Lyn On Me: The Football World in 2023

Welcome back to the latest installment of my Football Manager 2019 blog story “Lyn On Me”.

I’ve got something a little bit different for you today. As we’re now five seasons into the save, I thought I’d take a break from chronicling Lyn 1896’s fortunes and instead look at what’s been happening in the wider footballing world.

What is the state of play in the summer of 2023? Who’ve been the big winners and losers across the major European leagues and competitions over the last five years? What about the World Cup and the various continental championships? All those questions will be answered below…

ENGLAND (PREMIER LEAGUE)

The 2018/2019 season saw Liverpool end their 29-year wait to be crowned English champions. Jürgen Klopp’s side won the Premier League with two games to spare, despite strong challenges from both Manchester City and Manchester United.

Despite only finishing five points adrift of the Reds, 2nd place was not good enough for City, who ruthlessly sacked Guardiola. In came the former Chelsea, Juventus and Italy head coach Antonio Conte, who restored his new team’s superiority with three straight championships. The €107million signing of Argentine goal machine Mauro Icardi from Inter finally solved the conundrum of who would replace his compatriot Sergio Agüero in the long-term.

As City finished 15 points clear of Chelsea to win the 2019/2020 title, Liverpool collapsed to 6th place and parted company with Klopp. They poached Zinedine Zidane from Arsenal, with Klopp going in the other direction (because it’s FM). Though the German remains at the Emirates Stadium today, domestic success has continued to elude the Gunners since Arsène Wenger’s departure in 2018.

Liverpool took three seasons to find their feet under Zidane, but their patience was rewarded with an unprecedented domestic treble in 2023 [above]. City only finished 5th in the Premier League that year, missing out on Champions League football for the first time since 2010/2011. Conte was sacked, and his Italian compatriot Massimiliano Allegri left Juventus to take the helm ahead of the 2023/2024 campaign.

The ‘Big Six’ of Liverpool, City, United, Chelsea, Tottenham and Arsenal have filled the top six places in every Premier League season since 2016/2017. The major clubs have also dominated the FA Cup and EFL Cup, though Leicester won the latter in 2019, when they finished 7th in the league. Burnley, Everton, Watford and Bournemouth later had spells as the ‘best of the rest’.

	TOP THREE	RELEGATED	PROMOTED	TOP SCORER
2018/2019	1. Liverpool 2. Man City 3. Man Utd	West Ham Fulham Cardiff	Aston Villa West Brom Swansea	Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang Arsenal 21 goals
2019/2020	1. Man City 2. Chelsea 3. Man Utd	Aston Villa Newcastle Swansea	Stoke West Ham Fulham	Harry Kane Tottenham 23 goals
2020/2021	1. Man City 2. Liverpool 3. Tottenham	Huddersfield West Ham Burnley	Newcastle Millwall Cardiff	Mauro Icardi Man City 23 goals
2021/2022	1. Man City 2. Liverpool 3. Tottenham	Cardiff West Brom Millwall	West Ham Aston Villa Burnley	Mauro Icardi Man City 19 goals
2022/2023	1. Liverpool 2. Man Utd 3. Chelsea	Newcastle Stoke Everton	Huddersfield Norwich West Brom	Roberto Firmino Liverpool 20 goals

FRANCE (LIGUE 1)

Unsurprisingly, Paris Saint-Germain have continued their dominance of French football. The mega-rich capital club won Ligue 1 with a record 102 points in 2019 under the management of Thomas Tuchel. They subsequently surrendered the title to Thierry Henry’s Monaco before Tuchel left for a new challenge at Bayern München.

Pep Guardiola took over the reins in 2020, setting a new points record with 105 in each of the following two seasons. During that time, only Lyon beat PSG in the league, on a couple of occasions. Another 102-point season in 2022/2023 [above] secured Les Parisiens’ ninth championship in 11 years.

In addition, four different PSG attackers have finished as top goalscorer over recent years. Though Kylian Mbappé moved to Manchester City for €190million in 2021, Brazilian stalwart Neymar – now 31 – remains at the Parc des Princes. He now forms part of a fearsome attacking three with young Spanish striker Salvador and Italian winger Federico Chiesa.

PSG have also snaffled eight of the last 10 domestic cups. The odd ones out were the 2020 Coupe de France and the 2022 Coupe de la Ligue, both of which went Lyon’s way. The latter triumph was especially impressive, seeing as captain Nabil Fekir only played four matches that season after a major falling-out with manager Bruno Genesio. The pair later reconciled and continue to deliver the goods at the Groupama Stadium today.

