compete for the Serie A Title. As previously mentioned though, Italian clubs have not done well in this competition over the years and AC Milan specifically is one of the few major clubs in Italy that has never even made a Finals appearance. They have the quality to make a deep run in this competition, but they cannot be trusted the deeper they go and they certainly should not be the 2nd favorite of this competition with their history. There is no real value in taking AC Milan at this price as there are better options to go with.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen +900: Leverkusen is coming into this competition as the team with the next best chance at bringing home the Europa League Title this season, according to the oddsmakers. They earned this spot by finishing in 6th place of the Bundesliga last season, but they have certainly fallen from grace in recent years. They are usually a top 4 team in Germany, but the last few years they have been struggling a lot more. It was just a few years ago that they were one of the better teams in all of Europe and even won the Bundesliga Title, but they have regressed a lot since that season and have not been the same team since losing Xabi Alonso as their manager. This is certainly a competition that they will be focused on since their domestic league is very hard to compete for the title with Bayern always in the way, but the Bundesliga is also one of the weaker leagues in the big 5 as it is very top heavy and they will struggle the deeper they get when they have to play against stronger opponents. German clubs have not done poorly in recent years as Freiburg was in the Final last season and there have been 3 German clubs in the Europa League Final the last 5 seasons. Leverkusen was actually in the Final back in the 2023/24 season as well, but they lost 3-0 to Atalanta. The last German club to actually win the competition was Frankfurt back in the 2021/22 season, but they are also the only German club to win it in the last 29 years. Leverkusen certainly has the quality to make a deep run and they are not the worst option this season, but there are still much better teams in the competition and they are overvalued as the 3rd favorite. There is not a lot of value in Leverkusen to win the title at this price.
Bournemouth +1000: Bournemouth is coming into this competition as the team with the next best chance at bringing home the Europa League Title this season, according to the oddsmakers. They earned this spot by finishing in 6th place of the Premier League last season and were only 3 points away from a Champions League spot. They have some quality in their squad and have been improving a lot in their own league over the last few seasons, but they are also coming off of their best Premier League finish in recent years and they will certainly face some regression this season. They still have a good squad, but they did lose some quality as well and they are going to struggle to repeat last year, being a middle of the pack team in the league for years. They will likely be more focused on this competition as they do not get the opportunity to play in European competitions often, but they do not have a squad that is going to match up well against some of these other teams from different leagues. They are already struggling to start the Premier League this season as well and they could lose even more quality when the winter transfer window rolls around. English clubs have done very well in this competition over the years and the champion over the last 2 seasons has been from England as well, but Bournemouth is not even the strongest English club in this tournament and is overvalued here. There is no real value in taking Bournemouth at this price since there is a much better option from their own league.
Marseille +1000: Marseille is coming into this competition as the team with the next best chance at bringing home the Europa League Title this season, according to the oddsmakers. They earned this spot by finishing in 5th place of Ligue 1 last season, but they did not have a good season for their caliber and will not be as focused on this competition, especially after finishing just 1 point behind a possible Champions League spot. They are used to being one of the better teams in France and competing with PSG for the title, but they struggled a lot last season after finishing in 2nd place the year prior and they are off to an awful start this season as well. Their form will surely turn around as they get more into the season, but they have had some big defensive problems in their matches and that is usually a strength of theirs. That defense is going to turn into a much bigger problem the deeper they get into this tournament as well. They have certainly lost some quality from last season as well and they are the kind of team that could improve in the winter, but the squad is lacking right now and their attack has even been struggling since their season opener. French clubs have also been awful in this competition throughout its history. Marseille was actually the last French club to appear in the Europa League Final back in the 2017/18 season, but they are the only French club to appear in a Final over the last 22 years and a French club has actually never won this competition in its history. Marseille has too many problems right now before they can be considered a true contender and they will be more focused on their domestic league anyway if they have a chance to finish near the top of the table. There is no real value in Marseille at this price as they are not a true contender with their current squad.
