Hello all, welcome back to the blog. Welcome to 2024! How’s the future? Weird? Me too. This is a surprisingly big year for football, with the Euros set to begin in 6 months’ time, Kylian Mbappé’s impending free agency and his Madrid saga continuing for an EIGHTH year, among other things. I am here to provide the script on exactly how everything will go down. Yep, I know. Let’s get into it.
Part 1: The Major Leagues
Let’s get the easy ones out of the way.
Ligue 1 – PSG
Bundesliga – Bayern Munich
Pretty easy to predict these, and while Bayern doesn’t look in a good position, they’ll eventually bounce back, they may even sack Tuchel if it gets too bad, but they’ll top Leverkusen to win the Bundesliga. For PSG, they already have a 5-point gap at the top, and will breeze to the title again this year.
Serie A – Inter
While Juventus are getting back in the race for the first time in years, Inter just have more experience than Juventus’ squad in a title race, the squad of Juve having a completely new look since winning the league last in 2020.
La Liga – Real Madrid
I’d love to see Girona win it, perhaps even more than I’d like to see Barca win it, just for the rarity of an event like this happening, I don’t see them winning it. They’ll taper off in February-March, and probably get UCL, and while Barca will cut the gap down to 2 or 3 at points, Real Madrid will pip them to La Liga this year, mainly thanks to the brilliance of Jude Beligol, who’ll win Pichichi honors with over 25 league goals for Madrid this season.
Premier League – Man City
Again, I’d love to see Liverpool or Arsenal win the Premier League this year, but again, with Kevin de Bruyne and Erling Haaland coming back to fitness in the next couple of weeks, as well as the fact that Man City aren’t too far back, they’ll win it for sure this season. It probably won’t even be that close, they’ll have a 10+ game winning run, and the league won’t really ever be in serious doubt.
Part 2: European Competitions
Conference League – Aston Villa
There can really only be one team to win this one. Aston Villa have been in such good form in the league, and with weak opposition for them, it’s not much of a question on who’s winning this. Their only real challenges could come from Betis, Frankfurt, Lille and (maybe) Ajax.
Europa League – Liverpool
While they have more serious competition here, who are we kidding? Liverpool are top of the Premier League, so they should win this competition without any serious issue. Despite Benfica, Milan, and Leverkusen providing competition, Liverpool should beat all of them easily.
Champions League – Bayern Munich
Bayern just have too much starpower for this competition. Harry Kane has found the goals, perhaps more than he ever has, Leroy Sane is in the form of his life, and they’re just too well organized. Real Madrid’s injuries will finally get to them deep into this competition, Man City will lose somewhere in this run, perhaps to Bayern, PSG don’t have the starpower, Barcelona and Arsenal don’t have the experience yet, and everyone else doesn’t have the squad to compete yet.
Part 3: Euro 2024
Group A:
- Switzerland
- Germany
- Scotland
- Hungary
Despite being at home, Germany is still a team in rebuild, and so won’t top this seemingly easily group, squeezing through on 4 points. Scotland will also have 4 points, with the first game of the tournament being a draw between the two sides. Switzerland will look like a dark horse to win it all, winning all 3 games, and a usually overachieving Hungary will just collapse in this group, getting 0 points.
Group B:
- Spain
- Croatia
- Albania
- Italy
Yes, the defending champions will crash out of this group in fourth. After a shocking draw against Albania, Italy will lose in close games against both Spain and Croatia and be eliminated with one point. I also think Albania will force a draw with Croatia and finish 3rd on 2 points. Spain will win all 3 games, 5-0 against Albania, 4-1 against Croatia, and 2-0 against Italy, looking like a powerhouse.
Group C:
- England
- Slovakia
- Serbia
- Denmark
England will go on a made one this group, with this season’s two shining stars, Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane teaming up, and scoring 11 goals across the 3 games. Slovakia and Serbia will both do well, but Denmark will, once again, disappoint. They’ve never been the same since their incredible run at the 2021 Euros on the back of perhaps the worst event in the history of their national team.
Group D
- Netherlands
- France
- Poland
- Austria
The Netherlands and France will fight it out until the death for top spot, but the Netherlands will just narrowly see top spot. Poland will win their playoff and get 3rd spot over Austria narrowly.
Group E
- Belgium
- Iceland
- Romania
- Slovakia
Despite Belgium’s golden generation fading, this group should be no challenge for them. Slovakia will disappoint, leaving the door open for playoff winners Iceland, as well as Romania. Iceland will make a shock return to the main stage and get to the knockouts, surprisingly.
Group F
- Portugal
- Czechia
- Turkey
- Georgia
This is Cristiano Ronaldo’s last chance to prove himself on the world stage. At 39, he can be remembered as the player with the best longevity in football history with a great performance here. This group shouldn’t be tricky for Portugal, with a 2-0 win against Czechia, 3-2 against Turkey and 6-0 against playoff winners Georgia.
Round of 16
Spain 2-0 Turkey
Switzerland 3-2 Slovakia
Portugal 4-1 Scotland
France 4-0 Iceland
Belgium 0-2 Serbia
Netherlands 2-0 Czechia
England 2-1 Poland
Germany 1-3 Croatia
Quarter Finals
Spain 1-1p Switzerland
France 3-0 Portugal
Netherlands 3-1 Serbia
England 3-0 Croatia
Semi Finals
France 3-1 Switzerland
Netherlands 2-2p England
Final
France 0-1 England
Yep, with Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane will finally win England their second ever major international tournament and their first ever Euros, after 58 years of hurt. It’s a path to the final not dissimilar to Argentina’s in 2022, with Croatia, Netherlands, and France in their last 3 games, and a hard fought victory against France in the final.
Part 4: Copa America
Group A
- Argentina
- Chile
- Canada
- Peru
Group B
- Mexico
- Jamaica
- Venezuela
- Ecuador
Group C
- Uruguay
- Panama
- USA
- Bolivia
Group D
- Brazil
- Costa Rica
- Colombia
- Paraguay
Quarter Final
Argentina 4-0 Jamaica
Uruguay 3-1 Costa Rica
Mexico 0-1 Chile
Brazil 3-0 Panama
Semi Finals
Argentina 1p-1 Uruguay
Brazil 4-0 Chile
Final
Argentina 0-2 Brazil
Part 5: Transfer Window + Miscellaneous
This transfer window will be another action-packed one with more big deals. One of the big storylines will be the falling apart of the Saudi League as stars realize that no amount of money will take away from the fact that it’s still Saudi Arabia. Chelsea will also sign about a dozen players this year in the cycle of death they’re creating. We’ll also see more than one 100+ million transfer, likely seeing Victor Osimhen move for that fee along with one other.
The shock transfer of the year will be a Joshua Kimmich move to Barcelona in the summer for about 50 million euros, as Barca finally find their Busquets replacement.
In the Mbappe saga, I think he’ll finally get his move to the Bernabeu, in the 8th year of the ongoing saga. Madrid finally get their wish. I just want it to be over.
The shock managerial move of the year will be Real Madrid sacking Carlo Ancelotti after a less than ideal start to 24/25.
There you go, my predictions for 2024. I think it’ll be a fascinating year of football, but then again, when isn’t it? I can’t wait for this year to unfold and then, at the end of the year, to unpack these predictions. Until then, I’m Jim James, until next time!