Those two giants – along with Monaco and Marseille – have consistently filled the top four of Ligue 1 over the past five years. In 2022, the gap between them and the others was so large that 27 points separated 4th-placed Lyon from 5th-placed Toulouse.

	TOP THREE	RELEGATED	PROMOTED	TOP SCORER
2018/2019	1. PSG 2. Monaco 3. Lyon	Nice Stade Reims Dijon	Lorient Troyes Metz	Neymar PSG 21 goals
2019/2020	1. Monaco 2. PSG 3. Lyon	Troyes Nîmes	Nice Dijon	Edinson Cavani PSG 22 goals
2020/2021	1. PSG 2. Lyon 3. Marseille	Metz Angers	Le Havre Stade Reims	Kylian Mbappé PSG 26 goals
2021/2022	1. PSG 2. Monaco 3. Marseille	Le Havre Caen	Nîmes Lens	Pietro Pellegri Monaco 22 goals
2022/2023	1. PSG 2. Lyon 3. Monaco	Montpellier Amiens Nîmes	Angers Le Havre Caen	Salvador PSG 21 goals

GERMANY (BUNDESLIGA)

Bayern München continued to hoover up the Bundesliga’s best talents – and German league titles – into the early 2020s. Under the management of Niko Kovac and later Thomas Tuchel, they extended their run of consecutive championships to nine by the end of 2020/2021. What’s more, Robert Lewandowski had finished as top scorer for four straight seasons.

Then came an unexpected resurgence from Dortmund in 2021/2022. Despite losing superstar forward Jadon Sancho to Bayern in summer 2020, and leading scorer Fiete Arp to Real Madrid in January 2022, BVB would be back on top in 2023 [above]. A couple of late slip-ups saw Bayern concede the title before the final day, when Dortmund staved off RB Leipzig by one point to claim a first championship since 2012.

Head coach Roger Schmidt delivered another title the following season, staving off a typically strong Bayern challenge. They also beat Werder Bremen in the DFB-Pokal Final to claim a domestic double. Two of the previous four cups had been won by Bayern, though Hamburg and Schalke 04 also tasted success.

Outside of the big two, Bayer Leverkusen have regularly been in Champions League contention, though their wait for a first major honour since 1993 continues. Having come back up from the 2. Bundesliga in 2019, Hamburg achieved back-to-back 4th-place finishes in 2021 and 2022.

Recent years have also seen a renaissance of sorts in Berlin. Hertha BSC narrowly avoided a relegation play-off in 2021, but just two years later, they finished 5th – one point behind 4th-placed Borussia Mönchengladbach.

	TOP THREE	RELEGATED	PROMOTED	TOP SCORER
2018/2019	1. Bayern München 2. Leverkusen 3. RB Leipzig	Fortuna Düsseldorf Nürnberg	Darmstadt Hamburg	Robert Lewandowski Bayern München 18 goals
2019/2020	1. Bayern München 2. Dortmund 3. Leverkusen	Stuttgart Darmstadt	Holstein Kiel Arminia Bielefeld	Robert Lewandowski Bayern München 20 goals
2020/2021	1. Bayern München 2. Leverkusen 3. Schalke 04	Freiburg Holstein Kiel Arminia Bielefeld	Köln Darmstadt Stuttgart	Robert Lewandowski Bayern München 19 goals
2021/2022	1. Dortmund 2. RB Leipzig 3. Bayern München	Köln Darmstadt	Freiburg Fortuna Düsseldorf	Michael Kouamé Hoffenheim 19 goals
2022/2023	1. Dortmund 2. Bayern München 3. Leverkusen	Freiburg Fortuna Düsseldorf	Nürnberg Union Berlin	Robert Lewandowski Bayern München 18 goals

ITALY (SERIE A)

Juventus bettered Bayern by winning the Serie A scudetto for TEN years in a row. The last three of those campaigns – between 2019 and 2021 – saw them win the title by huge points margins of 17, 16 and 20. In the 2018/2019 season, Juve racked up 102 points and lost only two matches – at home to runners-up Inter, and away to relegation-threatened Bologna.

The Bianconeri’s continued dominance was in part down to the arrival of Portugal megastar Cristiano Ronaldo from Real Madrid in 2018. Though now in his mid-30s, Cristiano scored 92 goals in all competitions across his first three seasons in Turin. It was only when time started catching up with Ronaldo that the Old Lady began to stumble.

