It’s been a long time coming… but after a decade in management, in which he has managed four teams in as many countries, Shama Deadman has finally won a trophy.
If you haven’t yet read about how Basel secured the Swiss Super League title, or even if you just want to relive Shama’s crowning moment, you can find Part 41 right here.
In today’s chapter, we will quickly go through some awards and statistics from the 2029/2030 season. We’ll also see how the wider footballing world looks after the first 10 years of this save. (Spoiler alert: Not much has changed, and nobody lives underwater. Apart from Pep Guardiola, who lost his mind and retired after being sacked as Spain manager.)
2029/2030 SEASON REVIEW
Super League champions, Manager of the Year, and Europa Conference League quarter-finalists… it’s been quite the first season for me at Basel!
Not only did we comfortably meet most of the board’s targets for this season, but we also won the league two years ahead of schedule. I think that’s a valid reason to forgive us losing to Zürich in the Swiss Cup Semi Finals, isn’t it?
| Fans’ Player of the Season | Sead Hakšabanović |
| Young Player of the Season | Ertan Yalçın |
| Signing of the Season | Haralambie Despa |
| Goal of the Season | Matteo Santarsiero (vs Luzern, 24 March) |
| Top Goalscorer | Ertan Yalçın (22) |
| Most Assists | Matteo Santarsiero (13) |
| Most Player of the Match Awards | Ertan Yalçın (7) |
| Highest Average Rating | Alessandro Buongiorno (7.16) |
There was no clear frontrunner for Player of the Season, but I think I agree with the fans. Sead Hakšabanović was a wonder on the left wing (and occasionally on the right), providing seven goals and 11 assists. The Montenegrin veteran was so important to us that I turned down a £47million offer from a Chinese Super League club for him in February.
After a money-spinning move to China fizzled out, so did Hakšabanović’s form, and he was much less consistent as our title charge stumbled during the spring. It all came good in the end, though, as it was Sead’s strike in our final home game against Lausanne that finally brought the championship back to Basel.
Another player who enjoyed a productive season was 19-year-old Ertan Yalçın. 22 goals and 11 assists was an excellent return for the ‘false nine’, who had the ice-cool composure to take his chances and the creativity to make them. Ertan did have the occasional off-day, understandably so for his age, but I’m sure he’ll learn from those experiences and become even deadlier next term.
21-year-old Matteo Santarsiero also had a breakthrough season at right-wing, using his scorching pace and pinpoint crossing ability to top our assists chart. Sanel Ibric needed some time to settle after his £18.25million move from Hajduk Split, but the rapid Bosnian striker still netted 10 goals and will surely take the Super League by storm next season.
Alexandre Jankewitz was consistently solid at both ends of the pitch as a box-to-box midfielder, while 21-year-old Raul Quevedo‘s emergence as a playmaker has been encouraging too. However, club stalwarts Nicolas Janvier and Salifou Diarrassouba were both underwhelming in attacking midfield roles, and I’ll probably allow one or even both of them to leave this summer.
Defensively, long-time captain Alessandro Buongiorno hardly put a foot wrong, and was clearly galvanised by the arrival of young Romanian Haralambie Despa as his new centre-back partner. Basel conceded just 24 league goals this term, compared to 47 in the season before my arrival, and goalkeeper Philipp Köhn kept a league-high 17 clean sheets.
We ultimately finished top by nine points, and if you want an idea of how impressive we were – just look at these stats. We enjoyed 55% possession (2nd behind St Gallen), an 88% pass completion rate (1st), 48% shots on target (also 1st), and a conversion rate of 11% (2nd behind… Wil?!).
Yet there’s still room for improvement. We lack consistency at both full-back positions, and I believe we also need an experienced midfield creator, and perhaps a quality mezzala to replace the ageing Janvier. The board have given me another healthy transfer budget of £50million to fund those new signings, which should hopefully keep the Young Boys away.
Now you’re probably wondering, “But Shama, weren’t you thinking about moving on already?” The thing is, I’m quite happy to build on our new success, and the prospect of managing this team in the Champions League also excites me. Basel have played in the Group Stage just once in the past 12 years, so I would love to bring elite continental football back to St Jakob-Park.
So, I think I will honour the second year of my contract. Unless a really big club swoops in over the summer and makes me a huge offer, I’m staying at ‘Joggeli’ to build a legacy – and re-establish ‘Die Bebbi’ as the kings of Swiss football. It’s the least this club deserves.
