The Teams Clinching their First Major Title in European Top League since 2010

 

Several teams in European top leagues have been able to snatch their first major title in the past 15 years and even more since the millennium.

The current 2024/25 campaign has been peculiar compared to the other seasons. The non favorite sides managed to lift trophies in European top five. Crystal Palace is the latest one to do so. The Eagles finally won their first ever major trophy in the club’s history last weekend. Thanks to their solid form since last season following the arrival of Oliver Glasner.

The Austrian boss is the key figure in Eberechi Eze and Co’s rise. Last season, they were able to finish tenth in the league, their highest finish in the Premier League history. This year, Glasner’s men thumped Manchester City 1-0 in FA Cup final.

Previously, Newcastle United and Bologna have ended their long title drought. The Magpies and Rossoblu dismantled Liverpool and AC Milan, respectively, in the League Cup and Coppa Italia final. In the Netherlands, Go Ahead Eagles Deventer also did the same in the KNVB Cup this season.

This unlikely trend could still continue, should DFB Pokal sees a new champion. The second-tier side, Arminia Bielefeld, are hoping to follow Palace’s footsteps to win their first major title. The only obstacle left is VfB Stuttgart, their opposition in the summit.

Since 2010, a number of teams have made such crucial success. It is undoubtedly the important milestone in the club’s long history. Here are those teams who made such historic progress.

Wigan Athletic

The Latics was one of the dark horses in the Premier League during the early 2010s, normally at the beginning of the campaign. Yet, their slew dip in the second half of the season always cost their position in the table.

Under the current Portuguese boss, Roberto Martinez, they had the same trend of performance. Yet, in 2012/13, the Spaniard achieved something beyond their own wildest dream, winning their first major trophy, the FA Cup, by beating the English champions, Manchester City.

Their road to the summit was not exactly bumpy. Callum McManaman and Co only saw off one tough opposition, the fellow EPL side, Everton in the quarterfinal. Roberto Mancini’s men were undoubtedly favourites with their star-studded squad. However, the final game did not turn out as they expected.

Wigan employed a low-block defence with occasional attacks relying on McManaman’s pace and acceleration supported by the Ivorian international, Arounda Kone. Unfortunately, Wigan squandered at least three chances to open the scoring. On the other end, the goalie, Joel Robles, was instrumental in denying three attempts from Carlos Tevez and Co. The Latics’ winning goal was finally scored just a few minutes before the final whistle. The substitute Ben Watson headed home to the far side of the post following Shaun Maloney’s corner kick.

Roberto Martinez’s men did something impossible in the club’s history, which remains their only major silverware to date. Ironically, Wigan finished 18th in the league in the same season, meaning they were relegated despite earning one spot in Europe. They are currently competing in the third tier.

Road to glory	Key players	Best results under Roberto Martinez
vs Bournemouth 1-1 ; 1-0 (replay) – 4th round vs Macclesfield Town 1-0 – 5th round vs Huddersfield 4-1 – 6th round vs Everton 3-0 – quarterfinal vs Milwall 2-0 – semifinal vs Manchester City 1-0 –final	Emerson Boyce, Joel Robles, Arouna Kone, Antolin Alcaraz, James McArthur, Callum McManaman	-Quarterfinal in EFL Cup 2010/11 (vs Arsenal 0-2) - 15th in EPL 2011/12

Swansea City

In the same season, another unlikely side also clinched their first ever major trophy. Swansea City had much better campaign compared to Wigan, especially in the Premier League. Under the former Danish star in 1990s, Michael Laudrup, they played offensive and attractive game relying on ball possession, which is non-typical style of play for the non-elite teams in England.

Swansea managed to finish ninth in the final standings and snatched EFL League Cup after dismantling Bradford City 5-0 in Wembley. Ashley Williams and Co was already the favorite in the summit after they knocked out Liverpool and Chelsea previously.

Sadly, Laudrup did not stay long. His second season was disappointing as they sat at the lower table. The Danish boss was eventually dismissed in the middle of the season and moved to Middle East instead to lead Qatar’s Lewkhiya, despite the rumors of Barcelona and Olympique Marseille’s interest in appointing him as the new manager.

