New Year, new football: 24 things for 2024!
Happy New Year! It’s January 1st and time to start posting here again. Apologies for the silence on here lately and thank you for your patience. I’ll be posting content more regularly again from now on, although not three pieces per week as I’m too busy at the moment!
To everyone who has subscribed here, either paid of for free: I wish you all the best for 2024. I hope it’s a brilliant year for you all. Please let me know in the comments if there are any football-related topics you would like me to write about this year. I would love to know!
In the meantime, I will leave you with my 24 things for 2024 in the world of football…
Manchester City ended 2023 as Premier League champions, European champions and world champions, having won the treble in May and added the FIFA Club World Cup to their trophy collection just before Christmas. Repeating such success is often even harder, but Pep Guardiola’s great team are definitely the ones to beat in 2024. Can they win it all again? And will there be any developments with the 115 alleged breaches of the Premier League’s FFP regulations? Don’t hold your breath…
Girona may be owned by the City Football Group, but that does not explain the Catalans’ extraordinary success in 2023. Míchel’s men sit second in LaLiga on a small budget, level on points with leaders Real Madrid. Could they seal a historic title? Even Champions League qualification would be huge. Many have written them off, but they keep winning…
Aston Villa are currently second in the Premier League, level on points with leaders Liverpool, and will be in third if Manchester City win their game in hand. Unai Emery’s side won 15 Premier League home matches in a row up until a recent draw against Sheffield United. Their manager has also won four Europa League titles, which makes the Villans a big threat in the UEFA Conference League this season.
Barcelona are fourth in LaLiga and pressure is already mounting on coach Xavi, who is struggling to build on last season’s success in the competition and has not been able to improve the Catalan club’s form in Europe. Playing at Montjuïc while Camp Nou is redeveloped doesn’t help, but 2024 is a big year for Barça. Performances and results need to be better.
Jude Bellingham has been a revelation at Real Madrid since his €103 million move from Borussia Dortmund in the summer. The England midfielder is operating in an advanced role for Los Blancos and has scored 17 goals already in just 21 appearances. By way of comparison, David Beckham netted 20 in four years at the Santiago Bernabéu. Bellingham will be key to Madrid’s hopes of silverware in 2024 and also for England at Euro 2024.
In 2023, the Saudi Pro League emerged as competition to Europe’s big five leagues: England’s Premier League, Spain’s LaLiga, Italy’s Serie A, Germany’s Bundesliga and France’s Ligue 1. Saudi spending in 2023 attracted an array of stars to the Pro League, including Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar and Karim Benzema. With Mohamed Salah another target and a number of other big players linked, you sense the Saudis are just getting started…
Kylian Mbappé is one player who seems unlikely to move to Saudi Arabia, although the France forward did have a huge offer from the Pro League in 2023. Mbappé seemed set for Real Madrid in 2022, but signed a new deal at Paris Saint-Germain after a late change of mind. Out of contract in the summer, he will be expected to move this time around and hopefully, the transfer saga will end…
The Champions League as we know it will change in 2024, with 36 teams set to compete in a league format from next season. Each club will play eight matches based on coefficient rankings from September to January instead of a group stage, with some fixtures to take place on Thursdays. It will take a while to get used to.
Luis Suárez has had an eventful career and since leaving LaLiga in 2022, the Uruguayan has played in his homeland with Nacional and at Grêmio in Brazil. Next up: Inter Miami. Suárez has joined the Barcelona reunion in Florida, where he will link up with Lionel Messi, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba. Should be fun.
Lionel Messi completed football with his World Cup win with Argentina in 2022, but the Barcelona legend said he wanted to carry on playing with his national team and this summer, the Albiceleste will defend their 2021 Copa América title in the United States. Leo turns 37 a few days after it starts and it may be the last time we see him at a major tournament with Argentina.
When Diego Maradona retired and even in his later years, a number of talented youngsters were being billed as the “new Maradona”. The same thing is happening with Lionel Messi and it’s a lot to live up to for any player. Unfair, really. But River Plate’s teenage forward Claudio Echeverri (who is 17 on Tuesday) and Palmeiras’ 16-year-old Estevão Willian (who is even nicknamed Messinho, which means ‘little Messi’) are two of the “new Messis” to watch out for in 2024.
Bayern Munich have won the Bundesliga for the last 11 seasons and are favourites to add another title to their collection this season, despite lying in second place at the moment. After a long career with no major silverware to his name at Spurs, Harry Kane could be set to win his first major prizes in 2024.
However, Bayer Levekusen and Xabi Alonso will have a thing or two to say about that. Leverkusen lead by four points from Bayern, albeit having played one more match than the Bavarians, and Alonso is in demand as one of the most exciting young coaches in Europe right now.