Milan had finished the 2020/2021 season in a sorry 9th position. It could have been a lot worse had Julen Lopetegui not replaced Gennaro Gattuso as manager midway through the season. The Spaniard oversaw a mini-revival and then kept faith in his underperforming stars for the next campaign.

As Juventus’ own Portuguese ace decline, Milan’s hit the accelerator, with striker Andre Silva firing the Rossoneri to a comfortable scudetto victory in 2022. That set the scene for a thrilling title race the following year [above]. Juve had the trophy in their hands on the final day, but a 56th-minute Julian Draxler penalty for Lazio did for them, allowing Milan to retain their crown.

Milan have also reached the last four finals of the Coppa Italia. Though they beat Juventus in 2020, the Bianconeri exacted revenge in the next two years before Roma tasted glory in 2023. That latter triumph has eased the Giallorossi’s pain of not having achieved a top-three league finish since 2017/2018.

	TOP THREE	RELEGATED	PROMOTED	TOP SCORER
2018/2019	1. Juventus 2. Inter 3. Napoli	Chievo Frosinone Parma	Palermo Pescara Crotone	Cristiano Ronaldo Juventus 26 goals
2019/2020	1. Juventus 2. Milan 3. Inter	Sampdoria Palermo Crotone	Chievo Parma Frosinone	Andrea Belotti Torino 29 goals
2020/2021	1. Juventus 2. Napoli 3. Inter	Frosinone Bologna Pescara	Palermo Perugia Sampdoria	Cristiano Ronaldo Juventus 19 goals
2021/2022	1. Milan 2. Juventus 3. Lazio	Genoa SPAL Chievo	Benevento Frosinone Cittadella	Cosimo Marco Da Graca Palermo 24 goals
2022/2023	1. Milan 2. Juventus 3. Lazio	Cagliari Cittadella Frosinone	Chievo Genoa Pescara	Patrik Schick Roma 17 goals

SPAIN (LA LIGA)

Spanish football has been all about the capital clubs recently, with Atlético Madrid and Real Madrid dominating for five straight years. This era began with Diego Simeone’s Atlético on top in both La Liga and the Copa del Rey. That was largely down to talisman forward Antoine Griezmann, who enjoyed two sensational campaigns at the Estadio Wanda Metropolitano.

Though Real consoled themselves with another Champions League, Carlo Ancelotti’s men were determined not to be beaten by their city rivals again in 2020/2021. With the likes of Sadio Mané, Houssem Aouar and Romelu Lukaku scoring for fun, Los Merengues stormed to a domestic double of their own. Indeed, they didn’t lose a single game on Spanish soil until Deportivo tripped them up in April.

Real made no such mistakes in 2021/2022. Exactly 100 goals and 102 points were claimed across 38 matches as they became the first team in 90 years to go through an entire league season in Spain’s top tier undefeated. They were arguably even better the following season [above], scoring 104 goals and winning 33 games (though they lost twice).

Things haven’t gone quite so well at Barcelona of late. With the legendary Lionel Messi in decline, the Catalans spent three years outside the top three, even finishing 5th behind Valencia and Real Sociedad in 2020. Though new boss Niko Kovac did knock Valencia off 3rd in 2022 and 2023, Barça remain a long way behind the Madrid giants. They’ll also need to somehow replace Messi, who has just retired aged 35.

Atlético regained the Copa del Rey in an all-Madrid Final in 2023, having lost the previous year’s decider to Real Sociedad. The latter have flourished over the last four years, consistently achieving top-five finishes. Some shrewd squad-building from director of football Roberto Olabe has given fans of Los Txuri-Urdin plenty of optimism for the future.

	TOP THREE	RELEGATED	PROMOTED	TOP SCORER
2018/2019	1. Atlético Madrid 2. Real Madrid 3. Valencia	Rayo Vallecano Real Valladolid Huesca	Deportivo Tenerife Real Zaragoza	Antoine Griezmann Atlético Madrid 20 goals
2019/2020	1. Atlético Madrid 2. Real Madrid 3. Valencia	Real Zaragoza Tenerife Girona	Málaga Albacete Real Valladolid	Luis Suárez Barcelona 21 goals
2020/2021	1. Real Madrid 2. Atlético Madrid 3. Valencia	Albacete Real Valladolid Alavés	Tenerife Real Sporting Osasuna	Diego Costa Atlético Madrid 19 goals
2021/2022	1. Real Madrid 2. Atlético Madrid 3. Barcelona	Tenerife Osasuna Getafe	Girona Real Zaragoza Albacete	Sadio Mané Real Madrid 21 goals
2022/2023	1. Real Madrid 2. Atlético Madrid 3. Barcelona	Girona Real Zaragoza Real Sporting	Tenerife Real Valladolid Getafe	Komlan Messan Eibar 19 goals

OTHER EUROPEAN LEAGUES

In the Netherlands, Ajax have had the longest spell of dominance in Eredivisie history. ‘De Godenzonen’ have claimed each of the last five titles – the first four under current Netherlands manager Erik ten Hag, and the most recent under Peter Schöttel. In that time, Feyenoord have been runners-up three times, and PSV and Heerenveen once apiece.