Road to glory	Key players	Best results under Michael Laudrup
vs Barnsley 3-1 – 2nd round vs Crawley Town 3-2 – 3rd round vs Liverpool 3-1 – 4th round vs Middlesbrough 1-0 – quarterfinal vs Chelsea 2-0; 0-0 – semifinal vs Bradford City 5-0 –final	Michu, Ashley Williams, Pablo Hernandez, Ki Seung Yeung, Nathan Dyer	- 9th  in EPL 2012/13

Toulouse FC

They were newly promoted side when they reached the French Cup final in 2023 and had relatively easy opponents on the way to the summit, especially compared to their opposition in the final, Nantes. They were the reigning champions and had stomped Lens and Lyon along the way. Toulouse only saw off the likes of Ajaccio and Reims before knocking out the unknown sides from the lower league, Rodez and Annecy. No wonder that they were not a favorite to lift the trophy.

However, on the pitch, it was a different story. Phillip Montainer’s side ran rampant and trashed Antoine Kambouare’s men 5-1. Logan Costa and Thijs Dalinga, the current Bologna man, bagged a brace each before Morocco international, Zakharia Aboukhlal scored the last goal of the game. Nantes only netted a consolation goal from Ludovic Blas’s penalty.

Ironically, Montainer was sacked as they only finished 13^th in Ligue 1. It was deemed not good enough by the management. He was replaced by his assistant who still remains at the helm of the team today, Carlos Martinez Novell. During Montainer’s stint, Toulouse gained promotion to the top flight in 2022 or his second season in charge.

Road to glory	Key players	Best results under Phillip Montainer
vs Lannion FC 7-1 – round of 64 vs Ajaccio 2-0 – round of 32 vs Reims 3-1 – round of 16 vs Rodez 6-1 – quarterfinal vs Annecy 2-1 – semifinal vs Nantes 5-1 –final	Thijs Dallinga, Zakharia Aboukhlal, Logan Costa, Gabriel Suazo	- 13th in Ligue 1 2023

RB Leipzig

As one of the most ambitious clubs in Europe, Leipzig has always been aiming high in the top flight. Thus, a major trophy is expected. Yet, it did not arrive to Red Bull Arena till 2022 despite having Julian Nagelsmann and Ralf Ragnick on the sideline previously. They had failed to deliver the expected trophy although they managed to guide them finish strong in Europe by reaching semifinal in UCL 2020 and Bundesliga regularly.

It was the former Schalke and Belgium boss, Domenico Tedesco who finally won their first ever major trophy. Dani Olmo and Co snatched it after struggling to defeat Freiburg on penalties after sharing spoils in a 1-1 draw. Leipzig conceded first through Max Eggestein’s strike from outside the six-yard box in the 19^th minute. They even had to play with 10 men after Marcel Hastelberg was sent off early in the second half. Christopher Nkunku finally found the equalizer in the 76^th minute to force the game into a tie and shootout.

Leipzig proves that they are meant to join the elite group in Bundesliga as they retained the title in 2023 under Marco Rose with more convincing victory, 2-0 over Oliver Glasner’s Eintracht Frankfurt. They have secured the second DFB Pokal in their fourth finals.

Road to glory	Key players	Best results under Domenico Tedesco
vs SV Sandhaunsen 4-0 – first round vs SV Babelsberg 2-0 – second round vs Hansa Rostock 2-0 – round of 16 vs Hannover 4-0 – quarterfinal vs Union Berlin 2-1 – semifinal vs SC Freiburg 1-1(5-3) pen –final	Christopher Nkunku, Dani Olmo, Petr Gulacsi, Willi Orban	- 4th in Bundesliga 2022

Groningen

Groningen was not a favorite when they advanced to Dutch Cup or well-known for KNVB Cup final in 2015. They did not knock out any of the big three in Dutch football on the way to the summit. Groningen was set to face off the reigning champion, PEC Zwolle. They did not eliminate any of the big three teams either but still had to struggle to defeat FC Twente on penalties in the semifinal.

Erwin Van de Looi’s men turned out to be the winner in the final as they crushed Ron Jans’ side 2-0. Slovenian forward Albert Ruznak netted a brace and Zwolle failed to capitalize several chances in the final third. It was Groningen’s first and last ever major trophy to date. Their league campaign was still acceptable by sitting eighth on the table.