Real Sociedad +1100: Real Sociedad is coming into this competition as the team with the next best chance at bringing home the Europa League Title this season, according to the oddsmakers. Real Sociedad is usually a team that is competing for the top 6 spots in Spain every year, but they are coming off of a poor season. They finished in 10th place of La Liga last season, but they earned this spot by winning Copa del Rey. They did not have a good start to this season either, but recently they have been in much better form and they have the quality to be much better in their league this season. The La Liga Title is not a realistic goal for them every season either with both Real Madrid and Barcelona standing in the way, so this is certainly a competition that they are going to be focused on this season. They have never won Europa League themselves, but they are the 1st Spanish club on the odds list and Spanish clubs have had a very good history in this competition over the years. Sevilla was the last Spanish club to win this competition in the 2022/23 season, but a club from Spain has won the competition 3 times in the last 7 years and Spain is also the winningest country in the competitions history with 14 Europa League Titles. Real Sociedad has already been rounding into better form after a poor start to the season and they are going to be striving for a better season after last year’s low finish, so this is going to be a competition that they rally around with no clear dominant team. They have the quality to make a deep run with a very good defense as well. There is a lot of value in Real Sociedad to win the Europa League Title at this price considering the success of Spanish clubs in recent years and the quality of the field this season as well.
Celta Vigo +1200: Celta Vigo is coming into this competition as the team with the next best chance at bringing home the Europa League Title this season, according to the oddsmakers. They earned this spot by finishing in 6th place of La Liga last season and that is their highest finish in the league in years, but they have qualified for this competition the last 2 straight seasons now. They do not have a lot of quality in their squad though and they have already struggled to start this season as well. They have a good defense, but their attack has been struggling to find the net this season and they are certainly lacking quality on that end. They did make a deep run last season to the Quarter-Finals, losing to Freiburg who made the Final, but they will struggle to repeat that this season. Spanish clubs have done very well in this competition over the years and they will certainly be focused here as they do not get many opportunities to play in European competitions, but there are much better teams in this competition and they will eventually run into a stronger defense where their weaker attack will be a big problem. They are not even the best team in this competition from Spain either, so there is not a lot of value in taking Celta Vigo at this price as they are not a true contender to win it all with the quality they have.
Crystal Palace +1400: Crystal Palace is coming into this competition as the team with the next best chance at bringing home the Europa League Title this season, according to the oddsmakers. They are coming off of an awful season as they finished in 15th place in the Premier League and were only 6 points above relegation, but they actually earned this spot by winning the Conference League. They struggled in the Premier League all year, but they put a lot of stock into winning the Conference League and they will certainly be focused on winning Europa League this season. They have struggled to start the season in the Premier League, but last year they proved that does not matter for this competition and they do have the quality to make a deep run. They won the Conference League last season and that was a year which they lost a lot of quality midseason, but there will be more of a focus on performing better all year. Crystal Palace has the pieces there, they just need to put everything together and English clubs have dominated this competition the last 2 seasons now. Crystal Palace is also the best Premier League team in this competition, so they are undervalued here considering the success of these teams in this competition. Crystal Palace has some value as a dark horse to win this competition as they are going to be highly focused and proved last year that they have the quality to make a deep run in Europe even when they are not playing well in their own league.
RecommendationThis competition has certainly been dominated by the clubs from bigger leagues in Europe and that will likely continue this season. England and Spain have been the most dominant countries in this competition’s history and that has been very apparent in recent years as well, a club from England or Spain winning the Europa League Title 13 times in the last 15 years. There is some great value in some of those clubs as well since neither country has a club listed in the top 3 of the odds list. Real Sociedad at +1100 has some good value here as they are the best team from Spain in this competition and will be focused on this competition after a year in which they struggled. Crystal Palace at +1400 also has some good value here as they are the Conference League champions from last season and have the pieces to make a deep run if they can put everything together. Real Sociedad at +1100 is the best option to go with here followed by Crystal Palace at +1400.
Read more
