Coming up: six promoted teams to look out for in Europe this season
Former European heavyweights, investment projects and teams from tiny towns will liven up the top tiers
Deportivo La Coruña
Absent from La Liga since 2018, Dépor were once part of a Spanish “big four” with Barcelona, Valencia and Real Madrid. The Galicians were title-race disruptors over a sustained period, finishing in the top three on nine occasions between 1993 and 2004 and winning the title in 1999. Had they not come up against José Mourinho’s Porto in the 2004 Champions League semi-finals, they might have been European champions too. Eventually, the established order prevailed and Deportivo slid into mid-table, then fell away completely – dropping into the regional third tier in 2020. It took four years to battle back to the second tier, but Dépor then leapt from 15th place in 2024-25 to earn automatic promotion last term. The golden era of Juan Carlos Valerón and Diego Tristan is long gone but the club are showing ambition, signing Mallorca keeper Leo Román and veteran striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang as they bid to hold steady in La Liga. Deportivo are not the only long-term absentees returning this season: Segunda champions Racing Santander are back after 15 years, while Málaga also went down in 2018 and fell into the third tier for a single season in 2023-24.
Elversberg
Like many recent Bundesliga promotion races, last season pitted sleeping giants against small-town overachievers. Schalke won the second-tier title, escaping a division where they have spent four of their last five campaigns. The runners-up, Elversberg, hail from a Saarland town whose population would fit inside the Veltins Arena four times over. From playing in the regional leagues in 2021-22, the team rose spectacularly under coach Horst Steffen, who was lured to Werder Bremen last summer after Elversberg fell short in the promotion playoff. Steffen lasted just nine months in his new job, while his former side carried on under Vincent Wagner, plucked from Hoffenheim’s second team. The club will expand their stadium throughout the season in order to meet the 15,000-capacity threshold, but there is nothing gradual about the team’s learning curve – their first two visitors will be Leverkusen and Bayern Munich.
Le Mans
From Paris FC’s billionaire backers to BlueCo-owned Strasbourg, Ligue 1 is fertile ground for investors – and City Football Group are joining the club with promoted Troyes (another “partner club”, Lommel, are entering Belgium’s top tier this season). France’s other newcomers have a similar back story, with some extra stardust. Hailing from a town firmly pinned on the motorsport map – their stadium even sits inside the famous Circuit de la Sarthe – Le Mans enjoyed a brief top-flight spell in the 2010s but slid into financial ruin. Having climbed back to Ligue 2, Les Mucistes were taken over last August by OutField, a Brazilian consortium who brought Novak Djokovic, Thibaut Courtois and F1 drivers Felipe Massa and Kevin Magnussen to the party. After moving quickly through the gears, Le Mans are planning a sensible, youth-focused approach, reopening the club academy and spending on potential rather than splashing the cash.
Amedspor
Few teams in the world have travelled a tougher road to reach their country’s top division than Amed SK, or Amedspor, who will make their Turkish Super Lig debut this season. Based in the Kurdish-majority city of Diyarbakir, far closer to Iraq and Syria than Istanbul, the club have become a focal point for Kurdish identity in recent years. Having drifted between Turkey’s third and fourth tiers, the team have risen rapidly since adding Amed (the Kurdish title for their home city) to their name in 2014. This embrace of Kurdish identity has drawn a new, diverse fanbase but has also created hostility. Fans have been subjected to abuse, intimidation and even physical attacks from opposing supporters, a situation the Turkish FA resolved by banning Amedspor fans from away games until 2020. The club’s presence in the top flight raises more questions over security and potential violence, but there are signs that old tensions may be thawing. The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan – who has refused to acknowledge Diyarbakir’s Kurdish name – raised eyebrows on social media by congratulating Amedspor on their historic promotion.
Wisla Krakow
Founded 120 years ago, Wisla Krakow are one of Poland’s most decorated clubs, winning 14 league titles. The White Star were ever-present in the top division until 2022, but have spent the last four seasons outside the elite, although they did win their fifth Polish Cup in 2024 as a second-tier team. With former player Jakub Blaszczykowski on board as a minority investor, Wisla have used their time in the doldrums to take stock, making better use of analytics and academy players. They marked their return to the top flight in style last month, beating Katowice 2-1 as fans put on a red-and-white pyro show throughout. The derby game with Cracovia – known ominously enough as the “Holy War” – is also back on the fixture list, with the number of top-tier teams from Poland’s second-largest city jumping from one to three after Wieczysta Krakow came up through the playoffs. Making their Ekstraklasa debut, Wieczysta are ground-sharing with Wisla as their home ground does not meet league requirements.
FC Vaduz
Last season, Thun confounded expectations on their return to the Swiss top-flight by winning the title. If the league’s traditional giants feared a repeat this term, they can rest easy. Vaduz, based in the capital of neighbouring Liechtenstein, are allowed to take part in the top division but cannot win it; nor can they claim a European place that would otherwise go to a Swiss club. Instead, FCV are playing in the Conference League, as winners of Liechtenstein’s cup competition, while trying to establish themselves back in the Swiss top tier. They won promotion in dramatic fashion on the final day, when leaders Aarau let a 2-0 lead slip at home to Yverdon. Two defeats in their first two games this term suggest a Thun-esque title tilt is not on the cards, which will be a relief for Young Boys, Basel and Swiss league administrators alike.