Road to glory	Key players	Best results under Erwin Van de Looi
vs Barendrecht 4-1 – 2nd round vs Fleo Boys 8-1 – 3rd round vs Volendam 3-0 – 4th round vs Vitesse Arnhem 4-0 – quarterfinal vs Excelsior 3-0 – semifinal vs PEC Zwolle 2-0 –final	Hans Hateboer, Albert Rusnak, Rasmus Lindgren	- 7th in Eredivisie 2014 and 2016

PEC Zwolle

Prior to losing in the 2015 edition, Ron Jans’ men had their own stunning moment in the previous season. In 2013/14, they even smashed Dutch giant Ajax Amsterdam 5-1 in the summit despite conceding first. Ryan Thomas and Guyon Fernandez bagged a brace each before the skipper Bram Van Polen scored to wrap up the scoreline. It was a humiliating loss for Frank de Boer’s men.

Zwolle’s road to the final was quite easy too as they did not meet any of the elite sides. Their only tough opposition was NEC Nijmegen in the semifinal. Their league campaign, was in fact, quite unsatisfactory since Mateusz Klitch and Co only finished in 11^th place. However, Ron Jans was able to bring them finish much higher in the 2014/15 as they sat 6th in the standings.

Road to glory	Key players	Best results under Ron Jans
vs Fortuna Sittard 2-0 – round of 64 vs Wilhelmina 08 4-0 – round of 32 vs Excelsior  4-1 – round of 16 vs JVC Cuijk 5-1 – quarterfinal vs NEC Nijmegen 2-1 – semifinal vs Ajax 5-1 –final	Ryan Thomas, Mateusz Klitch, Daryl Lachmann	- 6th in Eredivisie 2015

Vitesse Arnhem

The last team in 2010 who secured their first major trophy was Vitesse Arnhem. They managed to do so in 2017 after thumping AZ Alkmaar 2-0. Alkmaar was the favorite with their more well-known names in the squad such as Tim Krul, the current Ajax and Dutch international Wout Weghorst, the senior centre back, Ron Vlaar and Iran international Alireza Jahanbakhsh.

Nevertheless, Vitesse’s road to the final was more convincing. Milot Rashica and Co were able to eliminate Feyenoord in the quarterfinal. Henk Fraser’s men also proved to perform better in the summit as they thumped their opposition with Ricky van Wolfswinkel’s brace.

Vitesse’s league campaign was positive too as they sat fifth in the final standings. However, Fraser only stayed for two seasons despite their domestic success. The club would not extend his contract and opted to hire Russian boss, Leonid Slutsky as his successor in summer 2018.

Road to glory	Key players	Best results under Henk Fraser
vs De Dijk 7-2 – round of 64 vs RKC Walwijk 4-1 – round of 32 vs De Jodan Boys 4-0 – round of 16 vs Feyenoord 2-0 – quarterfinal vs Sparta Rotterdam 2-1 – semifinal vs AZ Alkmaar 2-0 –final	Milot Rashica, Lewis Baker, Ricky van Wolfswinkel, Marvelous Nakamba	- 5th in Eredivisie 2017

Villareal

Unlike the other teams above, The Yellow Submarine clinched their first major trophy in Europe. They won Europa League in 2021 after beating Manchester United 11-10 on penalties. Both sides had to share spoils in a 1-1 draw for 120 minute. Gerard Moreno opened the scoring before after Edison Cavani bagged an equalizer to hold them tie. The Argentine goalie, Geronimo Rulli was the key man in the shootout as he scored one and denied one shot from David De Gea.

The man behind their success was none but the dark horse specialist, Unai Emery. The current Aston Villa boss was the manager who lifted Europa League with Sevilla three seasons consecutively from 2014 to 2016. Emery is clearly no stranger to the glorious campaign in Europe’s second tier competition. In 2019, he guided Arsenal to the final too but slumped to a devastating 4-1 loss to Chelsea.  

Emery’s second season in La Ceramica was fairly impressive too. The former Valencia and PSG boss guided them to UCL semifinal in 2022, their second one since 2006 when Juan Roman Riquelme was still leading the team.

Road to glory	Key players	Best results under Unai Emery
Group leader in the preliminary round (group I) vs RB Salzburg  4-1 (2-1; 2-0) – round of 32 vs Dynamo Kiev 4-0 (2-0; 2-0) – round of 16 vs Dinamo Zagreb 3-1 (1-0; 2-1) – quarterfinal vs Arsenal 2-1 (2-1; 0-0) – semifinal vs Manchester United 1-1 (11-10)pen –final	Raul Albiol, Geronimo Rulli, Gerard Moreno, Juan Foyth, Carlos Bacca	- 7th in La Liga 2021 - UCL semifinal in 2022