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Soccer Futures – Mou’s United Head 2017 Europa League

Zack Garrison

by Zack Garrison in News

Updated Jan 17, 2018 · 9:39 AM PST

It can be tough to predict the Europa League champ at the start of the season based on the structure of the tournament. Each year, the eight teams that finish third in their respective Champions League groups (and, thus, don’t qualify for the UCL’s knockout stage) get bumped down to the Europa League for a shot at redemption.

Just last year, Sevilla took advantage of this structure to claim a third-straight Europa League title after finishing third in Group D of the Champions League (behind Man City and Juventus). So, as the year marches on, we’ll see a some more talented teams enter this competition. However, the majority of the field is already set for the 2016-17 Europa League season, and there are some clear favorites.

Often viewed as the UCL’s ugly stepbrother by soccer fans, the Europa League is important to the teams that qualify, especially the ones that feel they can win it all, since claiming the title comes with an automatic entry in next season’s Champions League.

Let’s take a look at the favorites for this year’s edition.


2016-17 Europa League Futures

Manchester United: 6/1

United have never won this tournament, but that’s mostly because they’re almost always in the Champions League. They failed to qualify for the 2016-17 UCL thanks to a fifth-place finish in the EPL last year. They hired manager Jose Mourinho to fix the offense, which sputtered under Louis Van Gaal.

Mourinho will have some new blood at his disposal as the team brought in Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who already has four goals for his new team, playing next to Wayne Rooney.

 

United also brought in highly sought after midfielder Paul Pogba, formerly of Juventus, for €120 million. Pogba actually played with the Man United academy years ago before leaving for Italy. Fans might not like spending that much money on a player that used to be theirs in the first place, but he should help nonetheless.

Inter Milan: 16/1

Milan qualified for the Europa League by finishing fourth in Serie A last year. But they were clearly a cut below the upper tier of teams, ending the season with 67 points, a full 24 points back of the champs from Juventus, and 13 below third-place Roma.

Like United, Milan look like a very different team this year. They hired Frank DeBoer as their new manager, signed Argentinean Ever Banega, who will be a solid addition to the midfield, and also added winger Antonio Candreva, who is coming off a great season with Lazio.

Inter have won the UEFA Cup/Europa League three times, but not since 1997-98.

Athletic Bilbao: 16/1

Athletic Bilbao had a nice little season last year, finishing fifth in Spain’s La Liga with 62 points, just two back of Villarreal for fourth. They look like a team on the rise and could do even better this year. Forward Iñaki Williams, who’s just 22 years old, should take more strides, and has a good chance claim a spot on the Spanish national team this year.

Bilbao have never won the Europa League, but they were runner-up in 2011-12, losing to Atletico Madrid in the final.

The Field:

Fiorentina: 16/1

Schalke 04: 20/1

Southampton: 25/1

Zenit: 16/1

Shakhtar Donestk: 33/1

Celta Vigo: 33/1

Mainz: 40/1

Braga: 50/1

Olympiakos: 50/1

Feyenoord: 66/1

St. Etienne: 66/1

Genk: 80/1

Panathinaikos: 80/1


Photo credit: Aleksandr, CC BY-SA 2.0 [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0], via Wikimedia Commons.

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