PLAYER-BY-PLAYER STATISTICS
THE FOOTBALL WORLD IN 2030
[Click here for a summary of the 2020/2021 to 2024/2025 seasons.]
ENGLAND
| SEASON | FA CUP |
| 2025/2026 | Liverpool 4-1 Tottenham (aet) |
| 2026/2027 | Liverpool 3-1 Tottenham (aet) |
| 2027/2028 | Tottenham 3-0 Brentford |
| 2028/2029 | Man Utd 1-0 Brighton |
| 2029/2030 | Arsenal 2-2 Leeds (5-4 PSO) |
22 years after their last Premier League title, and nearly seven years after appointing Mikel Arteta as manager, Arsenal’s patience in the Spaniard was finally repaid in 2026. Brazilian winger Richarlison led the way with 17 goals as the Gunners held off Manchester United to replace Tottenham at the top of the league.
Jürgen Klopp was sacked by Liverpool late in the 2025/2026 season. Mauricio Pochettino arrived from PSG in time for the next campaign, where he restored the Reds to their former glories. After dethroning Arsenal by one point in 2026/2027, they went on to complete a hat-trick of consecutive championships.
Neither Manchester club won the PL in the 2020s, but things would be different in the 2030s. While City couldn’t build on back-to-back 2nd places, United enjoyed a renaissance, as club icon Marcus Rashford scored 21 goals en route to their first title without Sir Alex Ferguson. The man who broke the 17-year hoodoo was ex-Germany boss Peter Zeidler, who immediately quit Old Trafford – and will manage Tottenham next season.
While Manchester City and Chelsea have won only one League Cup apiece in the last five years, they have consistently retained their status among the PL’s elite. The ‘Big Six’ have not been breached since 2021, and they have dominated the domestic cups since 2024. Southampton have finished 7th for the past three years, gradually closing the gap each time, so maybe Roger Schmidt’s Saints could soon make that breakthrough…
france
| SEASON | COUPE DE FRANCE |
| 2025/2026 | Nantes 3-1 Rennes |
| 2026/2027 | Lille 2-1 Monaco |
| 2027/2028 | PSG 4-0 Nice |
| 2028/2029 | Lyon 2-0 PSG |
| 2029/2030 | Lille 2-1 Marseille |
PSG won Ligue 1 for eight years straight before the 2025/2026 season, when Monaco announced that they were back. Russian teenager Albert Yeghiazaryan scored an impressive 43 goals in all competitions for ‘Les Monégasques’, who pipped Pochettino’s Parisians to the title with Kasper Dolberg’s 87th-minute winning penalty against Sochaux on the final day.
PSG returned stronger than ever in 2026/2027, with new manager Mickaël Landreau’s team scoring 107 goals and racking up 103 points to reclaim the title. Monaco took it back in 2028, and the toing-and-froing between the two French giants has continued for another couple of years.
Recently, though, a new challenger has emerged. Lyon have become perennial bronze medallists, and in 2029/2030, Erik ten Hag’s side only finished behind PSG on goal difference and Monaco by three points. With a stubborn defence that only lost one league game last term, there’s no reason why L’OL can’t upset the big boys.
GERMANY
| SEASON | DFL-POKAL |
| 2025/2026 | FC Bayern 3-0 Hertha BSC |
| 2026/2027 | Hertha BSC 2-1 M’gladbach |
| 2027/2028 | Hertha BSC 4-1 Leverkusen |
| 2028/2029 | FC Bayern 4-1 Dortmund |
| 2029/2030 | Dortmund 2-1 Hertha BSC (aet) |
There has also been an intriguing two-way battle for Bundesliga supremacy. Bayern München extended their incredible title streak to 14 in the 2025/2026 season, overtaking Dortmund on the final day after BVB were held to a draw at Freiburg. Borussia would hit the front again in 2026/2027, and this time, they held their nerve to end Bayern’s dominance.
‘Die Roten’ weren’t held back for long, as they prevailed again in 2028 and 2030 to take their long-serving manager Hansi Flick’s championship haul to NINE. There was a rare blip in 2028/2029, where Dortmund were champions again and Bayern dropped to 3rd place, behind German football’s emerging superpower.
Backed by tycoon owner Werner Gegenbauer, Hertha BSC have been a top-three team for the last six seasons, though that lone runners-up finish in 2029 is the closest they’ve come to a first championship since 1931. The Berliners also won the DFB-Pokal twice under Sérgio Conceição, whose departure for Manchester United this summer could be a major setback. Then again, his successor is some fella named Jürgen Klopp.