Staying in Germany, Euro 2024 kicks off this summer. Along with the Copa América, the continental competition marks a return to summer tournaments following the winter World Cup in Qatar. The spotlight will be on the hosts, currrently in bad shape, while England will have another shot at glory following some near misses in recent years. Euro 2024 takes place beween June 14th and July 14th – just in case you thought these number choices were random ;-)
Tottenham have won 12 and drawn three of their 20 Premier League games this season and head into 2024 a point outside the top four – and just three behind leaders Liverpool. That despite an injury crisis in N17 and having lost their star striker, Harry Kane, in the summer. Spurs are playing some super stuff under Ange Postecoglou and are great to watch again after years of reactive football under José Mourinho, Nuno Espírito Santo (briefly) and Antonio Conte. Can they add a trophy in 2024? Whether they do or not, it is fun to support Spurs again.
In their first ever season in Europe, Brighton & Hove Albion have advanced to the last 16 of the Europa League and Roberto De Zerbi’s impressive side will be one to watch in the knockout stages. There are some top teams left in, but the Seagulls have shown they can beat anyone on their day. The last-16 draw takes place in February.
AFCON 2023 kicks off on January 13th in Ivory Coast, with 24 teams competing for the continental crown. Those include defending champions Senegal, making their 17th appearance in the competition, and World Cup semi-finalists Morocco. Mohamed Salah’s Egypt, finalists last time around, are also among the favourites.
With 18 games played in Italy’s Serie A, Inter lead the way with 45 points. Juventus are second with 43, followed by AC Milan (33). With Roma, last season’s champions Napoli and Lazio all struggling in seventh, eighth and ninth, respectively, there could be some surprises this term. Fiorentina are fourth, with Bologna in fifth. Italian clubs enjoyed a renaissance in Europe last season. Can Serie A sides repeat that success this time around?
Brazil’s last trophy was the Copa América in 2019. The Seleção have been overshadowed by rivals Argentina in recent years and need a coach to get the best out of a talented generation of players. Carlo Ancelotti has long been courted by Brazil and all but confirmed as their future coach, but the Italian has just renewed with Real Madrid, leaving the five-time world champions in limbo again ahead of the Copa this summer. How long can they wait for Carlo to be available?
With 20 games played each, Manchester United and Chelsea are struggling in the Premier League this season. The Red Devils have already lost nine times in the competition, which is as many as they lost in the whole of last season, and 2024 will be an interesting one for the club after Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s investment and assuming of football operations from the Glazers. Chelsea, meanwhile, are in 10th place despite an oulay of £1 billion under owner Todd Boehly since 2022. Both Blues and Reds need to be better run and form will be expected to pick up in 2024.
Leicester City lead the Championship with 21 wins from their 26 games, with Leeds and Southampton third and fourth, respectively, while just eight points separate sixth-placed Sunderland (currently occupying the last play-off spot) and Blackburn Rovers in 17th. In Italy, Parma top Serie B. Leganés lead LaLiga’s second tier, with Espanyol back in fifth. In Germany, city rivals St. Pauli and Hamburg are second and third in the Bundesliga II. Big clubs across Europe looking to make their way back to the top table.
England’s Lionesses won the Euros in 2022 and reached the World Cup final in 2023, losing out to Spain. Unfortunately, La Roja’s success in Australia was overshadowed by the actions of one man – RFEF president Luis Rubiales. Nevertheless, it was a year of huge growth for women’s football, with record attendances and viewing figures across the globe. With an Olympic tournament ahead this summer, plus domestic and European competitions, 2024 is set to be another big year for women’s football.
David Beckham’s Netflix documentary was a huge hit in 2023 and there is more to come in 2024. Following on from the success of that show, Amazon will screen a documentary on Manchester United’s 1999 treble triumph to mark the 25th anniversary of that success. Wayne Rooney is also said to be working on another documentary for Amazon, while Apple TV+ are airing a four-part series on Lionel Messi, entitled Messi’s World Cup: The Rise of a Legend, in February.
2024 is an Olympic year and football – men’s and women’s – will be part of the party in Paris. The men’s competition will see 16 Under-23 teams compete, while the women’s will be disputed by 12 national sides. France, Spain and Morocco will all be there in the men’s tournament, for which six spots are still up for grabs – including two from South America. In the women’s competition, USA, Brazil, Canada and France will all be involved, with six spots also still to be decided. England’s Lionessess won’t be there for Great Britain, though, after finishing behind the Netherlands in the UEFA group rounds. Kick-off is on July 24th.
Let me know what I missed. Thanks for reading. Happy New Year!
Ben
Great read that Ben!