Banale, yet: The football season in Europe was unlike anything we have seen before.

2026-05-30 08:00 © AP

The 2025-26 season in Europe was something we have never seen before. You could say this every year, and theoretically, with such an expression every year you wouldn't be mistaken, as there are always very interesting things happening, but this season, taking the entire context of European football, became truly exceptional. Why?

In Norway, after 34 years, Stavanger's Viking triumphed again, preventing the Bodo Glimt team from winning. This is the same team that managed to surprise everyone in Europe with their performance in the Champions League knockout stage.

In Sweden, the Mjallby club triumphed. The team from a town of 1500 people was playing in the second division of Swedish football back in 2019, and now they managed to win the elite Swedish football league.

We had entirely new champions in Switzerland as well. The Thun club, which rose from the second division, defeated clubs such as St. Gallen, Lugano, Sion, Young Boys, and Basel in the fight for the Swiss Championship title. Despite finishing the season without winning five matches in a row, their name was still recorded in history.

Moving to one of the most pleasant parts – the triumph of Valdas Dambrauskas and Sabah in the Azerbaijan league, where the 14-year reign of Qarabag was broken. The former Azerbaijani champions marched all the way to the Champions League knockout round, which possibly harmed them. Sabah, with the best Lithuanian coach, added a local cup to their achievements.

In Hungary, champions were the Gyor ETO team, which ended a 7-year run of Ferencvaros titles. The team from Gyor had to wait 13 years for their title.

Another ended streak was in Bulgaria, where Ludogorets' 14-year dominance was broken by Sofia's Levski. They last won in 2009, and after this triumph, they need 4 more titles to match Sofia's CSKA in terms of top Bulgarian football league titles won.

In Denmark, the Aarhus team won their first league title in 40 years. Along the way, they defeated the Midtjylland footballers.

In Austria, the season was marked by the dominance of the LASK team. They have won four top-level titles in their history, all within two seasons. In the 1964-65 season, Linzer Athletik-Sport-Klub successfully achieved a "double" in the local cup and league, and this year they repeated that, defeating the Graz Sturm team.

In Romania, a triumph occurred that had a Lithuanian accent. Universitatea Craiova broke the team represented by Edvinas Gertmonas, Universitatea Cluj, in a crucial part of the season and won their first local championship title in 35 years. They also won the cup, while the Lithuanian remained with the team at a broken crossroads. Interestingly, due to the local player rule, the Lithuanian national team goalkeeper missed the decisive battles and had to move to another team abroad – the Swiss Servette.

It is also necessary to mention Arsenal, who triumphed in the English Premier League after 22 years. Their triumph was highly anticipated by Arteta's army.

In some places, surprises did not fully materialize, such as Edinburgh's Hearts, who were just minutes away from a sensational Scottish Premiership title, but Celtic's mastery prevented that, and Glasgow's teams' dominance in Scotland continued.

It is also essential to note the beautiful stories that happened in Europe – Aston Villa ended a 30-year drought of trophies with their triumph in the European League, while Crystal Palace won their third trophy in 2 years, which remain the only trophies in the club's history. Next season, we will see teams like NEC, Como, or Torreense, who triumphed in the Portuguese league, playing at a higher level in European competitions.

This wonderful season will be crowned by one event – the upcoming Champions League final in Budapest tonight, where Arsenal, who have dispelled their curse in local competitions, will face the current European champions PSG.