ITALY
| SEASON | COPPA ITALIA |
| 2025/2026 | Juventus 2-1 Atalanta |
| 2026/2027 | Inter 3-2 Lazio (aet) |
| 2027/2028 | Roma 1-0 Juventus |
| 2028/2029 | Juventus 1-1 Napoli (3-2 PSO) |
| 2029/2030 | Roma 2-0 Sassuolo |
Juventus retained the Serie A scudetto in 2026 and 2027, making it six straight league titles under Andrea Pirlo. But the Old Lady was in for a shock in 2027/2028, when Atalanta – a solid but unremarkable top-six team – came out from nowhere to challenge her. After a nail-biting battle that went to the final day, ‘La Dea’ prevailed by one point, and the trophy went to Bergamo for the first time!
While Atalanta quickly drifted back into relative obscurity, Juve conceded just 19 goals on their way to becoming champions again in 2029. The following season saw them in an epic four-way fight with Lazio, Inter… and Milan, who eventually prevailed to end a 19-year scudetto drought.
This has been a frustrating few years for Lazio, who’ve finished 2nd or 3rd in each of their seven seasons under Sergey Semak’s management without ever going all the way. They’ve also seen their eternal rivals Roma claim the Coppa Italia twice.
SPAIN
| SEASON | COPA DEL REY |
| 2025/2026 | Villarreal 2-0 Barcelona |
| 2026/2027 | Real Madrid 2-1 Atlético |
| 2027/2028 | Real Madrid 3-0 Real Sociedad |
| 2028/2029 | Real Sociedad 2-1 Villarreal (aet) |
| 2029/2030 | Real Madrid 1-0 Barcelona |
No team from outside Madrid has won La Liga since 2019. Atlético took three straight titles between 2021 and 2023, after which Real enjoyed a three-year streak of their own. But just when people were starting to think that Diego Simeone had become stale in the Atleti hotseat, ‘Los Colchoneros’ usurped their city rivals again with back-to-back championships in 2027 and 2028.
It was inevitable, though, that a Real superteam with Kylian Mbappé, Youssoufa Moukoko and Eduardo Camavinga would soon to the summit. Pedro Martins’ side were recrowned champions in 2029 before claiming a historic treble in 2030. That meant yet more success for their newest Galactico – 35-year-old Bayern legend Joshua Kimmich, who’s now won just the 13 league titles, three Champions Leagues and two World Cups!
Barcelona briefly fell to 4th behind Villarreal in 2026, before recording four straight 3rd-place finishes. Two seasons later, they finished a whopping 26 points behind the Madrid giants, and they still aren’t much closer to breaking their stranglehold. It shows how low expectations have fallen at Camp Nou that manager Luis Enrique has managed to keep his job for six years without winning a single trophy.
EUROPEAN COMPETITIONS
| SEASON | EUROPA LEAGUE | EUROPA CONFERENCE LEAGUE |
| 2025/2026 | FC Bayern 1-0 Monaco | Villarreal 3-1 Feyenoord |
| 2026/2027 | Beşiktaş 0-0 Villarreal (5-4 PSO) | Napoli 2-1 Ajax (aet) |
| 2027/2028 | RB Leipzig 1-0 Tottenham | Roma 3-1 Shakhtar |
| 2028/2029 | Arsenal 1-0 Chelsea (aet) | Leverkusen 1-0 Ferencváros |
| 2029/2030 | Man City 3-1 Inter | Valencia 1-0 Marseille |
England’s recent Champions League dominance has continued, with three consecutive all-PL Finals between 2025 and 2027. After beating their city rivals in 2025, Manchester United defended their trophy with a 4-0 thrashing of Arsenal, as Marcus Rashford scoring twice and David De Gea had a blinder in goal. Arsenal endured more heartache against Liverpool a year later.
The tide turned from 2028, when an Anton Shevchuk hat-trick regained the CL for Juventus at Chelsea’s expense. The following season saw the first Champions League Final without any English representation since 2020, as Juve lost their crown to Bayern. The 2030 Final saw Real Madrid end their dozen-year wait for a record 14th European Cup, comfortably beating Tottenham in Manchester.
