Coming up: six promoted teams to look out for in Europe this season
Quick summary
A Guardian preview highlighting six newly promoted clubs across Europe's top leagues who could make an impact in the 2026-27 season.
Full article
Attributed to original sourceFormer European heavyweights, investment projects and teams from tiny towns will liven up the top tiers
Absent from La Liga since 2018, Dépor were once part of a Spanish “big four” with Barcelona, Valencia and Real Madrid. The Galicians were title-race disruptors over a sustained period, finishing in the top three on nine occasions between 1993 and 2004 and winning the title in 1999. Had they not come up against José Mourinho’s Porto in the 2004 Champions League semi-finals, they might have been European champions too. Eventually, the established order prevailed and Deportivo slid into mid-table, then fell away completely – dropping into the regional third tier in 2020. It took four years to battle back to the second tier, but Dépor then leapt from 15th place in 2024-25 to earn automatic promotion last term. The golden era of Juan Carlos Valerón and Diego Tristan is long gone but the club are showing ambition, signing Mallorca keeper Leo Román and veteran striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang as they bid to hold steady in La Liga. Deportivo are not the only long-term absentees returning this season: Segunda champions Racing Santander are back after 15 years, while Málaga also went down in 2018 and fell into the third tier for a single season in 2023-24.
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Source attribution: this article content is based on the linked publisher feed/source. Chance adds independent soccer context, impact analysis, entity links, and related news.
What happened
The article profiles six promoted sides heading into the new European season, examining their squads, managers, and the challenges they face adapting to top-flight football. It serves as a season-preview feature spotlighting underdog stories and potential surprise packages. The piece likely covers clubs from leagues such as the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga, Ligue 1, and potentially a second-tier promotion story.
Chance analysis
Promoted team stories are useful context for early-season prediction models, as newly promoted sides typically over- or under-perform expectations based on squad quality and transfer activity. Identifying which promoted clubs have invested well can flag potential upset candidates in opening fixtures. This is a general preview piece rather than breaking news, so its predictive value is qualitative and framing-oriented.
No direct match or team impact — this is a broad preview framing article ahead of the season.
Use this as background context for assessing promoted teams' early-season form; cross-reference with transfer activity and opening fixtures for concrete prediction edges.