Part 213: Appendix: The Year in Football/Futbol/Fußball/Calcio/Soccer, 2026-2027

Appendix: The Year in Football/Futbol/Fußball/Calcio/Soccer, 2026-2027
June 1, 2027

All my angst in March and April aside, that was a stunningly successful season.

Wrexham




Next year should be similarly exciting, we'll return most of our best players and young prospects like Damgaard and Pickee have given us reason to expect good showings in the future.

England



I'm disappointed Southampton couldn't crack the top five, but they still get a European qualification.



Meanwhile Bolton Wanderers are back in the Premier League, while Tackleford had a strong consolidation year and should be in contention for promotion.



Colwyn Bay still seems a ways from making it up the ladder, but I expect they'll keep improving as they are able to bring in better talent.



Curse you Manchester United! It would have been really neat to see a Swansea/QPR final, considering that Queens Park Rangers weren't even in the Premier League this season.



It was nice to play someone other than Manchester United for a trophy, I'm glad that we won't have to face them in the Community Shield next year.

Europe



As expected, Real Madrid wins the league.



Roma can claim their first title in something like a quarter century, knocking off the Neapolitan dynasty and holding off Juventus as well. If Wolfsburg overcame Bayern in the Bundesliga, TheMcD wins the prediction contest runoff.



And win they did, by a full four points over Bayern. Congratulations TheMcD!



No surprises here, although Ajaccio's new moneybags owner did get them into the Champions League qualifying rounds.



Braga have now won three of the last four seasons in Portugal, and look like they've become a real force.



Rubin Kazan are tops in Russia while the Red Army Boys of CKSA Moscow fell all the way out of continental qualification.



Another Ajax win, how dull.



Perhaps we'll draw Club Brugge in the group stage next year, at which point I'll waste far too much of my time coming up with an homage to In Bruges.



Fenerbache ran away with things in the Turkish league, like us they only lost once all season.



I haven't seen A Tartan Tory around recently, but he'll be happy that Rangers are back atop Scotland.



A lack of upsets in the Champions League group stage led to an exciting competition for the Europa League this season, as the semifinals were contested by teams from Russia, the Netherlands, and Portugal. Unfortunately the game doesn't model the recent rules change that the Europa League winner gets Champions League qualification, so FC Twente will be stuck returning to the Europa League. It's still a huge accomplishment for the small club from Enschede, and for their American star Hunter Fisher.



We outscored our opponents in the knockout rounds 18-3. I don't think there's much more to be said about our dominance than that.

Asia & Australia



Seoul seems like the class of the Korean League. This is hardly their first title.



The Melbourne clubs both lived up to their names, with the lesser one proving that Heart isn't really that great a power.



Seoul will be back in the Club World Cup next year after overcoming the Urawa Reds, who's claim to fame is that they have viciously racist supporters. Which is kind of too bad, I'd love to meet up with Urawa and have them lose 10-0 to our extremely multicultural club.

North America



It's weird seeing the LA Galaxy at the bottom of the table, especially considering how much backing they get from the honchos at MLS when it comes to designated player signings. That same backing is why it's not a shock to see the Seattle Sounders win.



Atlas take both the opening and closing stages of Liga MX, but it's nice to see that fallen giant Club America is at least decent again. Atlas has been a huge success over the past decade, racking up title after title.



Liga MX will probably surpass MLS in reputation after an all Mexico final that Atlas dominated in pulling off what's essentially a triple.

South America



Always the bridesmaid and never the bride, Gremio. This time around no one had any chance of catching Flamengo, who topped the table by 15 points.



Velez are essentially the Atlas of Argentina, or vice versa, having won either the apertura or clausura in each of the last five or so years.



Aww, Gremio didn't actually win the Libertadores. They fell in the final to Mexican club Chivas, but since Chivas is ineligible to earn a spot in the Club World Cup by winning the Libertadores, Gremio went instead. Chivas is, of course, owned by the same people who own Chivas USA.

International



I still have nightmares about giving up a three goal lead to Australia.



But I can't begrudge them the great year they had internationally, an AFC Cup and a World Cup Quarterfinal appearance is highly impressive for the nation.



The African Cup of Nations took place this year as well, with Algeria coming out on top. In real life the semifinals of the Cup of Nations are just taking place now, with the Democratic Republic of Congo taking on Cote d'Ivor and the hosts Equatorial Guinea- having gotten to the semifinals thanks to some incredibly suspicious refereeing in their quarterfinal match- going up against Ghana.

And that's the state of World Soccer. See you all for the 2027-2028 season.