That was Spurs’ fourth European Final defeat in 12 years, having lost their second Europa League decider to RB Leipzig in 2028. Arsenal rubbed it in by taking the trophy a year later, before Manchester City finally secured their first continental title this century (though not the one they wanted). Bayern and Beşiktaş have also won the EL within the last five years, with the latter claiming Turkey’s first major European trophy since 2000.
Unlike its more illustrious cousins, the Europa Conference League has been untouched by English teams since 2025. There’ve been a couple of victories each for Italy (Napoli in ’27, and Roma in ’28) and Spain (Villarreal in ’26, and Valencia for a second time in ’30). Bayer Leverkusen finally shook off their ‘Neverkusen’ tag by winning the 2029 Final against Hungarian outsiders Ferencváros.
INTERNATIONAL COMPETITIONS
European teams dominated the 2026 World Cup, with American sides failing to make use of ‘home’ advantage. Brazil suffered a shock Round of 16 defeat on penalties against Scotland, who then fell in extra-time to Croatia in the Quarter Finals. The Vatreni repeated the trick against European champions England, as Noel Bilić fired them into their second global Final.
Mbappé scored 10 goals for France as he became the World Cup’s all-time top scorer on 18 (he would grab another dozen in 2030, finishing with 30 goals in total!). However, Les Bleus were denied a repeat of the 2018 Final by Germany, as Chelsea’s Florian Wirtz moved ‘Die Mannschaft’ a step away from making history of their own…
…which they did after the most one-sided World Cup Final ever. Moukoko set the ball rolling with two goals in the first 15 minutes, but Dortmund wonderkid Janis Boese overshadowed him by becoming only the second man to score a hat-trick in football’s biggest match. A 5-0 time, and Germany were world champions for a record SIXTH time!
Croatia surprisingly missed out on Euro 2028, where Portugal looked to make amends for their collapse in the 2024 Final. The Semi Final paired them with neighbours Spain, who had defeated hosts Italy and holders England, only to be outclassed by Seleção strikers Youssef Chermiti and Rafael Leão.
The other Semi Final saw a Benelux derby, as Belgium overcame the Netherlands 1-0 thanks to a 20th-minute strike from veteran Divock Origi. Sadly, the Red Devils would go into the Final without their Dortmund playmaker Ruben Moons, who lost his head and was sent off for a reckless challenge.
The Final showdown finished level at 1-1, after Portugal forward Iuri Silva’s 9th-minute opener was nullified by a late Youri Tielemans spot-kick. However, the Belgians’ luck from the spot would soon desert them. After Tibo Persyn’s effort was caught by Diogo Costa, Chermiti secured a 3-2 shoot-out win – and a second Euro title for Portugal. They would surely be among the favourites at the 2030 World Cup…
…except that they failed to qualify! The Portuguese could only watch as Spain progressed to the Semi Finals, ending Peru’s fairytale run at the Quarter Final to set up a Semi Final with the defending champs. Just like in 2014, Germany were absolutely ruthless against the hosts, with Bayern’s 21-year-old striker Jovica Jankulovski hitting a hat-trick in a 4-0 demolition.
Standing between the Germans and yet another world title were their greatest rivals. No, not England, who finished 4th yet again. This time, the Three Lions were beaten in the Semi Finals by the Netherlands, whose captain Matthijs de Ligt headed in the winner. After missing out on global glory thrice before, was this finally the year that the world turned Oranje?
It wasn’t. The Netherlands did push Germany close in the Final, with Tottenham striker Berend-Jan Bekkema cancelling out Moukoko’s early opener. However, a controversial penalty in the 73rd minute saw Moukoko restore the Germans’ lead for good. They have now won an unprecedented THREE straight World Cups, all under different managers – Markus Gisdol in 2022, Peter Zeidler in 2026, and Jürgen Klopp (yes, him again!) in 2030.
| YEAR | AFRICA CUP OF NATIONS |
| 2027 | Nigeria 2-0 Cape Verde |
| 2029 | Ghana 2-0 Ivory Coast |
| YEAR | ASIAN CUP |
| 2027 | Japan 3-1 Iran |
| YEAR | GOLD CUP |
| 2027 | United States 1-0 Jamaica |
| 2029 | United States 3-1 Mexico |
| YEAR | COPA AMÉRICA |
| 2028 | United States 2-0 Mexico |
And there we have it for Shama’s first decade in management. Please come back next week for the 2030/2031 preview, as our journeyman prepares for his second season with Basel. Could it possibly be even better than his first?
Thanks for reading!
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