The Portuguese Primeira Liga‘s duopoly between Benfica and Porto has continued into a third decade. Benfica were champions in 2019, 2022 and 2023, with their rivals tasting glory in 2020 and 2021. Only Sporting CP have broken up their stranglehold on the top two, pipping Porto to 2nd place in 2022.

The Russian Premier League has been more interesting. Spartak Moscow were champions three times between 2019 and 2022, with CSKA Moscow prevailing in 2021. However, Xabi Alonso-managed Krasnodar became the most recent champions in 2023, narrowly beating fellow outsiders Akhmat to a maiden national title.

Rangers’ Scottish Premiership redemption was completed in 2019, when Steven Gerrard’s side shattered Celtic’s hopes of winning eight titles in a row. The Bhoys responded by sweeping the next four, including finishing 36 points clear of 2nd-placed Aberdeen in 2020. Rangers have been runners-up for the last three seasons, thus re-establishing the Old Firm’s dominance.

Galatasaray built on their 2018 Süper Lig win by claiming the following four Turkish titles. They surprisingly slipped to 3rd place in 2023, behind their city rivals Beşiktaş in 1st and Fenerbahçe in 2nd. You have to go back to 2011 to find the last time a team from outside İstanbul finished in the top two.

It won’t surprise anyone that the same two clubs have ruled the roost in Ukraine’s Premier-Liha. Between 2019 and 2022, Shakhtar Donetsk led the way, with Dynamo Kyiv in 2nd place. The order was reversed in the season just gone, as Dynamo ended Shakhtar’s six-year streak of championships.

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Cristiano Ronaldo’s current and former clubs have dominated the Champions League. After leaving three-time defending champions Real Madrid in 2018, the Madeiran forward helped his new charges Juventus eliminate them in the Last 16. Juve went on to lift their first continental title since 1996, with Mario Mandzukic scoring an injury-time winner in an all-Italian Final with Inter in Madrid.

Real got their revenge in the 2020 Final in İstanbul. Allegri’s holders led 1-0 at half-time through Gonzalo Higuain, but that lead was blown apart by a superb second-half display from Los Merenges. German midfielder Toni Kroos equalised before substitute forwards Vinícius Júnior and Mariano brought the trophy back to Madrid.

The 2021 Final saw Juve face another of Ronaldo’s old teams – Manchester United – in Vienna. Douglas Costa’s opener was cancelled out when a mistake by goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny gifted 21-year-old Nishan Burkart an equaliser for United. Szczesny redeemed himself in the penalty shoot-out, saving the decisive spot-kick from Ander Herrera to take the trophy back to Turin.

Juventus and Real then clashed for the title once again in 2022. That match at the London Stadium was a relatively tame affair, decided by the Spaniards’ substitute forward Andrija Zivkovic five minutes into the second half.

Ronaldo’s incredible run of seven straight CL Finals ended when the 2023 decider pitted United against Real. There was no repeat of ‘that night in Barcelona’ for the Red Devils, who endured agony at Camp Nou this time. Midfield talisman Paul Pogba was sent off in the 76th minute of a goalless draw before Gonçalo Guedes and Willem Geubbels missed penalties in the resulting shoot-out. Real had retained their title, lifting Ol’ Big Ears for the SEVENTH time in a decade.

	WINNERS	SCORE	RUNNERS-UP
2018/2019	Juventus	2-1 (aet)	Inter
2019/2020	Real Madrid	3-1	Juventus
2020/2021	Juventus	1-1 (4-3 PSO)	Man Utd
2021/2022	Real Madrid	1-0	Juventus
2022/2023	Real Madrid	0-0 (4-2 PSO)	Man Utd

EUROPA LEAGUE

2019 saw Sevilla claim a fourth Europa League title in six years. Julian Draxler thought he had delivered PSG’s first continental trophy in 23 years when he opened the scoring 78 minutes into the Baki showdown. However, two quickfire goals from Wissam Ben Yedder and André Silva meant ‘Los Nervionenses’ celebrated instead.

