Opinion: Predicting Trophy Winners for 2024 (club & country)
By: Anthony Tazbaz
Image Credit: Vienna Reyes
The second half of the 2023-24 season constitutes merely the beginning of what will be an action-packed calendar year. First, we will witness the latter half of the top-five European leagues’ season, as well as the final stages of domestic cups and UEFA competitions.
Finally, we have the opportunity to watch five international tournaments: the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), the AFC Asian Cup — both of which are underway — the UEFA European Championship, the Copa América and the 2024 Summer Olympics.
On January 14, I wrote my bold predictions regarding the likely winners of Europe’s top five leagues and their domestic cups, along with a rationale behind my predictions, and of international tournaments. The international tournaments’ predictions do not include a rationale due to many of these predictions being too early to tell (i.e., team lists not yet released, potential unforeseen injuries, etc.).
🏆 Super Cups in January
🇫🇷 Trophée des Champions: Paris Saint-Germain (already winners)
🇪🇸 Supercopa de España: Real Madrid (winners)
🇮🇹 Supercoppa Italiana: Inter Milan (winners)
With the Trophée des Champions and the Supercopa de España behind us, the Supercoppa Italiana will begin this week, with Napoli, Fiorentina, Lazio and Inter Milan as the participants. Considering Napoli’s and Lazio’s struggles and Fiorentina as the least favoured club to win the title, Inter Milan — the Serie A league leaders — should secure the title. However, an Inter loss against Lazio would put their opponent as the favourite to win the competition.
🏴 England
Premier League: Manchester City
EFL Cup: Chelsea FC
FA Cup: Manchester City
With the return of Kevin de Bruyne from injury and their competitors missing players due to AFCON and the Asian Cup, Manchester City will have the perfect opportunity to excel in the Premier League and make a run and repeat as FA Cup champions.
As for the EFL Cup, I fancy Chelsea to come back from their 1-0 deficit on aggregate against EFL Championship side Middlesbrough and snatch a victory in the final against either Liverpool or Fulham (Liverpool leads the matchup 2-1 on aggregate). After all, despite their porous performances, The Blues nevertheless boast sufficient talent and experience to win a cup.
🇮🇹 Italy
Serie A: Inter Milan
Coppa Italia: Juventus FC
Barring a series of injuries or suspensions of their players, Inter Milan should maintain their lead in the Serie A table and claim a 20th Scudetto. However, with Inter eliminated from the Coppa Italia during the Round of 16, Juventus faces a clear path to win the trophy for a record 15th instance. Such a triumph — coupled with a likely second-place finish in Serie A table — would put Juventus back onto the right path in returning to Italian and European dominance.
🇩🇪 Germany
Bundesliga: Bayer Leverkusen
DfB Pokal: VfB Stuttgart
Similar to Inter, I predict that Bayer Leverkusen will maintain their four-point lead over Bayern Munich. So far, Leverkusen remain the sole undefeated club from Europe’s top leagues; accumulating 23 wins and 3 draws between the Bundesliga, the DfB Pokal and the UEFA Europa League. In Munich, the German heavyweights remain plagued with injuries and several issues occurring off-field.
In the DfB Pokal, Stuttgart may become the first club to defeat Leverkusen this season. The cup competitions typically serve as an arena for major upsets, as seen earlier this season when Bayern Munich lost to third division club Saarbrucken. Should Stuttgart defeat Leverkusen in their quarterfinal fixtures, Stuttgart will become undisputed favourites to win the title.
🇫🇷 France
Ligue 1: Paris Saint-Germain
Coupe de France: Paris Saint-Germain
Considering Sunday’s result against RC Lens, Paris Saint-Germain should enjoy the second half of the 2023-24 season by cruising to the Ligue 1 title and returning to Coupe de France glory. Since I do not believe that PSG will advance beyond the UEFA Champions League quarterfinals, the French club will be able to fully focus on taking the domestic title sweep for the first time since 2020.
🇪🇸 Spain
La Liga: Real Madrid
Copa del Rey: FC Barcelona (eliminated by Athletic Bilbao in the quarterfinals) — updated prediction as of January 27: Real Sociedad
While Girona FC are having a memorable season, Real Madrid’s elite talent and extensive depth should propel the club to the top of the league table by the end of the season. Granted, Girona will likely finish in second place, ahead of La Liga heavyweights FC Barcelona and Atlético Madrid. In Copa del Rey, Barcelona seemingly manage to salvage a season without a league title by winning the Spanish cup. I do not envision a different outcome this time around.
🇪🇺 UEFA
Champions League: 🇩🇪 Bayern Munich
Europa League: 🇮🇹 AS Roma
Europa Conference League: 🏴 Aston Villa
Owing to continuous injuries and Leverkusen’s domestic success, Bayern Munich may win the Champions League by conducting “load management” and consequently sacrificing a couple of league matches. In what may become another tight race to the title, a few dropped points when already trailing by four points could seal the league title for Leverkusen. However, Bayern undoubtedly possess the players and experience to win Europe’s top title. The Bavarian club would be wise to go all out on winning the Champions League for the second time in five seasons.
In Europa League, Jose Mourinho’s AS Roma will return to the final. This time, however, Roma will manage to pull through in the final and win the title. While this may seem to be the most controversial take from UEFA’s competitions — especially with the likes of Liverpool, Bayer Leverkusen and AC Milan in the mix — I believe that Roma have the talent and depth to achieve such a feat. Although it may not be in league play nor in the UEFA Champions League, many people, including myself, believe that Mourinho still has one more major title awaiting him.
Finally, Aston Villa winning the UEFA Conference League may be my easiest prediction yet. Boasting far better talent and deeper depth compared to every other competing club, The Villains should comfortably win the title. Furthermore, Unai Emery rose to prominence by winning the UEFA Europa League with Sevilla and Villarreal. It would ultimately result in an incredible shocker if Aston Villa fail to become the second English club to win the three-year-old competition.
🌎 🌍 🌏 International
AFCON: 🇸🇳 Senegal (eliminated by 🇨🇮 Côte d’Ivoire in the Round of 16) — updated prediction as of January 31: 🇳🇬 Nigeria
AFC Asian Cup: 🇯🇵 Japan
UEFA Euro: 🇫🇷 France
Copa América: 🇺🇾 Uruguay (see article on top five predictions for 2024)
2024 Paris Summer Olympics (U23 national teams): 🇫🇷 France
Feel free to share your predictions about who will win which competition in the comments below!
