Part 178: Appendix: The Year in Football/Futbol/Fußball/Calcio/Soccer, 2024-2025

Appendix: The Year in Football/Futbol/Fußball/Calcio/Soccer, 2024-2025
June 14, 2025

Wrexham


The only player who had what you could call a “poor” year was dear departed Matty Collett. And we still didn't win the Premiership, the FA Cup, or the Champions League.

England



Sky Shadowing and AJ_Impy avoid relegation. It's clear who the haves and have nots are, with only five teams finishing with a positive goal differential.



Our League Cup loss came against a club that got knocked down to League One. Did I mention this past season was frustrating?



Tackleford's looking much stronger than before. Maybe this time they'll avoid immediate relegation from the Championship.



There's nothing positive to say about this.



Or this.

Europe



Order is not yet restored in Spain, with USMNT mainstay Brent Woods leading Valencia to the title. Poor Sevilla don't make the Champions League, their deep run this year took too much out of them when it came to competing in the domestic competition.



Finally someone other than Juventus wins. Napoli are by far the best team from southern Italy, and they deservingly earn the Scudetto in what for my money is the most competitive league in the game right now.



Dortmund has a bigger wage bill these days than Bayern. It helped them reach the Champions League final, but didn't give them the depth to win at home.



PSG is responsible for one in every four dollars in Ligue 1 wages. That Monaco was even within 10 points of them should be cause for firing their manager.



Oh no! I believe we have an Academia supporter amongst our readers. I regret to inform them that they've been relegated.



Anzhi Makhachkala is the only thing good in Dagestan, and it must be a little sweet for their supporters to top the Russian league.



Heerenveen is the current home of Rodrigo Moctezuma, the American wunderkind that I desire so greatly.



Belgium's league splits into relegation and championship tables at some point in the season, the performance of the clubs in those mini-tables determines the champions and relegation victims. In this case Gent was on fire for the final part of the season, and overcame a very good Club Brugge squad.



Ah, that's more like it. The big Turkish clubs are back atop the table, with Besiktas winning their fourteenth Süper Lig crown.



Hey! Rangers pulled out another title! I should stop declaring the Old Firm dead. They're still managing just half the wages of Celtic, but seeing as Celtic trades off every half decent youngster they get the gap in salaries hasn't made it impossible for Rangers to compete.



Next season I want to rain goals on Chelsea. Nothing would hurt Santos more than watching his defense give up a five-spot.



I guess it's no surprise that Real Madrid waltzed through the Europa League.

North America



Atlas and Monterrey pick up additional titles during the two legged Mexican season.



Colorado won the MLS, while our feeder club matched our down year by barely qualifying for the playoffs.



An MLS team won the CONCACAF Champions League. DC United are quite the force these days. Even more impressive, a Guatemalan team made it to the semifinals.

South America



We're never going to pass Flamengo on the reputational rankings if they keep on winning titles and Libertadores crowns.



Down south Boca Juniors and Velez Sarsfield split the apertura and clausura.



For the first time in what seems like forever, Flamengo do not win the Libertadores. Heck, it's not even a Brazilian winner, with Velez lifting the crown jewel of South American competition. You might remember them from their 3-3 draw against us last summer during our tour of Argentina.

International



There were two major international competitions in the past year, the first being the Olympic Games where we took home silver, whereupon I was very disappointed to learn that the coach does not get a medal.



The Cup of Nations final was an all Maghreb affair, with the Algerians topping Egypt in Cairo. Every European team with African players can rest easy knowing that they won't have to do without them come mid-winter 2026.

Prediction Contest



The title of Least Wrong goes to AJ_Impy, who was only off by a combined -13 spots. He achieved this by dropping Uruguay and Colombia in his rankings. Special acknowledgement goes to Not My Leg, who didn't pick a single country in the right place. AJ_Impy, what boon may I grant you? Also, if Niric is still around, he's got one on tap as well.