Before the start of the new football season, each championship has its own favorites and outsiders, the opinion of which has developed on the basis of performances in recent years.
Even before the start of the championship it is obvious which teams will fight for gold and tickets to the Champions League, and which for survival in the elite division.
All the more surprising is the story when a deliberately weak club from the very first matches begins to demolish everyone in its path, becoming in the end a champion.
10. Nottingham Forest (1977/78)
“Nottingham” 10 years before this already claimed the championship, but in 1967 they did not succeed, followed by a strong recession, which was accompanied by a flight from the top division.
The club was in a fever until 1975, when Brian Clough stood at the helm, breathing in the “foresters” motivation and the will to win. Having immediately brought the team to the elite, in the first season he led it to the championship, and the next year he added the European Cup to this trophy. Needless to say, no one expected such agility from the recent middle peasant Championship?
9. Leeds United (1991/92)
Leeds spent 7 years in the Championship before being able to win a promotion in the class, but everyone assumed that their maximum in the elite was to flounder near the relegation zone.
According to the results of the 1990/91 season, the club took fourth place, which greatly surprised everyone, but did not discourage. “Just think, they jumped above their heads, next year they’ll roll back,” something the fans thought.
Football experts agreed with their opinion, but the Leeds players themselves and their head coach Howard Wilkinson were the only ones who had a different opinion.
Nobody put them on, but the next season was a triumph and brought the championship, leaving all the skeptics with their mouths wide open. By the way, the team became the last winner of the First Division, since from the next season he was renamed the Premier League.
8. Atletico (1995/96)
Now Madrid “Atletico” thanks to the efforts of coach Diego Simeone has turned into a powerful club that can compete with “Real” and “Barca” in La Liga and even reach the Champions League final.
In the late 80s - early 90s, everything was different: a couple of times occupying the 2nd and 3rd line, the "mattresses" began to fall sharply and could hardly get into the top 10 instead of top 3.
Fortunately for the fans, Radomir Antic, who managed to restore order in the team and build an integral model of the game, climbed the coaching bridge.
The result was the gold medals of the Spanish championship, which before that for 11 whole years took away only “Real” and “Barcelona”.
7. Lance (1997/98)
A modest French club in the late 80s slipped into Ligue 2 and it took him several years to return to the elite. Having returned there in 1991, Lance in the first years tried not to fly out, but gradually rose higher and higher in the table.
In the seasons 94/95 and 95/96, they even took 5th place, but everyone believed that this was their ceiling. When in the 1996/97 season, the club finished in 13th place and no one could have thought that next year they could become champions of League 1, but they did it. This is so far the only title in the history of the club, but fans believe that it is not the last.
6. The Kaiserslautern (1990/91 and 1997/98)
A unique story from the German championship: “Kaiserslautern” in the late 80s took places in the second half of the table, but in the 1990/91 season it suddenly managed to win a silver salad bowl, creating a real sensation.
After that, they were able to play at a high level for another season and take the second line, losing only 3 points to Bayern, but in 1996 the club left the top division, but won the German Cup. No one doubted that the “Red Devils” would return to the main championship, but few believed that they would again claim to win in it.
Coach Otto Rehagel wiped his nose for all skeptics, winning first the Bundesliga 2, and then the top division. This case is really unique, since the similar thing in the history of German football did not happen either before or after.
5. Rubin (2008)
In 2008, a club from the capital of the Republic of Tatarstan celebrated a half-century anniversary, and before the start of the season, serious personnel enhancements took place there.
Experts before the start of the season suggested that Kazan would fight for a place closer to the top 5, but they were marked much higher. Having issued a powerful winning streak at the start, the players under the leadership of Kurban Berdyev gained the main thing - self-confidence.
They themselves believed that they were able to win and they did it, having won the first in the history of the Premier League gold.
4. Bursaspor (2009/10)
Green Crocodiles became just the second team not from Istanbul, which managed to become a champion. The hegemony of Fenerbahçe, Galatasaray and Besiktas was interrupted by a modest team, which only in 2006 managed to break into the Super League.
For the first few years, the club seemed to be looking around and learning to play with the best teams in Turkey, after which it took advantage of the knowledge gained and finished in first place, beating Besiktas in the last round, thanks to which it earned 1 point more than Fenerbahçe.
3. Montpellier (2011/12)
The team, which did not have a large budget or eminent players in the squad, was nevertheless able to win the competition with PSG. After spending just a few years in Ligue 1 during which it was not possible to rise even to the top five, Montpellier became the champion. No one understood how this happened, but the fact remains.
2. Leicester City (2015/16)
The most recent story of a fabulous championship that occurred just a few years ago. Claudio Ranieri, along with his foxes, conquered not only the nuclear submarines, but the whole world: they were rooting for Leicester across the globe, knowing full well that this was the battle between David and Goliath.
Ngolo Kante, Riyad Marez, Jamie Vardi, Casper Schmeichel - these and other names will always be remembered.
1. Liverpool (1963/64)
Finish the oldest, but extremely entertaining history of the Liverpool Championship. By the 1963/64 season, the club already had 5 championship titles, but the last of them was obtained almost 20 years ago, after which the Merseysiders slipped into the second league.
It may seem strange, but the five-time national champions were outsiders, on which only the most devoted fans would bet on the start of the season.