Gdańsk was the setting for an all-English Final the following year. Álvaro Morata scored twice for Chelsea in the opening nine minutes against Tottenham, before Milan Skriniar put the seal on a 3-0 win. That was manager Maurizio Sarri’s first ever major trophy… and his only one at Stamford Bridge before being sacked seven months later.

The 2021 Final in Lisboa was an ill-tempered affair between Borussia Dortmund and Roma. 45 fouls were conceded over two goalless hours before Dortmund triumphed on penalties, with midfielder Julian Weigl netting the crucial one.

2022 was a seminal year for Arsenal, who at last claimed a first major trophy in the post-Wenger era. Klopp’s charges claimed the Europa spoils in Rotterdam, where strikes from forward Florian Thauvin (remember him, Newcastle fans?) and right-back Héctor Bellerín saw off RB Leipzig.

And as if that wasn’t enough, the Gunners repeated the trick the following year in Villeneuve-d’Ascq! Homegrown striker Eddie Nketiah drew first blood six minutes into their clash with Athletic Bilbao, and fellow attackers Benjamín Rollheiser and Leon Bailey built on that later. After years of frustration, Arsenal were at last becoming a force again!

	WINNERS	SCORE	RUNNERS-UP
2018/2019	Sevilla	2-1	PSG
2019/2020	Chelsea	3-0	Tottenham
2020/2021	Dortmund	0-0 (4-3 PSO)	Roma
2021/2022	Arsenal	2-0	RB Leipzig
2022/2023	Arsenal	3-0	Athletic Bilbao

INTERNATIONAL COMPETITIONS

If you follow me on Twitter, you might have seen me recap the 2022 World Cup. In case you don’t, the event was relocated from Qatar to Australia, thus avoiding the scheduling chaos a winter tournament would have caused to European domestic competitions.

France arrived ‘Down Under’ as champions, and they retained the title under the guidance of Thierry Henry. Though they needed penalties to beat Germany in an edgy Final, they had thrilled the Aussie public with some great performances in earlier rounds. Their flamboyant Atlético Madrid forward Thomas Lemar took the Golden Ball, but he and compatriot Kylian Mbappé were pipped to the Golden Boot by Italy’s Federico Chiesa.

Les Bleus’ world glory made up for the disappointment of losing the 2020 European Championship Final at Wembley. Liverpool midfielder Isco was their nemesis, scoring the goal that delivered Spain’s third European title in four attempts. Holders Portugal were eliminated in the Last 16 stage of the continent-wide tournament, having been thrashed 4-0 by Ukraine.

Argentina won back-to-back Copa América championships in 2019 and 2020. Messi’s wait for an international trophy ended in 2019, overseeing a comeback from 2-0 down to beat hosts Brazil on penalties at the Maracanã in Rio de Janeiro. ‘La Albiceleste’ also needed a shoot-out to win the following year’s tournament in the United States [above], denying Peru what would’ve been a dream first title since 1975.

Mexico beat Canada to the CONCACAF Gold Cup in 2019 – so far, so unsurprising. Then Jamaica became the tournament’s first champions from outside North America in 2021, with Shamar Nicholson’s double inflicting another Final defeat on Canada. An arguably bigger surprise came two years later [above], when Mexico were edged out by Honduras.

The Africa Cup of Nations remains as competitive as ever. Senegal were crowned first-time champions in 2019, narrowly beating Ghana in Rabat. The beaten Black Stars made amends in 2021 by seeing off Guinea in extra-time to end a 39-year AFCON drought in Cameroon. Morocco went 47 years without a continental title before they prevailed in 2023 [above], beating Senegal on penalties following a 2-2 draw in the Ivory Coast.

Japan have lost the last two Asian Cup Finals. A 2-1 defeat to Iran in Abu Dhabi in 2019 was painful enough for the Samurai Blue, but there was worse to come in 2023 [above]. Despite being huge favourites to triumph on home soil, they were beaten 2-0 by South Korea, who became Asian champions for the first time since 1960.

Oh yes, and New Zealand defeated New Caledonia 2-0 to win the 2020 OFC Nations Cup. What a surprise.

I hope you enjoyed that brief detour from my usual blog story content. If there’s anything else from this save game you’d like to ask me about, then feel free to do that. You can either leave a comment below or tweet me @Fuller_FM.

The next regular chapter of my Lyn 1896 story will go live later this week. Until then, thank you for reading.